Many factors go into how we utilize our Time, Talent and Financial Wealth. Jesus tells all who will hear, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” There are many competing voices for our heart. Many of us pour ourselves into many great causes and we can celebrate those gifts of the heart. At Dunnellon Presbyterian Church we understand that. Nevertheless, we also acknowledge that God teaches us about both earthly treasure and heavenly treasure. God does not want us to want for those things we need, but God also doesn’t want us to want for more than we need. We store treasure in heaven when we invest our time talent and financial wealth in that which is pleasing to God; deeds of mercy and deeds of kindness to persons in distress.
Storing our treasure in heaven involves simply living life with open hearts and open hands. By open hearts it means we have a heart that God has – one for the poor, the weak, the disenfranchised, and the marginalized. Open hands mean that we live life with a loose grip mentality so that our earthly goods are not used for our own contentment, but rather are used to have an impact on those who are less fortunate for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Participants in our congregation are given the opportunity to complete inventories that help us think about our time commitments and our talents. Those are then used to help develop teams to accomplish God’s work through the congregation. We also encourage participation in the congregation through the giving of a self-determined portion of their wealth for the greater work of the congregation. We never name a percentage of income/wealth one should offer to God through the church, but we do rely on the maxim that God requires us not to give equally but to each give sacrificially. That may mean a person on a fixed income from Social Security might give $17 a week, while a person who has accumulated wealth and a hefty retirement might need to give $500 per week to sacrifice equally. We are not the judge of your financial giving. The way we account for your gifts gives no one person the opportunity to know the amount of your giving and the ministry staff has no knowledge of your financial giving. It is simply a matter between you and God,
We try to make financial giving easy offering two ways of giving electronically directly (see the buttons below), through your financial institutions’ electronic payment system, and checks and cash in the offering plates on Sunday. For those of you who need to take mandatory distributions from your IRA’s we even have ways of helping you give through them that renders the distribution free of income taxes.
Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
