WAYS TO GIVE
Money gives orders. It desires to be our boss. No matter what age we are or stage of life we are in money seeks to control us. This is the point Jesus makes in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Maybe Jesus spoke about money more than any other topic because He knows its desire is to rule us.
Jesus shares the secret of mastering money: Be generous with it and you will not lack. “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure, you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). As God gives to us, we are to then turn and give to others. Your level of generosity toward others is the level of generosity God will have toward you. This principle does not make sense in our economy. In God’s economy, it makes perfect sense. The question is do we believe Him?
Being a sacrificial giver is what Christ-followers are called to be. How do we, in this stage of life become a sacrificial and generous giver? Here are some starting points.
26) Make a Budget. The most strategic thing a person can do to increase their giving capacity is to make a budget. Resources at this age and stage can be limited, but you must be diligent to create healthy habits of spending, saving and investing. Although the idea of budgeting might seem like it could drain the fun out of your life, it is important to have a solid understanding of your overall financial picture. The first step is to talk to your parents. If you receive some financial help from your parents, it is important to understand what expenses, they plan to cover. Next look at your food, clothes, car and entertainment expenses on any given month. As you do, consider categorizing each expense as either a need or a want. For example, most people spend 10% of their budget on food each month. If you think ahead and plan your meals over time you will free up a significant amount of money.
One student at the University of Oklahoma, after he made a budget, was in awe at how much he spent just on entertainment. He made the decision to cut back on movies and even some concerts. That single decision added up to almost $200 a semester! He recognized other areas he could easily cut in order to free up another $40 a month. His next step was to connect with a missionary family and to join their support team for $50 a month. He was only a sophomore! Now he feels a sense of partnership with this family, receives their updates, and prays for them. There’s a relationship that comes with the investment. Spending the extra money on himself is no longer a temptation.
No matter how much or how little money you can be flexible with, all finances come from God and it's our responsibility to faithfully and prayerfully steward it. You may have a little now, but someday you will make more money. If the mindset and habit of giving sacrificially are in place, you will transition well to your new financial situation and budget. When you are faithful with little, you will be faithful with much.
For a more detailed list on making a budget as well as a budget spreadsheet to get started click here.
27) Get Inspired. As the saying goes, "Salvation is free, but ministry costs a lot!" Gospel Patrons is a landmark book that will inspire you to increase your giving. It tracks the lives of John Newton, William Tyndale and George Whitefield. Gospel Patrons focuses on the story of how each one had significant donors who invested in them and sacrificed to enable them to change the world. You will be inspired as you read and realize the importance of the giver is no less than the goer! Indeed, behind every great movement of God stands a few generous men and women called ‘gospel patrons.’ This book invites us to believe God, step out, and serve the purposes of God in our generation. For more on Gospel Patrons including a list of giving resources, click here.
28) Buy a Friend a Goat. It happened to Kyle. In his mailbox on his birthday there was a card from his best friend. He opened it to find his friend had purchased a goat! The card was a thank you from World Vision for the $85 donation made in Kyle’s name. The goat was given to a family in Zambia. A healthy dairy goat can give up to 16 cups of milk a day. This simple animal can be a life-changing gift to a family by providing income and a source of food. Giving options range from a chicken starting at a donation of $25 all the way up to a $700 dairy cow. The animals and prices of each are endless. This year instead of a gift card to Starbucks give a gift that could change a family! For more information on buying a friend a goat visit Donate.WorldVision.org.
29) Take Someone or a Group Through a Study on Giving. The Church began in Jerusalem and, through the missionary efforts of Paul, spread throughout Europe. Paul loved the believers in Jerusalem and when they needed financial help, he petitioned the church to give. Paul took his third and final missionary journey and travel through Europe pleading with the churches to give a generous financial donation to take back to the church in Jerusalem. This donation was so important to Paul he takes two chapters in the Bible to explain it.
In 2 Corinthians 8-9 Paul tells the wealthy, Corinthian believers how much other less affluent churches throughout Europe had given to the church in Jerusalem. He challenged the Corinthian church to out give the other churches in a donation to the Jerusalem church. Read these two chapters. What do you observe about Paul’s passion for giving? What do you observe about what God desires from our giving? Many churches in Europe looked past their need to help others. How can we earnestly share in the privilege of what God is doing globally even in the college years when there is little to offer financially?
Paul challenges us with these words, “The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.” - 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
He doesn't say, the wealthy giver or the poor giver. He says the cheerful giver! God rewards the cheerful giver. Your financial status is not a factor to God. Your heart is. Here is helpful guide to put together a study on giving.
30) Help End Bible Poverty. The Bible is the most read, sold, stolen and translated book in the world. The New Testament has been translated into 2,256 languages. To put this in perspective, The Adventures of Pinocchio comes in second with 260 translations. Even with all the unbelievable progress there are still 1,713 languages with zero scripture. We call this Bible Poverty.
Ethnos360 is a mission agency founded in 1942 to work among the unreached peoples in the world. Ethnos360 missionaries enter a culture and spend years learning a language so they can translate the scripture for the local people. Once they have translated a certain amount of scripture, they print copies in a bound book to distribute. All this costs money! From start to finish the process to print the New Testament is $277,000 per people group. To break it down even more, each verse is $35 to translate.
Think about what your walk with God would be like if you had no Bible in your language? No way of knowing the truth? No way of knowing Jesus? This is the reality for over 350 million people today. To give toward ending Bible Poverty visit Ethnos360.org.
31) Relieve College Debt for Missionaries. The Go Fund was established for one reason: to relieve college debt for missionaries. The average college student graduates with $29,400 in debt. This is a major obstacle to going overseas. The Go Fund helps to solve the problem. To date The Go Fund is offsetting 71 different missionaries’ collegiate debt and has already assumed $3.7 million to pay off! For just $14 a month, you can become a "Ropeholder" and be paired with a missionary going to the unreached. Click here to learn more.
32) Become a Rainmaker. Go in to any convenient store and notice how many choices we have in bottled water. From Fiji to Aquafina the choices are endless. This does not even include the water available from the sinks. Now imagine you have no water options. This is the reality for one in three people in the world. Dirty water causes the death of a person every ten seconds. Water For Good seeks to change this statistic.
The average person in Central Africa uses 5 gallons of water per day (compared to the US rate of 100 gallons) which is often gathered from muddy streams and boreholes. Walking miles to collect water full of parasites is absolutely detrimental to people. In order to break the cycle of poverty, you must have access to clean water. Water For Good has drilled and maintained over 1,000 water wells in Central African Republic. Through their Rainmaker Project you can provide clean water to parts of Africa for $30, $60, or $120. Become a part of ending water poverty by clicking here.
33) Give to Pioneers’ relief fund. There is so much need right now in the world and it can be confusing and overwhelming to find the place to start. Here is a trusted way to give to the unreached who have been struck the hardest. Pioneers is a mission agency with over 3,000 missionaries on the field working with the unreached. Pioneers and its missionaries are responding with locally organized health efforts. Your gift will help fund projects on the front lines.
One Pioneers family, in a densely populated Asian city, is preparing emergency packets to drop off at homes in their impoverished community. Another Pioneers family is setting up hand-washing stations in front of bus stops in their city. Hundreds of people started using them. The local mosque said, “We’ve got hundreds of people coming in and out. Can you set one up here?” They ended up having the opportunity to go in the mosque, meet with the leaders, and pray in the name of Jesus with them.
Giving to missions is tied to economic prosperity. When the economy takes a hit, Christian giving takes a hit. The call to biblical generosity is counter to our human nature even at the best of times. Missions is more financially vulnerable than ever. To give to Pioneers’ relief fund visit Pioneers.org.
34) Host a Ramen Holiday. One bag of Ramen Noodles costs .25 cents. A bag of twenty-four costs $6. Joe was looking at his budget and realized he was spending $40 a month just on Sunday lunches! He then looked around at his friend group and realized it was true of every person. He decided to host a “Ramen Holiday!” What’s a Ramen Holiday? Instead of going out to eat, Joe invited people to come eat Ramen at his house for Sunday lunch and charged $10 per meal. He did all the cooking, and all the proceeds went to an overseas worker Joe knew. It was an easy and fun way to get his friends involved in God’s mission as senders!
35) Help End Slavery. When we think of slavery, we think of history class. Experts have calculated 13-million people were captured and sold as slaves between the 15th and 19th centuries during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Unfortunately, slavery is not just history. It is very much in our present. And it is more prevalent today than in our past.
Today, 46-million people all over the world are being held as slaves - that’s three times more slaves in the world than in the height of slavery in America. Some enslaved people are in bonded labor, while others are held in sex trafficking. Bonded slavery means they are working against their will and under threat, intimidation or coercion. Bonded Slaves produce clothes, make bricks or work in fields. This is most prevalent in Africa, followed by Asia and the Pacific. An example may be a Cambodian villager looking for a better paying job in a neighboring country, only to find himself held in bonded slavery on a fishing boat. Bonded labor accounts for 25-million enslaved people, of which 18% are children. Over four million slaves are sex trafficked, and half of these are children.
Justice Ventures International was started to end slavery! They have developed a comprehensive anti-human trafficking toolkit and advocacy manuals. They rely on lawyers and community members to help those being held in bonded slavery and sex trafficking. To learn more on giving toward ending slavery, click here.
36) Sponsor a Child. Sponsoring a child with food, schooling, and general well-being, especially a child you have never met, can seem like a huge step. Maybe it is the longer-term commitment or cost that may make you hesitant about even researching this option. Before vetoing this opportunity consider why this may be the perfect way for you to give. Rather than simply donating a sum to an organization, you will be personally connected with the cause. You will receive letters and updates from the child throughout the year and find yourself invested beyond just the money. You will see first-hand health improvements, learning improvements and even spiritual growth.
Right now, through the organization Compassion International there are approximately 260,000 children waiting for a sponsor. Consider what a commitment of $38 a month could do for the future of one child right now!
A college student named Reed stepped out and started to sponsor a child. He says, “I started sponsoring my child when I was 16-years-old. It was the best decision I ever made. Compassion has made a serious difference in her life and is an incredible cause. This organization focuses on every need that these children have: from food stability, to medical, to schooling, and a Christ centered life. I'm now 20-years-old and in college, and no matter how hard my finances can be, I know that I am able to take care of someone else, who needs $38 a lot more than I do.” Consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International. To sponsor a child visit Compassion.com.
37) Be Your Friend’s First Donor. Saying yes to go on a short-term mission's project is the first difficult thing to do. The second is raising funds to get there. Each summer approximately 2.2 million people go on a short-term project. The odds are one of your friends is one of them. What if you reached out to them, expressed appreciation for how God is using them and ask if you can have the privilege of being one of their first supporters. Not only will it exponentially increase their faith, but it will also allow you to receive their updates and pray for them all summer. They will come back changed and you will have played a pivotal part.
38) Create a Social Media Giving Tree. The average person spends 2 hours and 24 minutes a day on social media. What a fantastic platform to create a “giving tree.” Hannah from UC Santa Barbra had a friend who was going on a short-term trip to Central America for spring break and she wanted to help support her friend financially. Hannah decided to create an avenue where more people could join in sending her friend. She chose to utilize social media to post a “giving tree” on her Instagram story. She created an image with a certain number of spots at different giving amounts where people could choose to give. So many of her followers wanted to join in she had to post multiple stories with different “giving trees!” Hannah was able to financially support her friend by using her social media platform and inviting other people to give.
39) Put Out a Giving Jar. During a semester create a giving jar for your small group and pick a mission’s project to donate to. Each week you meet have your small group contribute to the jar. Liz did this with her small group, and they were able to collect $300 in one semester! It created momentum each week watching the money in the jar grow. At the end of the semester, they gave the money to one of their friends who was going oversees long-term. It was inspiring for them to see how their money was used to send a friend overseas. The next semester they started a new jar and you can too!
40) Host a Watch Party. Dylan was a student at Boston University. His friend invited a group over to watch a documentary called “Sheep Amongst Wolves.” At first, he thought it would be boring watching a Christian Missionary documentary but felt obligated to go. What he saw completely changed his paradigm. The documentary is about persecution of believers in parts of the Middle East in opposition to the Gospel, and the perseverance of missionaries overcome by the power of the Spirit. Afterward, the friend who had invited Dylan told him about a missionary in the Middle East who is experiencing some of these obstacles! It spurred Dylan to prayer and created a desire for him to give to the missionary. What a powerful visual tool to use to not only increase our faith, but our generosity as well! Click here to view the documentary.
41) Ask Your Local Church. Your church desires to see the Gospel spread and you should partner with them in their efforts. Ask the leadership what missionaries have been sent out by your church. Learn about them. Pick one to support. Kennedy did this her sophomore year of college. She asked her pastor if he knew any missionaries who were currently support raising. She was introduced to a couple and is now a part of their monthly giving team and supports the Gospel work they’re doing overseas.
42) Learn a Craft and Give. McKinley gained a heart for the world, specifically Malawi, Africa while in college. She wanted to raise money and awareness of the Malawi people. She decided to create bracelets to sell to friends and family and then give the proceeds to an orphanage run by missionaries. She learned to create something small that not only raised money for Malawian people, but also helped to grow other’s hearts for Malawi. We can support missionaries through simple acts like making braided bracelets. What could you learn to make to multiply funds for others?
43) Gather a Care Package for a Missionary. Put together care packages for a missionary that you know. Gather some of their favorite things they do not have access to overseas. Amelia did this for her friend Haley during Christmas. She included snacks that she enjoys and then she added some letters from friends she could open at different points during the year. Haley felt so cared for by this simple act. She knew she was not forgotten. Research a missionary and find out what they miss or just cannot find overseas. Get some friends and gather a care package. It will mean more than you will ever know.
44) Join a Campus Ministers Support Team. Brooks came to Christ through the Cru movement on his campus. He began meeting with the Cru campus minister weekly to further his growth. By his junior year Brooks was leading Bible studies, sharing his faith and discipling other guys. He just was not tithing. He justified not giving by reasoning that his parents were his primary source for income. He could not give. Then Brooks heard a challenging message on giving and decided to start, despite having little income. He thought of a great way to give back to the campus minister discipling him. He decided to join his personal financial support team for $50 a month.
Many campus ministers raise their own salary. What a testimony if you were to come alongside them and say, “As fruit of your ministry and knowing firsthand the impact you have, I would be honored to join your support team.” What a partnership as they pour into you, you can give back to them. Consider joining a campus ministers personal support team.
45) Host a Yard-Sale. We all have clothes and other items we do not wear or use anymore. Go through your closet and find items that you could sell. Recruit your friends to do the same and instead of selling these items on random sites, second-hand stores or simply giving them away, gather the items and host a yard-sale. Invite your friends, family, neighbors, and community to come to the sale and buy the items. Find a specific missionary and give the proceeds of the yard-sale to them. Imagine the impact you could have through recruiting friends who recruit their friends to join you in putting together a yard-sale!
46) Give Your Talents. We can give more than just money to help support missionaries. We all have gifts and talents God has given us to bless and support missionaries. Graham did this for his friends Thomas and Elizabeth who were missionaries in Asia. During a season of support raising Graham shared how he wanted to support them in a way other than monthly financial support. As a counselor himself, he gifted them with several counseling sessions. He did not know this, but they were in a season where they needed marriage counseling. This was a huge blessing to Thomas and Elizabeth, and they know they will be healthier on the field because of the counseling they received.
How has God gifted you? Maybe it is connecting missionaries with others or a word of encouragement or finding housing when missionaries are home from the field. Maybe it is babysitting the missionaries’ children when they are home on furlough or helping with tutoring. We can all give to missions through the giving of our gifts and talents.
47) Ask Your Pastor About Your Church’s Global Initiatives. Do you love the way your church ministers to people in your community? Then the odds are you will resonate with their ministry initiatives across the world! Many times, we do not realize it, but our churches are often active outside our own communities. Your pastor would love nothing more than for you to ask them for more information on ways to give to their global initiatives and partnerships. Learn what they are doing and join them.
48) Design Something. You can cast vision for giving by designing coffee cups, t-shirts, or stickers to educate or inspire people about the unreached. If people have something they can use, wear or put somewhere it keeps the unreached at the forefront of their minds. They will be reminded of the task still at hand. This is also helpful for people who may not know missionaries personally, but who still want to give!
Maggie is a sophomore with a heart for refugee outreach in her city. She researched and found seven major refugee groups that were located near her. She designed a t-shirt with the phrase “With You,” in all seven languages the refugees speak. Not only does this communicate to the refugees that they are not forgotten, but it also mobilized others to join in the refugee outreach and generated a funds from the t-shirt sales to put back into the refugee ministry. What would it look like for you to design something that creates momentum and even income to raise awareness for a cause or a missionary?
49) Sacrifice Something Each Week. Each month give up a few or more of something you love. Three lattes a month is $15! Loryn was a student at Kansas State University when she was impacted by God’s heart for the world. Although she felt like she did not have a lot of money to give, she realized she was spending just under $250 on lattes a semester. She decided to give sacrificially; she would cut out three lattes a week and give that extra money to one of her friends who was going to a summer discipleship project. She did not miss the lattes and her friend appreciated her generosity!
50) Take a Missionary to Lunch. Buy a meal or coffee for a missionary when they are home on furlough. Evan did just that when one of his missionary friends returned from India for the first time. The missionary got to share his stories of sharing the gospel and spiritual conversations he had with his Hindu friends. Evan asked questions and listened with genuine interest. Spending time and listening are some of the best ways we can love our missionary friends while they are home. Evan also had a chance to learn how he can be praying for his friend well.
SENDERS START THE STORY
In Romans 10:13-15 Paul asks four rhetorical questions starting with the unreached person responding to Christ. Paul then works backwards to show the process of this conversion becoming a reality. Paul says, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”
Look at how Paul flips the script. He says, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” The answer is they can’t. You must believe before you call.
Then he says, “How are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?” Again, the same answer… they can’t. You must hear the gospel before you are able to believe the gospel.
Then he asks the third question, “And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Again, the answer is they cannot. You must have someone change zip codes, learn the culture and language, and preach to them so they can hear.
Now look at the final rhetorical question Paul asks which is the first in the process since he is working backward. Paul asks, “And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” The answer again is a resounding they can’t! The one going cannot even get to those who have not heard unless the sender starts the process and gives sacrificially.
Simply put, there is no calling, hearing, believing, or preaching without the sending. Paul says the first domino to be tipped is the sender acting. The sender starts the story. Our generosity starts the story. Our generosity empowers the goer. Philanthropists will be remembered for giving to good causes...you will be remembered for giving to eternal ones.
