Charity

[Guest Happy]

What are the best ways to give charity? How to choose an organization and how to give properly to an individual without making them feel degraded? Or is just better to give to the church and hope they will do the charities in your area and in the world?

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Happy,

A few years ago, in addition to our normal giving in the church, the Lord put it on mine and my wife's heart to give to a local evangelist's (and friend) ministry. But as the years went by, the Lord kept impressing me that we should be giving to a local charity - the Union Gospel Mission, which devotes itself to taking care of the homeless and those in need of food and shelter as well as spiritual help. Our evangelist had gone "on the road" to serve overseas, and though she may have continued to appreciate "our help", the Lord seemed to be telling us "to serve our local community". Since we didn't feel we could afford both, my wife and I decided that the UGM would get our "offerings". We have not been sorry for that and have given to them often when we have had extra money as well.

Today we are such a "generous" society, that we are hit on all sides by seemingly "good causes" and they have spin doctors to make "their charity" look the very best and most appealing. This takes discernment, which all people do not have, but God will TELL YOU when and where to give, IF you are diligent in seeking Him and HIS answer. Consider that Daniel spent 21 days in prayer and fasting. So if you don't get a ready answer, perhaps you need to spend more time with HIM.

I hope this helps.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[OneAccord]

My husband and I 'tithe' to ministries that we feel God leads us to support. We have four right now that we divide our 10% amongst. We choose ministries that we both agree on, and as a rule we try to choose smaller ministries that are helping people directly, rather than really large ones that have a huge overhead in salaries, building funds, etc.

We use the 10% principle as a guideline only, but sometimes He sends to us someone with a need that calls us to give more.

How do we know we are led? Usually I am prompted to help someone during my prayer time with the Lord. I might be praying for that person and I'll just get an inner prompting to help them out financially.

Other times someone comes to our house or we meet them on the street and they start telling us about their problems and may even ask for $. If they ask, we always try to give.

It has always been our experience that the person is very grateful, not degraded, and they usually try to return the favor in some way, though we never ask them to.

Personally we don't like giving to a church and 'hoping' they will get it to the right places. If we were ever to do it that way, we would specifically earmark the gift for the purpose we are giving, for example x$ to the soup kitchen, rahter than just dropping it in the bucket.

[nebula]

When it comes to giving, I go with the "go by your heart" method. That is, if your heart is towards a person or a ministry or an organization, these are the ones to give to. If you are looking for an organization to give to just for th sake of giving to someone, then giving to your church works just fine. But, if you have a friend who is a missionary, or if a teen in your church is going on a mission trip, or someone you care about has an illness that needs money for research to find a cure for (i.e. cystic fibrosis, leukemia, breast cancer), or such like that - why not offer your support there? Or if there is an organization or mission group dealing with an issue you are passionate about (children's ministry? teen ministry? anti-abortion? inner city? the homeless? the hungy? the Appalachian poor?), then you may want to do a little research on what is out there and what the group you may be interested in is about (make sure they are acredible organization, they practice doctrine and policy you want to support, etc.). If something sticks out to you, then maybe that would be something to get into.

Just some thoughts.

[Catsmeow]

Happy:

My first degree program in undergraduate study was "Marketing". I say that so to share an "insider's secret".

If a ministry feels they need to use "tricks and gimmicks" to curry favor, forget it!

Tricks and gimmicks are not of the Lord.

EXAMPLE:

I was already supporting a ministry when I got in the mail one of their "gimmicks"...They sent me a "dollar" bill. They then said they were trusting God to "multiply" my dollar.

Red Flags.

I know someone will say, "What's wrong with that?"

Well, I can't put an entire marketing class in one post but I'll tell you that it's a common marketing trick designed to get you to send money.

Ministries under the power and favor of the Lord don't need fancy gimmicks or tricks. They rely on the Spirit of God to move in people's hearts.

I support Compassion International - a Christian organization which sponsors poor children worldwide; it provides a strong, Christian education for children as well as food and clothing.

I also support a Leprosy Mission, (also endorsed by Art Linkletter, who I respect) and they never send me gimmicks or try to con me into sending more and more money.

They rely on God to move my heart toward greater giving...they don't ask for it and they don't try to con you.

It's OKAY to raise money and to ask for help. That's not wrong.

But godly ministries shouldn't rely on clever marketing tricks to get your money. God Himself will provide by touching people's hearts.

[Guest shadow2b]

Great replies by all---the best way as mentioned is to ASK the LORD & LISTEN for an answer THEN sometimes HE just speaks to you because "someone" needs are urgent & need an immediate answer.............One time several years ago when Patsy was working as a "sitter" for the elderly or sick, she came home at night, about 9pm & was taking a bath --just soaking & relaxing, when the LORD said" take a hundred dollars to a family in town we knew from church...Anyhow she kind-a- argued{she told me all this LATER} with the LORD--I'm sooooo tired,can't I do this tomorrow?? To which the LORD said"Yes but they don't have a bite of bread to eat"..Anyhow Patsy came into the living room & told me what the LORD had said & asked me "WHAT" should we do?? SO naturally as the BIGtime priest of the HOME I said in my infinite wisdom & most godly manner"YUPP" I reckon we better do just that right now...Which we did--The next day another friend from church & cousin of the needy--hungry family called Patsy & said It was a good thing we had "obeyed"the LORD as that family {didNOT even have a bite of bread in the house to eat} EXACT WORDS the LORD spoke to Patsy confirming HIS WORD to her...STRANGE huh?? SO it's always RIGHT to ask the LORD what HE wants us to do to help folks & where to send money to what ministry.. HOPE that encouraged someone to TRUST the LORD & to ask HIM always & doNOT argue with HIM, TRUST that what HE is speaking to your heart is TRUE & that HE will always CONFIRM his word TO YOU....HE confirms HIS WORD to us to "teach" us to "TRUST" that HE is speaking to us by HIS SPIRIT so that our "senses" are exercised by reason of use to discern both good and evil...Heb.5.vs.14b-----

SO this was a lesson of "discerning GOOD"------GOD-BLESS-ALL-TRUTHSEEKERS----------------Gary--

[Dad Ernie]

Great posts ya-all.

I relate a story here about how I REALLY learned about "tithing".

Back in about '75, when I came back to the Lord, I began attending a Pentecostal church that preached fairly well on "tithing". I have learned since, that "tithing" is ONLY a guideline, and we are NOT under the "law of tithing", as some might preach. But we are under the "law of love", which includes charitableness and of course "giving" or "tithing", if you deem that term appropriate.

Well, I was with an Air Wing in the Navy at the time and we deployed 6 months in and 6 months out on a carrier. But I felt that my "tithe" should be going to the Pentecostal Church with which I was a member, and any "offerings" I felt like giving on the ship was over and above my "tithe".

Well, finally came my transfer to the Panama Canal, but between duty stations I had about 60 days in-between time (leave and travel) where I did not pay any tithes, mainly because I was traveling so much, and I was going to "pay my tithes" WHEN I got to my new duty station.

Well, as you can imagine, when I finally arrived I had a nice tidy chunk of cash waiting for me (I did not get paid during those 60 days), and subsequently I had like(?) $247.00 in tithes that I had to pay. Since I had not found a church yet, I set the money aside. I was in the process of asking the Lord whether I should continue sending my "tithes" back to the Pentecostal Church or give it to the local church which I would soon find. I also had had accumulated some large bills, mainly from Credit Cards, and in the back of my mind, I thought, if necessary, I might dip into that "tithes money" to help pay my bills.

Well, I found an Assembly of God, thanks to a Christian brother, and within about two weeks of going there, they asked my 'brother' and I to move into the Church's parsonage because they were in transit with a pastor that just left and another that would be coming in about a month and needed someone to "house-sit" in the meantime. We were happy to get out of the barracks and into a "real" home, so we readily agreed. We moved several items from our barracks into the parsonage and made ourselves fairly comfortable in it.

In about two weeks, the house was broken into. It wasn't too bad and several items of mine were stolen and only one "audio tape" of my friend's was taken. We immediately reported this to the church, who fixed the broken door and told us to "take inventory" of what we lost personally and they would reimburse us.

The following week (we had not yet made an inventory) the house was broken into again, only this time they did some serious damage to the house. Several hundreds of dollars worth, and again they stole a lot of what I had, but nothing of my friend's.

They Lord had been dealing with me about giving my "tithes" that I had been "holding" all this time, but being stubborn, I sort of gaffed those notions off. Well, this time, I decided to complete my "inventory" of lost items, and I made a list and went into town to price what I had lost. Can you guess "how much" it came to? Exactly what I had been "holding back" of my tithes.

When I saw the total, I KNEW what I had to do. I immediately gave ALL my tithes to the church, AND I never required them to pay for what I lost. I HAD LEARNED A VERY VALUABLE LESSON.

Over the coming weeks and years, I gained much wisdom from that incident about my "giving". Here are a few:

Once "enlightened" you always OBEY what God has taught you, otherwise you put yourself in the "enemies" camp where he will willingly kill and destroy you as much as possible.

You pay at the place you eat. You don't eat at one restaurant and then pay at another, so my "tithes" HAD TO GO to the local church. I need not worry about my old Pentecostal church, because God was their supplier, and I need not worry that THEY "needed" my little pittance of tithes.

ALWAYS give as "unto the Lord". When you do, you NO LONGER have a choice as to what will happen to your giving. If the church you are giving to is not handling the finances the way they should - ASK THE LORD to find you a church that does. If He doesn't then continue to pay where you EAT!

Remember you can NEVER outgive the Lord. The world does not understand this, but I CAN'T see how ANYONE can live in todays society WITHOUT paying tithes or "giving unto the Lord". He blesses us with blessings 10 - 100 times over what pittaly little amount we give. It may not always be monetary, but it is wonderful when you never have to WORRY about "what to eat, or what to wear", because God is your source - and He owns the cattle on a thousand hills! Someone across town will bring me a $100 if I ever am at the point I need it.

I think often of this verse:

Psalms 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

We have a blessings of which the world does not understand because HE is our provider, our sustainer, our healer and our salvation.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[Catsmeow]

DE: I haven't heard this one before but I've heard what you've said before about this topic...you can't outgive God.

Brother, we're in total agreement here! Amen and amen!

I remember I didn't have a church I was going to but I did sponsor a child through a Christian charity.

I remember I was tight on money and remember dipping into my "charitable" funds in order to pay some bills.

Sure enough, I ended up with unexpected vet bills for my cat...and the HS woke me and showed me that I had been failing to live up to the obligation I made.

I quickly got back on track and caught up what I had promised to pay on my pledge. I was a babe in Christ then...just learning.

I relate to what you're saying.

DE: Problems arise when you're a wife under a husband's authority and he's balking at giving. It's a real hard thing for me. I am between a rock and a hard place.

[OneAccord]

Cat:

Maybe there are other ways of giving that your husband will be more supportive of. Like your time, or care packages or something like that. Just offering a suggestion, I'm thankful my dh and I are in total agreement on this one.

[Catsmeow]

Thanks, OA. I got him to do the 10%...divided between the church and charities. He won't go beyond that, though.

He has gone with me to serve food at the mission and work at the food pantry.

We're doing some things...it's just hard because I love to go much farther than the minimum required and hubby won't go a dime beyond.

Frustrating....