An Invitation to Reconsider our Giving

I’m writing to you with an invitation. God has appointed His church to be the presence of Christ to a desperate and waiting world. He is assembling a family who is being built up into a temple, whereby the presence of God will fill the whole earth. The good news of the gospel is magnificent in its scope and its hope. We’re being invited into something grand.

But the way of this invitation is humble. We participate by giving. Giving our time, talents, and money to the church. It may feel a little anticlimactic, like when you open what looks to be a special envelope just to see it’s a credit card application.

But that’s the way that God works in the world. He uses counter-intuitive ways and means to accomplish His purposes. He sent His own Son to the world in the form of a poor, helpless baby, who spent his whole life in a posture of service, dying an ignoble death, all so we could have life. The invitation into giving is an invitation to imitate Christ. To ask how we can incur cost so that others might have new life.

The truth is that this temple that God is building—His church—is built in the mundane, everyday activities He’s called us to participate in. The Sunday gathering. The preaching of the word. The singing of songs. The prayers of people as they gather. Meetings over coffee. Lease payments and rental agreements. Speakers and travel arrangements. Prayer walks around parks. Out of tune family worship songs. These are the means by which God effects transformation—in us, in Richardson, and beyond.

Those everyday activities of the church are made possible by your regular tithes and offerings. God’s corporate Church, and our church, Mosaic, cannot accomplish their purposes without your faithful gifts. To that end, I want to remind you of the ways your giving furthers God’s kingdom in Richardson.

• People experience new life in Christ. The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is raising new life in our community!
• Christians are matured in environments like Bible Study, Passage, and Forge.
• Neighborhoods are engaged through the service and love of Gospel Communities.
• Marriages experience healing through the presence of faithful community and counsel.
• Children are discipled and families are equipped to disciple in Mosaic Kids.

That list could be a whole lot longer. But I hope it gives you a picture and may remind you of some things that may have begun to feel ordinary. God is working in these spaces that are sustained by your giving.

God uses your giving not only to accomplish change in the world, but also change in you. Through your giving, God changes who you are and what you value. When you give it makes it real to you that everything ultimately belongs to God. It challenges your values and allows you to put the priorities of the kingdom first in your life, perhaps more tangibly than anything else. Giving shapes you into a more fully formed disciple. It’s a discipline right there alongside reading your Bible or praying.

So I’m inviting you to change the world and to be changed by giving. Some of you who are receiving this letter aren’t regularly giving to Mosaic. Why not start today? What could it mean for you to build a rhythm of charitable giving that allows you to join in on what God is doing in and through Mosaic? You can listen to Kyle’s sermon on Radical Generosity, one of our aspirational values, and sign up to give today.

Some of you are regularly giving. Thank you for your generosity. Would you take a moment to consider if what you're giving is up to date? The past few years have brought a lot of life change. Some of us have moved homes or jobs. We may have added a commute or removed one as we’ve begun working from home. Inflation may have made us reevaluate our finances. Whatever the case, will you consider if your financial situation has changed since you’ve automated your giving?

And some of you give in exceptional amounts. Again, thank you. We know there is a lot of variation when it comes to compensation. You may be paid by commission and choose to make only one or two gifts a year. You may take stock of many charitable options that are before you before choosing one. We’re glad for you to be a wise steward of how you give your money. We know that exceptional or one-time gifts will not be a regular pattern. Yet we want to ask, would you consider the daily, ongoing operational needs of our church by some form of regular giving if it’s appropriate for your financial situation? We’re always glad for one-time gifts, but the predictability of recurring giving is a blessing when it comes to planning for future ministry.

Family, I’m writing to ask you to reconsider your giving. It’s one of many parts of your discipleship, but it’s an important one. Who might come to know God because of your generosity? What might God do? Join us in finding out.