Bible Study I Find It Interesting That The Bible Actually Talks About This

[for_his_glory]

The reality is that the church has bills and has the pastor's income to consider. Moving beyond that the church helps community projects, so a portion of the money goes to those as well. A second consideration is that that church annually has a meeting after regular service for the finical report.

Yes, I agree the church has bills to pay like utilities and rent or mortgage. It is also scriptural that the congregation also take care of the needs of the Pastor so they do not have to go out in the world to make a living for themselves and their family, which takes away from the time they need to study and prepare to teach the Gospels, 1 Corinthians 9:1-14.

It is also good to give a financial report possibly at the end or the beginning of the year as the congregation needs to be aware of the expenses and how important it is to give their best offerings as this is how all things are paid through the offerings including a certain percentage to the Pastor.

One should not be told what to give, but to give in secret that the Lord shall reward you openly, Matthew 6:4. This is not just giving to the church, but anything outside of the church you give to in charity from your heart. The rewards from God are not necessarily monetary as many Pastors love to teach so they can justify their lavish life style, but that of what helps supply our needs, Philippians 4:19.

 

[Bull of the Woods]

I was thinking of Dorcas, whose death was written about in Acts. People deeply mourned her for her simple generosity and service. I can't help but picturing her as quietly going about her service, not intentionally drawing attention to herself.
But she was loved and dearly so.

As for church giving, I was an elder for years. Our "policy" was no elder, including the pastor, could learn what individuals gave. But we had to be completely open on church spending.
Usually we had two mature widow women keep the records of giving so people could get receipts for taxes.
We never had close to an incident of people's personal giving made known to the people of the church or outsiders.

 

[Corn Pop]

This generation seeks a sign. But the only sign is Jonah.

 

[Corn Pop]

I'm not sure what they been smoking.