Most God-fearing people, both in Old Testament times and in this New Testament age of grace, have believed that a tithe of what God has allowed us to earn belongs to Him. It is sort of a universal principle of the stewardship of our increase, much like the Sabbath principle—one day in seven as a day of rest and worship—was commanded in the Old dispensation and is practiced by many in this age of grace, though not as in keeping a command. In the Old Testament, God’s people were required to bring more than one tithe per year; and in the world of New Testament grace living, many give a tithe as a starting figure while often giving much more than a tithe of their income.
“Faith-promise” giving is a common practice in many churches that are involved in aggressive missions programs, where church-planting missionaries are sent from local churches to “foreign” fields to “plant” churches, often where no church has been planted. This can be a costly venture—getting a missionary and his family prepared to go to another continent to establish a “beachhead” for the gospel. It sometimes requires well into the six-figure numbers. How is it accomplished? Often by “faith-promise” giving. That is, like-minded people of faith, wanting to co-labor with the missionary and his family, enter into a promise with God that if He brings in “x”number of dollars—whatever the person is willing to trust God by faith to bring in—then he/she will give that toward getting missionaries to the field. Any one church, at any given time, may have many people who are trusting God—by faith—to give through them to world missions what He has laid upon their heart to trust Him for.
As a young pastor, I had heard about this “faith-promise” giving principle or practice, which was originally attributed to Pastor Oswald J. Smith (1889-1986), founder and pastor of The Peoples Church in Toronto. Pastor Clifford Clark of Tulsa Baptist Temple had encouraged his church to participate in this way of giving to missions, and his church became a “model” of 20th-century missions giving. II Cor. 8 and 9 provides the Biblical basis for such giving. I pastored in Wichita, Kansas, in the early 1970s, not far from where Pastor Clark was based, and I listened with interest (and skepticism at first) to the testimonies of how God was blessing in getting missionaries to the fields (largely through the Baptist Bible Fellowship in those early years) through this method.
When God called me to Indianapolis to pastor Thompson Road Baptist Church, I was privileged to lead a church that, from its inception, was totally involved in missions—with a generous portion of the annual budget set aside for world missions. In 1981, God began to deal with my heart about challenging our church to give a “faith-promise” gift to God each year. We started out pretty slowly, but it caught on quickly. This was not a “pledge,” and no one would be asked to sign anything. If God did bring in an amount to cover my promise, usually unexpectedly, then I would give it to missions.
For more than 40 years now, our church has been practicing “faith-promise” giving; and we have a missions conference every year at which missionaries report as to how God has used them (and us) to plant churches. As a result, we have had the blessed privilege of co-laboring with scores of God’s choicest servants—some of them for 50 years, as they serve faithfully where God has put them. On our part, as well as on theirs, it has been a faith-ministry effort. God led us and enabled us to do what we thought we were unable to do; and it has been solely through faith. We never had a “wealthy” church, but we have always had a committed church with a heart for world evangelization. Our first conference keynote speaker introduced us to a saying that I repeated every year at missions conference time: “There was a man—they called him mad—the more he gave, the more he had.” As one of our members would often testify, “I shovel it out (faith-promise offering) and God shovels it back to me; only His shovel is a lot bigger than mine.” One conference speaker said, “Faith giving is the only way you can give more than you can afford.” And, “Only God can command the impossible and then make it possible for us to do.” And, “Faith giving is the way that everyone can give what God wants you to give.”
When the hungry and thirsty prophet, Elijah, commanded the widow to bring him a drink and a morsel of bread to eat, she thought his request was impossible. She had only enough at hand to fix her son and herself a cake to eat before they died. But she obeyed God and gave what she thought it was impossible for her to give, and she and her son “did eat many days.” ( I Kings 17:8-16)
So, as we begin a new year, how about a new motive and method of giving to God? By faith, try giving Him more than you think you can afford to give. Your mite just may become His Might!
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” (II Cor. 9:8)
YOU and GOD 