This page can also be downloaded as a PDF leaflet.
At GCG we are concerned about helping you to know, love, and follow Jesus; in that sense, we are really not interested in your money! Yet the Bible — including Jesus himself — has a great deal to say about money, since it is one of the key ways that our faith in Jesus is demonstrated. This leaflet is a brief summary of what the Bible says about giving.
Giving is the only antidote to materialism and leads to joy
When we give, we make a profound statement about who is God in our lives:
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 6.24-26
Giving shows the gospel
When we give, we show that we understand God’s love and entrust ourselves to his care:
Honour the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
Proverbs 3.9-10
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8.9)
Giving meets needs
When we give, we help to provide for those in need:
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
Proverbs 22.9
Giving is a spectacular investment
When we give, we store up treasure for ourselves in the eternal life to come — the greatest investment we can make:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6.19-21
How to give at GCG
Give as a steward of God’s money
One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful with the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?
Luke 16.10-12
Give cheerfully
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Give regularly
Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up…
1 Corinthians 16.1-2
Give generously according to your means
And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Mark 12.43-44
For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
2 Corinthians 8.12
Practically…
Anyone is welcome to make one-off gifts to GCG at our website: gracechurchgateshead.org/give.
We ask that GCG members prayerfully consider how much they can cheerfully give to GCG, and then set up regular giving through Stewardship at: give.net/20152330 or by asking us for a paper form. If you are a UK tax-payer Stewardship can claim Gift Aid on your behalf, which will enable GCG to receive an extra 25% on your giving, at no extra cost to you.
As a church committed to church planting, we have pledged to give 10% of our congregational income towards supporting church planting around the world. If you have any queries about giving, please contact us.
Praise God for the opportunity he gives us to invest in his Kingdom!
To read more about what the Bible has to say about giving, we recommend reading The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn.