CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER TWO
GIVING CHURCHES
In 1938, the third world meeting of the International Missionary Council was held at Tambaram near Madras. Section 12 of the Conference was to deal with the economic basis of the Church. In preparation for its work, careful studies were made in many countries of the state of the Churches, to find out how far the duty of Christian giving was understood by Christians and how far the Churches were able to maintain their work without help from the West. It was found that there were very great differences between the Churches, and that some had made much more progress than others towards self-support.
It was not always the richest Churches which had made the greatest progress; much more seemed to depend on the kind of teaching that had been given to the Christians from the beginning, and on the extent to which they had been led to see Christian giving as part of their duty towards God.
We may give here a sketch of a few Churches in which specially good progress towards self-support had been made.
THE KAREN CHURCH
In Burma, the Karens are a people quite distinct from the Burmese. When the Gospel first reached them 130 years ago, through the American Baptist Mission, they were poor, backward and superstitious. But they had among them a tradition of the coming of the " white brother", who would bring them back their lost "book,'' and lead them back to God. While progress
among the Burmese has been very slow, the Karens were ready to listen to the Gospel, when it was preached to them, and the Church now numbers not less than
400,000 Christians.* The first baptisms took place in 1828. Only three years later the Karens began to build their own prayer houses. In 1845 there was a heavy drop in the funds which came from America; the Karens met the situation by beginning themselves to raise money for the salaries of their pastors and all the other work of the Church. The independent Karen Church was founded in 1853.
Here is a definition of the task of the Church as set forth by a Karen Christian elder many years ago: " No money help from others; lift the race by education; give each generation better ideals; provide endowment for the work; provide a leadership a little ahead of the members in education; evangelize new peoples."
As the Church developed in numbers, it took over more and more responsibility, until at last it was able to support not only the local Churches but also most of the schools and other institutions, and even the theological training school. Some of the poorer areas were more generous in their giving than others which were richer; but it was found that those districts where giving was at the highest level were also those which had the best record in personal service and witness to the Gospel.
Most of the gifts are in kind, as is natural among farmers: in some places the " Lord's Acre" plan has been followed, one plot of land being set apart " for the Lord " and all the produce from it given to the work of the Church.
These good results have been possible only because the ideal of independence was placed before the Karen
Christians from the start; the Church was to be their Church, and they must learn to support it. The ideas
*The World Christian Handbook for 1952 records more than 500,000 non-Roman Christians in Burma, of whom a large majority are Karens.
of independence and self-support were thus brought together from the beginning. 'The character of the Karen people is sturdy and independent. 'These ideals met with a ready response among them, and they were willing to make the sacrifices necessary in order that the ideals might become realities among them.
In 1942 the Japanese overran Burma. Christians had to suffer many things at their hands, and of course the Churches were cut off from all help from the West. In those hard times, the work of a century was tested and found good. Almost all the Christians remained faithful to the Gospel. The Church continued to maintain itself and to grow. Since the war, the strife between the Burmese and the Karens, and the Karen campaign for independence, have brought new difficulties; in spite of these, the Church has continued to show itself a living
Church, and to make progress.
THE BATAK CHURCH
In the highlands of Northern Sumatra live the Bataks, a hardy and vigorous people. The first two missionaries to enter their land were quickly killed and eaten by cannibals. Thirty years later the German missionary
Nommensen, of the Rhenish Mission, was able to enter the region and to begin Christian work. He was a great preacher of the Gospel, and won the hearts of the people both to himself and to his message. 'The Church began to grow very quickly, and now there are among the Bataks more than half a million Christians. It was a great help to the work that all the people were of one race and spoke one language, and that only one missionary society was working among them. The German missionaries were able to plan wisely, and to organize the life of the Church down to the last detail.
From the start, teaching was given about the duty of giving to God. Each family was expected to give a fixed amount to the work of the local Church. But in addition
to this sum and the regular offerings in Church, much more was raised through special offerings at the time of the great Church festivals, or on such special family occasions as the birth of children, birthdays and marriages. Women gave their gifts separately, and children had their own little boxes, in which to collect towards their offerings. A large part of the offerings was in kind.
One quarter of the sums raised in the local Churches was sent in to a central fund. Half the salaries of school teachers was paid by the government.
These methods were so successful that the Batak Church was able not only to meet all the expenses of the local Churches, but also to support some of the institutions and to organize the Batak Missionary Society, which had sixty evangelists at work preaching the Gospel to the non-Christian Bataks.
The Bataks are a strong people, proud of their race, and eager for independence. 'They have shown the same strength and drive in political as in religious affairs.
Three main reasons can be given for the rapid growth of self-support and independence in the Batak Churches :
(1) From the start the mission had made up its mind that no money help was to be given to the local
Churches.
(2) From the start lay people were drawn into the service of the Church, both by giving them work to do, and by laying upon them responsibility for some parts of the life of the Church.
(3) From the start-it was planned that the work should not be allowed to grow more quickly than the power of the Batak people to support it.
In Sumatra, as in Burma, the second world war brought many trials to the Churches. The German missionaries were all taken away from their work, and the Church was left to care for itself. Even after the war, the Batak Church had little touch with the outside world, though now again it is beginning to ask for the help of missionaries from other parts of Asia and from the West.
No Church is perfect; and during those years it was seen that the Batak Churches, though very strong at some points of their life, were weak in others. But the fact that the Churches were able to hold on and to grow through those years in which they received no help at all in men and money from the West, shows that what the German missionaries had built was well built, and that the rules of self-support and self-government which had been taught to the Batak Churches were sound.
THE KOREAN CHURCH
One of the last of the great countries to be entered by the Christian mission was Korea. But when the work started, in the 1880s, the Koreans gave a ready hearing to the Gospel, and the Church grew rapidly. Most of this growth was due to the work and witness of the Korean
Christians themselves. With the growth of the Church went an unusually rapid growth in self-support. At the end of fifty years it was found that, in the Presbyterian
Church, the Korean Christians were giving six times as much for the work of the local Churches as the mission was spending for the central work (schools, hospitals, and so on), apart from the missionaries' salaries.
The leaders gave three reasons for this steady and wonderful growth :
; (1) The whole life of the Churches was built up on the Bible. Every Christian was expected to attend
Sunday School or Bible Class, and regular Bible teaching for all has been part of the life of every
Sunday.
(2) Stress was laid from the start on the duty of every Christian to pass on to others what he had himself learnt of Christ. Most members of the Korean
Church have been won by the simple witness of ordinary Christians, whose changed lives as well as their words have made clear to others the power of the Son of God.
(3) Clear teaching was given on the duty of every Christian to give part of his income to God. Pledge cards were used, to help Church members to plan their giving and to give regularly.
Many Christians, though not all, had learned to give one-tenth of their income. Much of the giving was in kind; a father might agree to set apart for the Church all that was grown in one part of his field, a mother might promise to give to the Church all the eggs laid on Sunday, and so on.
During the war in Korea, the Churches have suffered more perhaps than any other Churches in the world.
Ordinary Church life has been made impossible, and many Christians driven from their homes. Yet the inner life of the Church has gone on. As soon as it has become possible, pastors have again gathered their people round them. Even in this time of suffering, men and women
'have been won for Christ. Again we see that, if the foundations have been good, a younger Church can live and grow, even when it cannot receive any help from the older Churches, and even when it has to face very great difficulties and trials.
THE SAMOAN CHURCH
In the three countries of which we have written, Christians are only a small minority, and the great mass of the people are still non-Christians. But there are some countries which at the beginning of the nineteenth century were entirely non-Christian, and are now entirely
Christian. A good example of this situation is Samoa, in the Pacific Ocean, where the whole population (now about 100,000) has long been Christian. Orderly government and the development of trade have made the islands rich; giving on the part of the Christians has been on a generous scale. For some time, the Churches have been entirely self-governing and self-supporting, receiving no money help at all from outside. Their problems
have arisen from the presence of many white men on the islands, and from the clash between the old simple life of the South Seas and the quite different kind of life that the white man has brought with him. Because of these problems, it has been felt wise that the Churches should still have the help of some missionaries from the West. In all other matters, they are now fully able to stand on their own feet, and to order their own life.
THE CHURCH IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN
All the examples so far given have been of Churches growing up among people of the same race and language, and all more or less on the same level of wealth or poverty. The life of the Church is made much more difficult when the Christians are poor, and those around them are rich. This is specially the case in India, where the caste system makes such deep divisions in society.
On the whole, the wealth is in the hands of a few castes at the top; those below them are either poor or very poor. Most of the Christians in India and Pakistan come from the poorer classes, and many from among the outcastes, the very poorest class of all. This has made diffcult the growth of self-support; partly because the people were so very poor, partly because, having been always so poor and accustomed to being ruled over by others, they had not the same desire for independence as people like the Bataks and the Karens.
Still, in some areas very great progress had been made.
Tinnevelly District, in the far south of India, has in it one of the oldest and strongest missions and Churches in India. By 1939 the Christians were raising enough money to pay for all the local work of the Churches, including the salaries of the clergy. They also raised every year a large amount of money for Church building, and gave thousands of rupees to the Indian Missionary Society, for work in parts of India where the Church was less developed. Much money was received from the govern-
ment by way of grants for schools. Almost the whole of the money received from England went to pay the salaries of the missionaries, or to maintain the colleges and other central institutions of the diocese. Not many
Churches in India could show such a good record in self-support.
Missions in India in the nineteenth century did a great work in education. In consequence, in the twentieth century there are a great many educated Christians, and many of these are in good positions and are rich or well-to-do. It is sad to report that this does not always mean that they give more to the Church. A survey of Bangalore, a large city in South India, made shortly before the second world war, showed that the poor give a larger share of their income to God than the rich, and that some of the Christian government officials were not giving even as much as one per cent of their income to the work of the Church. This shows clearly, what we shall often find again in our study, that self-support does not depend so much on wealth or poverty as on Christian faith and sense of responsibility—or the lack of it.
It has been said that, if all Indian Christians gave onetwentieth of their income to God, it would be possible for the Churches to maintain all their local work, including village schools and the preaching of the Gospel to the non-Christians, without asking for any help from outside at all. Then the missionary societies would have to carry only the salaries of missionaries, and the higher education, which the Church is not yet able to support.
This claim for self-support can be put in the wrong way. To put it very simply : in the past, missionaries have sometimes said, '' Now we pay the bills, and therefore we have the right to rule the Church. When you pay the bills, you will have the right to rule the Church." It has been natural for the Christians of the younger Churches to say to themselves, " Now we are grown up: we want to manage our own affairs. We must buy these missionaries out by paying for the work of the Church ourselves :
and therefore we must give more than we have given in the past." When this view is taken, self-support becomes a kind of selfishness or the expression of national pride, and this has nothing to do with Christian giving. All our study will go to show that Christian giving is a spiritual matter. When it is on a low level, the cause must always be sought in a poor and shallow Christian life. When
Christians live in close fellowship with God in Christ, their love for Him and their joy in the salvation which He has given them through Christ show themselves in their gifts of love; and this generous giving is itself a source of new spiritual power.
We may end this introductory chapter by quoting some sentences from the Report of Section 12 of the Madras-Tambaram Conference on "The Economic Basis of the Church " :
(1) That the economic life of the Church be put in its proper setting as essentially a spiritual problem,
_and that Scriptural principles of giving be systematically taught and emphasized.
(2) That the problem of self-support also be put in its proper setting as a spiritual problem, and viewed as in part a result of voluntary witness and Church growth.
(5) That in opening up new fields the principle of placing new groups of Christians upon their own resources for the support of their own work be
_ applied from the very beginning.
(6) That due emphasis be put on the responsibility of . the Church in every place both to undertake its own financial support and to contribute towards community service.
In the light of the facts and principles set forth above, we now turn to the Scriptures, and to a series of Bible studies, setting forth the Scriptural principles of giving.
| CHAPTER THREE
CAUSES OF INADEQUATE GIVING
Lack of Spiritual Vigour Inadequate Christian giving is due in the first place to lack of spiritual vigour. Christians do not give their money to God, because they have not first given themselves to God. A proper recognition that all that we have belongs to God, that we have been bought with a price— the price being nothing less than the " precious blood of Christ *—and that nothing we can give is adequate recompense for such a love, is what is lacking in most of our people. The low ratio of giving is a symptom of this low level of Christian life. The sooner we recognize this the better!
The " Self-support"' Conference held in Nagpur, India, in July, 1938, gave expression to the same conviction. " Self-support, however defined, is not sufficient, and should not be the chief aim. The duty and privilege of Christian stewardship should be taught to the converts from the very beginning of their Christian life. In congregations where this has been neglected, nothing less than an awakening to a deeper experience of the Christian life, and faithful teaching on stewardship on the New Testament lines, can bring about a realization of the duty of sacrificial giving."
Here is a paragraph from the Report of the Tambaram Conference :
"The support of the Church must be rooted in its spiritual life. The use of the Church's gifts must make for spiritual growth, otherwise giving proves unfruitful.
Through his gifts the worshipper expresses his growing inner life, his gratitude to God, and reaches out to the
entire brotherhood of Christians and to those outside.
Sacrificial giving is one of the essential elements in promoting true spiritual growth."
We appeal to all who are concerned with the life of the Church seriously to take this to heart, and to labour and pray for our people that, by the grace of God's
Holy Spirit, a deeper experience of God's love in Christ and a greater realization of our dependence upon Him may be granted to them; this will lead to deeper consecration of themselves and all that they have to Christ and His service.
Over Emphasis on the Financial Aspect of Self-support A second cause of defective Christian Giving is the over-emphasis placed on the mere financial aspect of self-support.
The goal of " self-support " can become a real hindrance to the full development of the Churches. Pastors and lay leaders and treasurers of Churches, church councils and missions sometimes come to be fully occupied with plans calculated to take them to this goal, paying very little attention to evangelism. Evangelism is the life-blood of the Church. If evangelism occupies a minor place in the programme and budget of the Church, it will not be long before its spiritual life will occupy a minor place too, spelling spiritual lethargy and death. A survey of an Indian city and its Churches states :
"Very little attention is given to evangelism. The Churches need to realize that they exist not for themselves but for witnessing for Christ, and that it is not a big achievement if they become self-supporting. The goal of self-support is not beyond the reach of all nine
Churches in the city. If every earning member would pay in the ratio of one half-anna to the rupee, i.e. one- . thirty-second part of his income, the Church would be easily able to meet all its financial obligations. Thus it
is necessary to shift the emphasis from self-support to service for Christ."
The Tambaram Conference also drew attention to this danger. Says the Report of Section 12: " There is real danger in over-emphasis on mere self-support by a Church or group. It may, for instance, lead to the neglect of the evangelistic task.
From its very beginning every Church should bear witness. Such work beyond its own borders will never hinder self-support."
The writer in his experience has seen some other dangers. Where " self-support " as an ideal has dominated all Church work, the pastors have become little more than money-raising machines, having been sapped of all spiritual power. Self-support has so overshadowed all other activities that help to the poor, social service, missionary effort outside and home-evangelism are all looked upon with disfavour and even dislike. Efficiency in the work of the ministry is disregarded, inasmuch as ministers of inferior education who can be paid lower salaries are preferred to educated men. Pastorate boundaries have been so unduly enlarged and unwieldy charges placed on ministers that pastoral supervision and administration of sacraments have been reduced to a perilous minimum.
Self-support and _ self-government have been so often made inter-dependent that many a city parish has been eager to support itself in order that it may become autonomous and bear arrogant rule over the mission and the minister. Giving has not been a means of grace, but has been such a prolific source of schism, jealousy and quarrels as to make many wish the Church had never become self-supporting !
The Duty of Giving Urged on Wrong Grounds "Giving" is certainly preached in the Indian Churches, and no doubt in many others, too. Indeed, it is preached to a wearisome extent. In most cases, however, the immediate motive supplied is inadequate, unworthy and ineffective.
(a) Very often it is urged on the ground that grants from the missionary societies have been reduced. The layman who hears this wonders why he should pay because someone else is failing in his duty. If the societies have sent out reduced grants, he argues, let the salaries of the missionaries be reduced and not anything else.
The real weakness of this argument is apparent, when we realize that Christian Giving is a duty, whether a foreign Church provides money for a missionary Church or not. The reduction of these grants may well have caused an acute crisis in the Church's finances. But the duty of Christian Giving was always there; if that duty was not taught because for a time others were supplying all the Church's financial needs, there was a serious gap in that Church's life and teaching.
(b) The duty of Christian Giving is also sometimes urged on the ground that the pastors' salaries were being reduced, that schools were being closed, or resident workers sent away for lack of funds, The ordinary layman slyly argues that in any case the pastors are paid too much, and a few rupees less cannot hurt them overmuch. If workers are sent away, there is probably another Church near by that is ready to step in with the free offer of a resident worker—the Roman Catholic
Church or one of the many new sects that are eager to enter any half-open door. In any case, the argument is false. If a Church should suddenly inherit a legacy of a hundred million pounds, that would meet all the Church's needs for several decades; but could the Christians, thus benefited, be exempted from the duty of giving to God?
_(c) Giving is also sometimes encouraged by appeals to self-respect. Is it not a disgrace—says the Mission Treasurer—that you should still be receiving money from a foreign country ? After so many years of existence, should you still be dependent on outside help? Have you no shame, no self-respect, that you receive money help from foreigners, and then talk of the indigenous Church and
its rights?
Such an appeal to " self" very often produces a rebellious reaction. Feelings are hurt. Friendship is strained.
The will to wipe off the disgrace makes men produce _ money in a larger measure than they did before. Selfsupport is then soon attained with a vengeance. Expenses are reduced, evangelists are dismissed, contributions to missionary work are stopped, fairs are held, fancy sales are organized, lotteries are advertised, every smallest coin is kept in the Church's own money-box and "selfsupport " is attained. And to what purpose is all this being done? To remove the disgrace of being known as recipients of foreign charity! When the stage of freedom from foreign help is reached, relationships do not improve. The independence so attained is proudly dis- 'played and selfishly enjoyed with a vengeance. The spiritual relationship of fellowship between the missionary and the Church disappears. You cannot sow self and reap the Spirit !
(d) Self-support again is very often made a condition of self-government. "He who pays the piper calls the tune," says a missionary; "we" (with an emphasis on we) " provide the money and we" (again an emphatic and exclusive we) "shall determine how it may be or may not be spent."' How often has such an argument killed all co-operation between the Indian Christian and the missionary !
The logic of the argument cannot be gainsaid. But pitiless logic kills all Christian fellowship. The relationship of co-partners in the common enterprise of the heavenly Kingdom becomes that between " controlling benefactors and irritated recipients of charity ".* So much local contribution, therefore so much share in the government of the Church, and so many seats on the Committee—this logic cannot be extended to spiritual spheres. Those who talk thus forget that the essence of 14, Kraemer in The Christian Message in a Non-Christian
World, p. 426.
the Gospel is in that verse:
'" God so loved the world, that He gave", and that the only justifiable attitude in this respect is the Christian attitude of love. Love must determine giving: giving must be the result of love. To strike bargains with the recipients through our gifts is not to love. We quote Tambaram once again: " Giving may be vitiated for both giver and receiver by the intrusion of an element of condescension. Grants-in-aid sometimes may lead to undue domination or control by the givers."
The Duty of Giving Enforced by Wrong Methods Christ's work requires money; Christ's followers do not provide the money as readily as they should; hence the almost universal recourse to wrong methods.
ASSESSMENT.
Assessment is ecclesiastical taxation.
Some levy a poll tax. They demand so much (Rs.1-0-0 or Rs.2-0-0 per head) of each communicant. An assessment must be paid; and therefore naturally those who levy the assessment must discipline those who fail to pay.
There are direct and indirect ways of enforcement. In some cases, the services of the Church are refused at moments when they are most desired, such as the calling of banns of marriage, until all unpaid dues are paid up.
There are various methods of making those who have not paid feel the disapproval or contempt of the more virtuous members of the Church. Such methods may produce more money, but they do not help to educate the people in Christian giving. In fact, the effect of them is just the opposite; people come to hate the idea of giving, and what ought to be a joy is turned into a burden.
Computsory Depuctions. In most of the Churches in Asia, salaried Christian workers provide a large proportion of the local income of the Church. We give here one striking illustration.
The central congregation under the Malwa Church Council had a total income in 1936 of Rs.2450 (in round figures). Of this, Rs.900 was the interest on a permanent
fund built up in the past; Rs.1470 was received through the central Church collections, and the balance from the rural centres attached to this central congregation. Of the " Church collections ", 45.5 per cent was contributed by the missionary staff, 38.8 per cent by mission employees, and 15.7 per cent by the independent members of the congregation !
In all such cases we are bound to ask how it is that _ paid workers supply such a large proportion of the total income. We fear that the answer in many cases must be that it is through compulsory deductions from salaries.
Giving is the duty of every Christian; if left to themselves, so it is thought, even Christian workers will not contribute as much as they should; and so recourse is made to this gentle-persuasive-compulsory method ! How much better it would be if teaching on Christian Giving were given to these paid workers, and they were given the choice of spontaneous giving "according as each has purposed in his heart"! For "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7).
METHODS OF INDIRECT Computsion. Christians ought to give of their substance to the work of the Church, and they do not; how can we then twist money out of them for this good cause? 'This seems to have been the Saas of the early missionaries and ministers.
The answer was: Levy fees. Levy a Banns fee, a Marriage fee, a Burial fee, a Cemetery fee, and so on.
The alms-bag looks like an instance of indirect compulsion. It is very difficult to put nothing into the almsbag, as it is stretched before you in church by a churchwarden under the watchful eyes of your neighbours.
The subscription book can be another. It is taken round month after month to the Church members to make them give what they ought to give spontaneously.
This is to make people give " reluctantly " and " under compulsion "', is it not? The method of the subscription book is quite different from that followed by the Christians in Macedonia, who gave of their own accord,
begging the Apostle earnestly for the favour of taking part in the relief of the saints (2 Corinthians 8 : 3).
There is no need to quarrel with some of these methods as such. A subscription book may be a help to many willing givers, who receive monthly salaries and who want to be reminded every month of their duty. Our contention is that this and many other methods in practice in the Churches have the undoubted tendency to destroy that spontaneity which is characteristic of the New Testament teaching on Christian Giving.
If we want to introduce Scriptural methods of Giving, we must adopt Scriptural principles. Giving based on these principles is sure to be "a grace", fruitful of spiritual enrichment in all directions.
What are these Scriptural principles?