I had a severe case of whiplash on Monday this week.
We had a massive Sunday where there was so much to celebrate in the life of our church.
The joy of new life in Jesus celebrated through the baptisms of many of our brother and sisters in Christ at Wellington City and at the beach in Island Bay. (Also followed by a church swim!)
The privilege of welcoming dozens of new people into our church community across all three of our congregations with Hutt running its first Newish Dinner and Night Church welcoming a bunch of new students with Sundae Sunday.
The encouragement of seeing people maturing and stepping up to serve across our whole church, even at personal cost.
As a result of all this a bunch of us came home from church buzzing with thankfulness at what God is doing as he is drawing people to himself, growing his kingdom and giving us more opportunities to share the hope that we have in Jesus.
Then came the whiplash.
On Monday I got an email from the book keeper with our church financial position for the end of February. 😔 The sobering news is that it is now four months in a row that we have not met our goal for internal giving and for just the first two months of 2025 we're already $24,500 behind our giving target.
Now I am keen for us to be honest about where the financial position of our church is at as soon as possible, so that we can all take collective responsibility to addressing the challenges that it presents. I also want to set this challenge in light of all the great things that God is doing in and through our church - there is so much to be thankful to God for!
But can I ask each of us to do these few things this weekend:
1. PRAY - The money in our pocket, our bank account, our church accounts, the cattle on a thousand hills... it all belongs to God! We have what we have because he has entrusted it to us so when we are in need (and our church is in need!) we pray and ask that God will graciously and generously meet our needs.
2. REFLECT ON GOD'S WORD - Our generosity is a spiritual discipline and a sign of our spiritual maturity. So we ought to be going to God's word with the help of God's Holy Spirit and asking God to grow us as wholehearted followers of Jesus. A good place to start reflecting on God's word might be our sermon series Neither Poverty Nor Riches. There are also some great books to help you dig deeper - The Cheerful Giver and Beyond Greed both are highly recommended. This paper (Unmaksing Greed) is even shorter and might be a good place to start.
3. CONSIDER YOUR GIVING - Now we will all be in different positions, some of us will have just started work for the first time, some of us are sweating the OCR and what that will do to our mortgage rates, some of us have just joined church and aren't giving yet, some of us will be facing uncertainty with our employment, some of us will have funds to give but not sure of where the need is, some of us will have been ill-disciplined with out finances and we need to ask for help to get them on track...
Whatever your position is, please take time to consider your giving and whether you are in a position to increase it (or not press 'skip' on the next auto payment!). How can you cheerfully give to partner with the gospel opportunities we have as a church?
As a church we've been blessed by God to be involved in what he is doing here in Wellington. There is so much to celebrate and give him thanks for. Please pray with me that in 9 months time we will look back on this year and rejoice at how God has provided in this area for our church.
Grace & peace,
Andrew