The third prayer that will enlarge your missional heart is "Father, pour out a generous spirit in my life and church." You'll notice that the prayer was not, "Father let generosity be lavished on me and my church" but let me reflect a generous spirit.
One of the prevailing marks of every strong leader is that of a generous spirit. In Paul’s farewell message to the Elders in Ephesus he said these words, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'"(Acts 20:35 NIV). Paul lived a generous life and appealed to others to be generous with the resources entrusted to them, both financial and personnel resources. He appeal was based on the words of Jesus himself who was the supreme model of generosity.
Barnabas was another leader whose life was marked with a generous spirit. He was not only generous with his financial resources (Acts 4:36-37), but also with his investment in young leaders; first Paul (Acts 9) and then with John Mark (Acts 13).
Three basic realities for seeing a generous spirit released though your church are:
1. Put God first by giving away a minimum 10% of your offerings.
As leaders we all teach church members the principles of tithing and first-fruits giving. All too often, when the budget gets tight or challenging, leaders reduce their giving and we begin robbing God. Lance Swearengin of Waypoint Church in O’Fallen, MO told me the following story. The financial person in the church came to him and said, “If we pay our tithe this month we will not have enough money to cover the postage costs for our Easter mailing...which one do you want to pay?” Lance did not hesitate, “Pay our tithe! I fear God more than I do the post office! We will just have to trust God to provide!” That Friday he asked his assistant if she had checked their P.O. box for mail that week...she responded no. He asked her to check it to see if any checks had come it. Well, guess want happened? You guessed it! There was a check for $2500.00 (the postage for the mailing was $2,200.00!) Generous leaders are leaders of principle, faith and who understand that God must be placed first in the finances.
2. Expand your giving over time.
Excelling is a natural attribute of a leader. They are always looking for ways to grow and strengthen themselves personally as well as professionally. They seek ways to improve and move their organizations to the next level. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth acknowledging their excellent growth in every level and appealing to them to excel in their giving. “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” (II Corinthian 8:7 NIV) As individuals and organizations we are called to excel in our giving; 10% is always just the starting place. I remember a friend of my saying that his church was giving 30% of their offering away into missional endeavors and that his goal was to become a 50/50 church in that they would give 50% of their income into kingdom building ventures! On a personal level, Rick Warren just announced the he has become a "reverse tither" meaning that he is giving 90% of his income away and living on 10%. God blesses generous hearts. God wants us to understand that we can not out give God. In my experience generous people are unusually entrusted with more resources to give away. Because they understand the giving cycle always ends with giving. Our culture looks at the "giving to get" model but the biblical perspective is "giving, to get, to give more!" (II Corinthians 9:10) The biblical cycle always ends with giving.
3. Hold leaders and staff lightly.
Remember the church is to be in the sending business and you can’t send those you hold on to tightly. In Acts 13:1-3, the leaders gave their two top leaders to God’s missional purposes in Barnabas and Saul, along with sending out an up and coming leader named John Mark. I’ve worked with too many churches who grudgingly give up those leaders who sense God’s missional call to church planting. These churches miss a huge opportunity to be a blessing to those being sent and to receive a blessing from God for their generosity. I think that this was a big part of Paul’s message to the Ephesus elders, “Don’t hold on to me so tightly that you miss God’s blessing in my departure. Remember what Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give that to receive.”
As a leader would you dare to ask God for a generous spirit? It is a prayer that will lead you on a soul stretching adventure.
Next week: “Father, help me empower others and release them into your harvest field.”
Excerpt from Gary's book: NextSteps for Leading a Missional Church
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