Step change in Christian generosity and Kingdom giving
You have received this newsletter because you have shown an interest in generosity and giving amongst Christians in the past. The purpose of this newsletter is to share how God is motivating Christians to live more generously, and to give you ideas of what you can do to encourage generous living and giving in your area of influence.
I was challenged by the UK government’s 2011 ‘Giving White Paper’ (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/giving-white-paper2.pdf). It states the UK government’s ambition is ‘to stimulate a step change in giving’ in the UK. This is very similar to the vision of the Global Generosity Network – to catalyse a global culture of Christian generosity and wise stewardship in support of global mission. Yes, we are aiming at a global step-change in Christian generosity and Kingdom giving! Chris Willard writes ‘Generous behavior by Christians validates what we believe about God and the Bible. Authentic generosity becomes magnetic to those who don’t yet believe in Christ’. Just think about the witness if we will see a step-change in Christian generosity and Kingdom giving…
The past few months we may well be seeing such a step-change in Christian generosity with Christian leaders wholeheartedly advocating generosity. Rev Niek Tramper, General Secretary of the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA), said for example during the EEA General Assembly in October ‘Generosity, the art of giving, should become common practice in churches in Europe’. 35 African leaders met in Ghana on the 25th of October to discuss the development of an African mission fund called the Missions Africa Trust Fund.
This newsletter reflects something of what is happening in different parts of the world:
- Nydia Garcia-Schmidt, Associate Area Director for America of Wycliffe Global Alliance and Global Generosity Network leader in Latin America reflects on a Biblical invitation to generosity. Nydia is working with a number of leaders to encourage generosity and giving in Latin America. They hope to launch a Latin America Generosity Campaign during the Ibero-American mission network leadership meeting in November.
- Daniel Jones of Stewardship in the UK shares what happened during a 40acts generosity campaign in the UK. The aim is to involve 100,000 people in this campaign next year. Why not join this campaign, and motivate others to do so? Or start a similar campaign in your country? This campaign might become a European-wide campaign in future as discussed by European Christian leaders who met on 20 April in the Netherlands.
- Adel Azmi, the GGN leader in the Middle East/North Africa reports on the Lausanne Middle East/North Africa (MENA) Younger Leaders Group conference in Lebanon in May. Generosity was one of the key themes during this conference.
- Finally I write on what could become a platform for a major step-change in mission giving in Africa.
But what next? How could you make a step change in generous living and Kingdom giving? I want to suggest the following as next steps:
- Sign the Generosity Declaration (http://generositymovement.org/network/) as your commitment to generous living;
- Start your generosity journey by signing up for the 40 Day electronic Devotional (http://generositymovement.org/category/resources/study_guides/);
- Encourage your church, ministry, business to sign the Generosity Declaration for Christian groups and bodies (http://generositymovement.org/network/);
- Encourage people around you to sign the Generosity Declaration;
- Start living generously! There are many resources on the generosity movement website (http://community.generositymovement.org/en/resources) and the Lausanne Global Conversation (www.lausanne.org/en/blog/1852-a-communion-of-giving-and-receiving-the-lausanne-standards.html) that will help you in this journey and to encourage others.
Please send us stories of how you are making a step-change in generous living and Kingdom giving. This will encourage and motivate others to do the same. May God bless you on this exciting journey.
Greetings in Christ
Sas Conradie
Coordinator Global Generosity Network ([email protected])