Pastor's Blog: Generosity Saturday

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“Loving God and Living with Grace and Generosity” has been a hallmark of MBBC for several years now. I can’t think of a better statement of mission around which our congregation might focus our service. The twofold statement captures perfectly both the internal and external and the vertical and horizontal dimensions of our faith experience. 

Over the last couple of years we’ve engaged in a spring stewardship emphasis called, “Generosity Sunday.”  On this Sunday our church has responded with a special offering intended solely to express our gratitude for God’s generosity to us and to posit the potential financial power of our church if everyone were to commit on one Sunday a tithe of his or her income. 

While this emphasis is a good way to emphasize that financial aspect of our discipleship, we need to do more to underscore as well the other aspects of stewardship – in particular our stewardship of our time and talents. Giving of our financial resources is a very good thing, but a comprehensive approach to discipleship doesn’t discount the sacrifice of the other important parts of what it means to follow Jesus. Sometimes people give of their money in order to avoid giving of their time and talents. Such a truncated approach to stewardship fails to develop strong disciples and does not best advance Christ’s cause in the world. That’s why our church created a fall stewardship emphasis that we’ve termed “Service Day.” 

It’s a good term; there’s nothing wrong with it at all.  But I’ve been thinking of rebranding it because of how other churches in our area use a similar term for their community outreach emphases and there’s no real need for us to replicate the reference. Besides, if generosity is what we’re primarily after as a body of Christ, then why not speak of the day where we offer our time and talents in a way the supports our overarching theme?  Why not call it “Generosity Saturday?”

This year’s day is October 20, which is right around the corner. You’ve seen “Fall Service Day” flyers around the church. (There is also an online form at www.mbbc.org/serviceday). Now, we need you to fill one out so that we can make sure that we have enough talented people stewarding their time in order to support community partners.  As with previous days, there’s something for everyone, regardless of your age or skill level. All we need are folk to step up to this level of stewardship on this particular day.

So, I invite you to join me in making this day another indication of how we take our church’s mission most seriously. Like you, there are a thousand other things I could be doing on October 20, but I am choosing to be present on this particular day to make a statement along with others as to the impact our church can have when we all come together for a greater good. I know we are in fact a generous people, and I look forward to how this latest expression of our generosity will bear an even stronger witness to our love for God and our love for neighbor, which is exactly what Jesus calls all disciples to do.

“Be very careful then how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:15-16).