Tuesday, January 15, 2008
the offering
I was on holiday on Sunday and decided to pop along to Opawa. It was a wierd thing, turning up 1 minute early to the church you pastor, sneaking into the back row, simply to worship.
A neat thing happened during the offering. The money was collected, and then it was stated that one of our families was leaving to go and be a youth pastor at another church in another city. So the family were invited to come to the front because they were our offering.
It seemed so appropriate. This family have been one of our plus 5 interns. As an intern, we have supported them financially through there training, in there case probably some where near 14,000 dollars. We have also provided supervision by our staff for them, and offered yearly reviews of their ministry and progress, as a way of trying to partner in their growth and development. We have invested in them, and now they are leaving. We are the poorer and the church has just “made a loss.”
But the Kingdom will be blessed and so they are just as much an offering as every coin and automatic payment was that morning. Go well Warwick and Rebecca and Alyssa and Georgia Rose.
)
Thanks for the comments Steve. It is a refreshing thing to hear. I fear when I hear people talking about “investing in people”. It sounds too much like business talking. Unfortunately, I have been on the wrong side of this. We had been in a long discussion with our former church about our ministry overseas and were told that the church had invested x number of years (as well as finances) into us and were concerned about the return on their investment. Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought we gave cheerfully and leave it up to God? I must confess I am struggling with this and cringe whenever I hear about investing in people, as if they are some kind of commodity to trade in. Thank you for your honesty about losing people you have trained and cared for and thank you for looking at their leaving as an offering. I also appreciate your thinking beyond the walls of your building. Blessings
Comment by wokboy — January 20, 2008 @ 10:32 pm