Oops 1 (of 4): Stinginess
People occasionally ask me what are the biggest mistakes I’ve made in ministry. Although there are way too many to count, this week I’ll share a few.
Mistake 1: One of my biggest faults in the early years was stinginess. Instead of having a generous mindset, I was stingy. I always believed there might not be enough, so I failed to be generous.
This wrong mindset caused me to:
- Not pay people what they were worth.
- Live in fear.
- Hold onto things (instead of letting them go).
- Think small.
As God has made me radically more generous, He has always provided.
It’s odd to me that I expected our church members to be generous with the church…when our church wasn’t overly generous with others. (The church’s lack of generosity was a direct reflection of my flawed leadership.)
Now I love to give. It brings me great joy. I love when our people give. I love when they give outside the church. I love giving big offerings—but not just to our church. Our ministry is not the only game in town. And it’s certainly not the best. It’s great to use our influence and resources to bless others!
What have you learned about the benefits of generosity over stinginess?
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I’m still blown away by the Malachi 3 promise - test me! Wow. I’ve learned that God really is faithful!
I’ve also learned that God will change your heart if you ask him to. I had absolutely no desire to give for the longest time. As a newER Christian, I knew that had to change. I simply asked God, “Change my heart.”
Amazingly, he did. Now I actually look forward to any giving opportunity.
Awesome. :)
One of my favorite topics!
Craig, one thing you taught on a few years back was your “Round Up” concept, and it’s something I’ve done ever since. Your context was not in regard to just giving to the church, but specifically in the case of how your obedience led to a radical change in how a Sonic car-hop viewed you, the church, and ultimately “the whole Christian thing.”
Tithing and giving generously, I have found in my life, can be a perpetual thing. I call it “The Law Of Supply & Command.” We give as commanded, in faith, and He supplies. In obedient response to His rewarding supply, we give bigger. He accepts the test and rewards yet again. He didn’t limit the number of times we can “test him on this,” and we can’t out-give Him.
One area I’m striving to improve on is in my heart and attitude towards giving. It’s not that it has soured, but rather has recently become routine and somewhat “automated.” I used to enter the check in my computer with excitement and anticipation for what God would do through and as a result of my obedience and generosity. It would be the first check out of the printer, the first in the envelope, and the first out the door. Later, I began to send the checks electronically to the church to save on the postage. Then I began to give on-line using a card for the convenience, the geek factor, and more selfishly, the points I earned towards airline miles. Before long, it became less of an act of the heart, and more of just another bill to pay.
I recently became convicted of this and have renewed my commitment to making it a sacred act of obedience and generosity each month. Just this morning, my wife and I prayed at breakfast with our two-year-old daughter over this month’s tithe and offering check. It’s part of our “new way” of insuring that we don’t automate our giving, which helps us preserve the cheerful heart with which we give. It also will teach our daughter from an early age the significance of giving back what was His to begin with, along with the importance of being generous above that to further His Kingdom. It’s converting earthly treasures to treasures in Heaven, and adds new meaning and importance to hearing of how many lives were changed last week at the newest campus.
While simply giving towards the Kingdom never goes to waste, if we do it with a stingy, begrudging attitude, or even just without the cheerful heart, we spoil the opportunity for that generosity to bear fruit to its fullest potential, and we introduce an imbalance in “The Law Of Supply & Command.”
Bill, God’s faithfulness is amazing! Thanks for your post.
Jeff, You are one of the most generous guys I know! Thanks for expressing your heart!
AMEN! in my earlier ministry I was in a church that wanted to keep scuff marks off the walls and the carpeting nice, I fueled that attitude. I am now in a church where I was told “the best thing that can happen to this carpet is that it gets worn out and needs to be replaced.” Amazingly, the first church was in the midst of a 20 year decline; the current one is in a 5 year growth spurt. Stinginess affects more than the 5 minutes when the offering is being given.
This concept has changed how I view everything in life. My wife and I and others in our church plant have made a decision to live a life of generosity, and we are having a blast with it! We try to incorporate this principle in small ways too. For example, my wife likes to buy a candy bar at the grocery store for the cashier at checkout. I like to buy coffee for the person in line behind me at Starbucks. If we are upgrading an appliance or piece of furniture at home, we look for someone to give it to, rather than sell it and make some extra cash. It is amazing how God has provided for our families needs and the needs of our small little church plant… I believe because the team has decided to live with a giving hand rather than a closed fist!
The greatest benefit of generosity for me is simply fellowship with Jesus.
Giving my life away drains the guilt of acting too selfishly. The peace of mind that comes with that is enough to make my heavy heart light again!!!
Craig,
I don’t know if I already said that, but I wanted to thank you so much for all you’ve done, esp. for the free resources on the net (but also for many, many other things). The Bible is true.
Thank you ever so much! And thanks also be to Amy and the rest of the church at LifeChurch.tv
Forever grateful
Marcin
Craig,
Thanks so much for sharing this. This is definitely me.
My husband wanted to meet you at Buzz, but did get to meet Bobby Greunewald. We greatly admire what you guys are doing and hope to have an impact like that in France. We are going there to plant a church (a radical this generation church) and then want to teach and train up other pastors to do the same thing. The money issue is always an issue with me. Because I know I will live most of my life on “support” from the body of Christ, it want to hang onto what God provides instead of being generous. Thanks for reminding me of what I know God wants me to “get”.
Anon,Great stuff!
Mike S, Thanks for sharing the “give your stuff away” thoughts. I agree completely. As a family, we have agreed not to sell anything we are replacing. We love it. Keep it up!
Mike, You are nailing it!
Marcin, You are VERY welcome. It is a great joy to give the ministry material away! I hope to do MUCH more for churches in the future!
Gina, Sorry I missed your hubby at Buzz. May God exceed your expectations for your church plant!
learning to be more generous in my life has been a personally transforming thing. its incredibly difficult to fight the overwhelming feeling to buy more stuff for yourself vs. giving to those in need and great causes. i never realized how much control my stuff had in my life until i started to try and part with it.
last year i sold my fancy sportscar and now drive a 93 camry with 130,000 miles on it. its been one of my best decisions. it has allowed me to be more generous and give more. if youre in this boat, you can join me in my little club called the Junky Car Club. http://www.junkycarclub.com its all about living with less so we can give more.
Mike F.,
I met one of your friends last week. Man, you inspire me! Thanks for your friendship and ministry!
Craig:
I think something you said within the post itself was so true for many of us, especially those of us in leadership roles. You said you expected church members to be generous with the church when the church wasn’t being overly generous with them.
So easy to fall into that “Do as I say, not as I do” trap without even realizing it.
Thanks for being so open and challenging us along the way.
Craig, my husband and I were on a mission to pay off our house for a few years. You asked for building offerings. We had set aside a sum of money to put down on our home. We both knew that we had to give that money to the building fund even though we knew that it was 5 months of mortgage payments.
The very next week, we received a check in the mail for 1.5 times the money we gave.
God is our provider!
Anonymous,
Wow! Thank you for your generosity and for sharing the story of God’s blessings!
That report blows my mind :P
I love to give, but sometimes I’m worried about giving - as in giving too much.
What would happen if you gave everything away? :[
God Bless ‘_^
[...] Talking about top churches, LifeChurch.TV is seen as the top church in the US. Craig Groeschel is the Pastor and like any relevant Pastor on this planet, he has a blog. He has a series of posts he titles, “oops” where he outlines the biggest stuff up’s in his journey at lifchurch.tv. I love it when Pastors are transparent. The absence of pride gives me great joy! Moving right along, be sure to check out his posts on his 4 biggests “ooops” - 1. Stinginess. 2 Building Small. 3 Let My People Go. 4 My Ministry. Nothing earth shattering at all. But when the Pastor of the US’ top church speaks, I listen! [...]
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