Dear Ray,
What would generosity become if there were no religious establishment to maintain?
No building debt.
No platform to enlarge.
No institutional reputation requiring another campaign.
What if we began with the people before us and allowed Christ’s life to supply our response?
Acts 4 describes possessions being made available so that needs could be met. In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul writes about generosity toward believers in need, willing participation, and responsible handling of what is given.
The money had a destination in human lives.
We have become accustomed to a different starting point. The institution determines its needs, establishes a budget, and asks the people to support what must continue.
The building needs repairs. The staff must be paid. The program must expand. The work must remain visible.
Soon the preservation of the arrangement becomes the practical meaning of faithfulness.
A person may give generously while the struggling brother beside him remains unknown.
I wonder what would happen if the whole question became personal again.
Who cannot pay the rent?
Who needs transportation?
Who has been caring for someone without relief?
Who is ashamed to mention that there is not enough food?
These needs do not become less spiritual because they cannot be turned into an impressive report.
Nor should help become a means of possessing the person who receives it.
A gift does not buy influence. It does not establish the giver’s right to direct someone’s decisions or require a public display of gratitude.
If my generosity makes another person answerable to my wishes, the self has taken possession of the giving.
Paul’s concern for honorable handling of the collection is also important (2 Corinthians 8:20–21). Depending upon the Spirit does not mean asking people to trust opaque arrangements.
We can keep clear records. We can let more than one person see what is received and where it goes. We can answer questions without treating them as spiritual suspicion.
Honesty serves fellowship.
It does not need to become another hierarchy.
The giver must also remain free. Second Corinthians 9:7 rejects compulsion. We cannot appeal to divine life while manipulating people through guilt, fear, or promises of personal prosperity.
Christ’s supply does not need those methods.
Ray, I am drawn to the possibility of generosity without an empire behind it.
A meal arrives.
A bill is paid.
Someone receives time to rest.
A brother discovers that his difficulty has become something others are willing to carry with him.
These acts do not create the body. They express the life already shared within it. Zoe becomes visible through ordinary care.
There may be no building to display and no ministry name to print on the gift.
There may simply be a person who is less alone.
That is more substantial than another successful campaign to preserve what we have constructed.
Let the money serve the members.
Let the members live from Christ.
Your brother,
Brent
