CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER NINE
SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
The patient reader who has followed the author thus far may well ask the question: How can I go about this business of instilling the duty of Christian Giving into the members of my Church? In this last chapter we shall endeavour to attempt an answer.
The first thing to do is to abandon all un-Christian | ways, now in vogue, of raising money for God's work | By this we mean not only the giving-up of all lotteries, raffles, and all other methods intended merely to make people give in exchange for a little excitement or enjoyment. We mean also the methods of assessment, Churchtax and compulsory fees for the administration of sacraments now prevailing in many Churches. Along with these must also go all penal methods of enforcing the payment of Church dues. Giving must be lifted up to the level of spontaneity and voluntariness, and set free from all ideas of compulsion by threat of public exposure or open disgrace, or by exclusion from privileges.
Nor is it right that privileges and powers should continue to be offered in exchange for the performance of the Christian duty of Giving. God has freely given Himself to us; and we should freely give to Him ourselves and all we have, asking for no other reward save that of knowing that we are doing His will. It is, of course, good that those who are to take the lead in the life of the Church should be chosen from among those who have given generously to its support; but there are other qualifications which are much more important than this.
Any Constitution of Church Councils or Committees which suggests that the payment of Church dues is the first or only qualification for membership ought to be altered at the earliest possible date.
Another bad practice to be abandoned is compulsory deductions from the salaries of paid workers of the Church. If it is convenient that the offerings of Christian workers should be collected by way of deduction from their salaries, the workers should be given the chance of determining how much they desire so to be deducted.
Never suggest what the gift should be, never impose a proportion, however small.
In short, lift this whole subject up to the plane of freedom and make it a matter of voluntary personal decision. You will not regret the result.
Remove all False Ideas in Connexion with Giving There is the ill-directed use of Malachi 3:10, which— as we have seen—often misleads people to think of Giving to God as a bargain with God. We do not give because we want to receive; we give because we have received.
Many non-Christian ideas of merit and of votive offerings enter even into much Christian Giving. Vows probably account for a good many of the gifts of Indian
Christians. Vows conditional on God granting some request—for restoration to health of a child, for a son, for success in examinations—are fairly common. Thankofferings for mercies received are right and proper, but promise of offering to God, if God should grant a request, is Hindu, is Jewish, is Old Testament at best.
Let us teach our people to give because it is our bounden duty to give; because we are guilty if we do not give.
Encourage Indigenous Ways of Giving No alms-bag is passed round in Hindu temples; offerings are deposited by the worshippers in a receptacle provided for the purpose. Carrying a bag round in church is very much akin to passing round the hat; both
savour of begging. God's portion ought to be voluntarily offered, and not extracted by begging.
Encourage worship in family groups on all domestic occasions. Let these be the times when thank-offerings are made for mercies received—the birth of children, baptism of infants, wedding engagements, marriage festivities and suchlike domestic events. Such methods present themselves as perfectly natural in the Indian scene. Hindu worship is never congregational except on great festival occasions (like the Car Festivals of South
India); it is always individual worship or family worship.
Family visits to temples for worship and for making offerings are common practice. Let us encourage these in Christian churches, of course as a part of the regular
| worship of the congregation, not as separate from it.
Note that rural congregations rarely possess money except after the harvest season. The Hindu Festivals are mostly celebrated in March, April or May, which to the agriculturist is the off-season. That is also the season of most of our Christian Festivals—Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. These are the months best suited for Harvest
Festivals in most parts of India. Christian gatherings and celebrations of various kinds should be timed for such seasons.
) Offerings in kind are the natural way of giving in any rural community. In India, any beggar or holy man will get his handful of rice, if he presents himself at the door of a house. Let the people be encouraged to bring their first fruits—their first eggs, first pluckings from their gardens, and first day's wages in kind—to church, and let them be offered to God as solemnly as the offering
| in coin.
Let the offering to God of the people's eift be a distinct ceremonial act in public worship. The habit of singing a lyric at collection time and getting the collection over before the singing is finished is anything but dignified, and takes away from the idea of offering as part of worship.
{ Rectify Faulty Methods o, Handling Church Money Let all offerings be counted and entered in the book as soon as the service is over, and in the presence of representative members of the congregation. Let them know that the whole amount is regularly paid into the church treasury, and not used by the pastor or lay worker as part advance on salary. It would be a good rule that anyone borrowing from the Church Fund must repay the loan with twenty per cent added to it (Leviticus
2/51).
Let all ministers be most scrupulous in handling Church money. All money voted from the Church Funds for buildings or repairs should be economically spent, scrupulously accounted for and faithfully audited. Remember St. Paul's example (2 Corinthians 8 : 20, 21). If the faithful reverently make their offerings to God, those who receive them must handle them with equal reverence as in God's presence.
Men and women of good will may refrain from asking how their gifts are utilized. Very often, however, they wish to know where the money has gone. An annual statement of the contributions of the people and how they have been disbursed creates confidence, increases interest and helps further sacrificial giving.
Devise Methods Adapted to the Conditions of the People If the men of a congregation are largely educated men with monthly salaries, a system should be devised by which they can make their offering on the Sunday following pay-day. If the members are labourers living on daily wages, it ought to be possible to receive a portion of their wages daily or once a week.
A man who earns four annas a day can easily give a quarter of an anna to God, either by depositing it in a box or by handing it to the minister whenever he gets his wages. An anna in the rupee—that is, one-sixteenth of the income—is an easy proportion for any Christian to adopt.
In the West, the Duplex Envelope system is very largely in use. Persons getting monthly salaries put into one side of this envelope what they wish to give for the support of the local Church and its ministry; and into the other side what they contribute to foreign missions.
God's money-boxes can be similarly devised with two compartments and two slits—" for Church" and " for Missions "»—into which each household can deposit whatever the members wish to give.
For those who. receive their wages in grain, or who 'own land, the produce from which is used for home consumption, the easiest method is to set apart for God a handful of rice whenever a meal is cooked. The Church may provide distinctive bags, preferably marked with a cross; into this the handful of rice or other grain can
| be put. (The writer has found that if every woman in his Church learns to give the handful every time a meal is cooked, the minimum offering per family will be not less than one pound of grain per week—which would easily bring from Rs.2-8-0 to Rs.3-8-0 per family per year according to the grain used. This would be more than double the whole income now received from the people.*)
Gifts of Firstlings and First Fruits should be Encouraged The writer understands that cows and she-buffaloes ordinarily bear about five or six times in their lifetime; smaller domestic animals like sheep, goats, etc., even: more often. The dedication of the first calf, the first lamb, the first setting of eggs, readily appeals to the people, and enables them to contribute one-fifth to onetenth of the increase.
Similarly, the giving of the first month's salary, the first day's wages, the season's first income (e.g. transplantation, weeding, harvest, etc.) ought all to be definitely suggested and encouraged. The first pickings,
*The price of grain has greatly increased since 1939; but the principle here stated remains valid.—Ep.
the first vegetables from the kitchen-garden, the first pluckings of vegetables may all be lovingly offered to God in church.
The giving of tithes may be attractive to many people.
» One consecrated writer says that the Christian who dedicates himself to do his duty in the matter of Giving may begin with one-tenth.
If a man decides to give the tenth, he must apply the principle to all that he receives from every source. The salary must be tithed, as well as the income from the land and other sources. If a man gets Rs.100 a month he may at least begin with setting aside Rs.10 for the three objects which we indicated in a previous chapter.
If his garden brings forth a hundred mangoes, it is not too much to give ten to God. If he gets ten eggs, he can easily offer God one of the eggs. Ten bags of rice or wheat; one is God's and nine yours. Such a recognition given by a Christian to the claims of God on all items of income will certainly be the means of great spiritual blessing to himself.
A native physician, who decided to give to God a tithe of all his income, provided himself with an earthen pot and put into it a tenth of all his professional takings as they came in. At the end of the year, to his great surprise he found that he had in the pot Rs.28 and more; and this he joyfully handed to the pastor, instead of the two rupees which he had given regularly for years as his annual subscription.
The minimum income of a poor Christian family in the Telugu country has been given to me as about Rs.120 a year—the average probably is near Rs.200 a year. If each family began to give for the support of the Church a half of the tithe (the other tithe being for the poor, for missions, etc.), that is, one-twentieth of the income, the contributions to the Church would rise from Rs.2 to Rs.6 per family per year. This, if given, would support the entire work now carried on by the Church, including
that which depends on grants from Government and — from the Missionary Societies !
Freewill Offerings Syrian Christians* have an age-long custom by which one-twentieth of the dowry exchanged at marriages goes to the Church Funds, and another twentieth to the pastor. If Indian Christians dedicated to God as thankoffering one-tenth of their marriage expenses and onetenth of the dowries exchanged, the Church coffers would certainly be full to overflowing!
~ In some Churches, an annual Thank-offering Day is observed, when heads of families come and offer on the Holy Table what each has determined in his own heart to give to God that year. Women may also have a separate Thank-offering Day when they make their special offerings. This also appeals to the Indian people.
Much is made of such a day in many places. The neighbouring clergy are called in, special addresses are given, the church and the village. are specially decorated to mark the day—and the people rise to the occasion. In some places, with a view to stopping the habit of delay in the payment of money promised, the clergy refuse to take any money from anyone who is not present on the day to offer his gift in ready cash on the table.
Harvest Festivals,"or Ingathering Festivals These are a great feature in most rural churches. Even in town churches, the sense of our dependence on the heavenly Father for all good things is so strong that the Harvest Festival is one of the most popular services of — the year. But there is a danger of these services becoming artificial. Far better a small offering of flowers or eggs that the people have really raised in their own backyards than a much larger offering of goods that have merely been bought in the shops. And all offerings in kind at * The ancient Church in South-west India, believed by its members to have been founded by the Apostle St. Thomas,
a Harvest Festival should be related to God's good gifts in nature—in the fields, in the waters, in the home.
An Annual Harvest Thanksgiving Festival must really be an occasion for Harvest Thanksgiving. The best from _ the vegetable garden, one of the calves of the year from the cattle-shed, a hen with all her chickens just hatched, a few baby pigs have often been among the offerings at such a Festival in rural areas. If the congregations are given adequate time for preparation, people love to offer these with evident joy and satisfaction.
Almost every middle-class household in India makes some form of indigenous cakes for the light morning meal each day throughout the year. It has become the custom in some places for the women, each one according to her ability, to bring a single day's cakes to God on the Harvest Festival day. These are brought and offered at an early celebration of the Holy Communion and then sold to the people that gather for the Festival. This has been found to appeal to the women with special fascination. It reminds one of the meal offering of old, a dedication of "the kneading dough "—an offering to God for an odour of sweet smell.
Teach Simplicity of Living, Economy and Self-Control _ Dr. Merle Davis says: " 'The same enemies of society are at work in each Asian country in the form of extravagant social custom, easy credit, high interest rates and life bondage to debt. These enemies attend the family from one generation to the next, deprive it of the margin needed for Church support and delay the day of an independent Church.
"The practice of an additional group of cardinal virtues needs to be preached—simplicity, economy, selfcontrol. These qualities should be the theme of frequent sermons, of Sunday School lessons, of classes for catechumens and enquirers, and should be made synonymous with the Christian life.'"* 1 Mission Financial Policies, p. 93.
The evils that are common in certain communities in India must also be attacked, the attack being based always on the truth of the Gospel. Such evils are drink, with its attendant ills of drunkenness and quarrelling, extravagant marriage expenses, large dowries, keeping one's children in school and college beyond one's means, and so incurring heavy debts. Teaching should be followed up by a direct appeal in terms of Christian duty and responsibility.
The Church of Christ, if it is to discharge efficiently its God-given task, needs edifices for worship, ministers to shepherd the believers, evangelists to carry the Gospel far and wide, teachers to instruct the new converts, social activities to reach out to those who cannot otherwise be. touched. These needs cannot be met without the expenditure of money; and God does not provide goldmines in Church lands to be utilized for these purposes. All this programme of work depends upon the gifts of God's people. If God's people will not exercise economy and self-control, and offer their money for these purposes, the work simply cannot be done. We become guilty not only of extravagance and self-seeking, but also of hardheaded indifference to God-given opportunities for the service of the Kingdom of Christ.
Information as to methods of Giving found useful by Christians of one land ought to be made available to other lands to encourage healthy rivalry.
Here, for instance, is a list from China. Local SOUTCES of income are :— 1. Sunday offerings.
2. Annual pledges redeemed on a fixed Collection Day.
3. Group offerings—Sunday Schools and Societies' which contribute to Church Funds through their group organizations.
4. Thank-offerings, such as birthday offerings, etc.
5. Children's offerings.
6. Contributions from absent members. These were written to and gifts obtained from them for the Mother Church.
Contributions from farm produce.
Lord's Acre plan—the income of Church lands _ cultivated under a system of co-operative comcoé
munal farming.
9. Tithe of incomes.
10. Animals or poultry raised by members for Church.
The Church in the Philippines adds to these :— 1. Every member canvass, in which the elders of the Church obtain a promise of a gift from every man, woman and young person in the congregation.
2. Institutes and Conferences, to discuss with local leaders the Christian duty of Giving.
3. Classes in Stewardship, where the seiner! basis of all Giving is regularly taught.
4. Literature on Stewardship—leaflets and pamphlets, some illustrated—to bring home the duty of Giving.
Systematic Teaching on Giving based on Holy Scripture is Bound to be Effective in the Long Run The Self-Support Conference held in Nagpur in July,
1938, said: "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 Christian stewardship on New
- Testament lines can bring about a realization of their obligation to sacrificial giving. The evidence placed before the Conference is such that we must confess that these constitute the greatest needs everywhere at the present time. If, through the working of God's Holy
Spirit and faithful teaching in this subject, Christians
could be roused to do their duty to Christ and His Church in the matter of giving, the Conference is convinced that far more than what is necessary for the support of the ministry could be provided by the indigenous Church itself."
| The example of the Church in Korea leads us to the same conclusion. Bible Study and Systematic Giving always go together. So it was in Antioch (Acts 11 : 25-30); so it is to-day in Korea. 'The same source of inspiration and authority is available also to every Church throughout the world.
It is to help pastors and other leaders in this task that we have compiled this book, with its Lessons on Giving.
May God's Holy Spirit send it forth in its mission to quicken, to inspire and to compel all readers to give to"
God that which is God's, and thus to become fellowworkers and partners with God in hastening the coming of His Kingdom.
THE AUTHOR
V. ne Aouad .
(1874-1945) was the first Indian Bishop of the Anglican Church in India. As Bishop of Dornakal he was a much-loved
'bishop and leader of the Church known to Christians in many parts of the world.
A great evangelist, a great builder of the Church, a : great Indian, Bishop .
Azariah earned the right to speak to his fellowChristians of whatever race or country because he was a dedicated man who had learned the lesson of total — surrender to the will of i ae God.
WORLD CHRISTIAN BOOKS
(Sponsored by the International Missionary Council) is a series of short, simply-written books dealing with the doctrine, life and practice of the Christian
Faith, designed for world-wide —— Bishop Stephen Neill, General Editor of 'the series, is assisted by eight advisers in different areas of the world, who study the manuscripts sent in, making suggestions ~ on them for the benefit of the general reader.
The missionary organizations of the United States, Canada, — Europe and Britain are co-operating in this venture, as well as National Christian Councils in different parts hai the world.
The first five books:
(1) THE CHRISTIANS' GOD
by Bishop Stephen Neill —
(2) CHRISTIAN GIVING
| by the late Bishop aeariah of Dornakal, South India
(3) RELIGION AND SCIENCE
by Canon Charles Raven
(4) STUDYING THE BIBLE TO-DAY
; by the Rev. D. T. Niles, of Ceylon, ~ the World Council of Churches rs
(5) THE CHRISTIAN AS CITIZEN
. by Professor John GC. Bennett, Union Theological Seminary, New ¥ork St
ee,
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