WHY GIVE?

God desires us to be good stewards of the lives He has given us, and one way we demonstrate this is through the stewarding of our finances. Not only should we be wise with all that we possess as believers, but biblical stewardship also involves the giving of what we call tithes and offerings as an act of worship to God, given to further His kingdom’s purposes.

GIVING IS A BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE

Interestingly, even before the giving of the Mosaic covenant, which ​codified Israel’s giving practices, Abraham gave a tithe - “a tenth of all” ​(Genesis 14:17-20, Hebrews 7:1-4). Throughout the Old Testament, giving ​illustrated God’s holiness, taught gratitude and concern for others to His ​people (e.g. Lev 27:30, Deut 15:10-11, Deut 16:17), and was intended to ​sustain the work of the LORD in the world (Ex 36:3-6, Deut 14:28-29, Mal ​3:10). In the book of Acts, believers in Christ gave of their possessions as ​offerings for the support of the various needs and ministry endeavors of ​the early church (e.g. Acts 4:34-35, 1 Cor 16:1-2, 2 Cor 8:2-5, 2 Cor 9:7). ​There seems deposited in this life an intrinsic gratitude-response to God ​for who He is by the giving of material possessions. In other words, we ​don’t give to receive favor or acceptance from Him. Instead, we behold ​Him in His goodness, holiness, and majesty, and we are overcome with ​the desire to lay ourselves, including our possessions, down before Him ​in adoration and in recognition that He is, really, the Creator and Owner ​of all things. A tithe is, simply, a set-aside portion - typically 1/10th - of ​the financial income which God has blessed us with in our lives. An ​offering is, simply, anything given over and above this tithe from our ​income.

WHAT IMPACT DOES IT HAVE?

Tithes and offerings are used in many ways in a church today. First, they ​help to support the running expenses and active ministries of a church. ​Second, at our church, a percentage of all these gifts is given to our ​baptist state convention, Oklahoma Baptists. Then, Oklahoma Baptists ​keep and use a portion of this, which goes to support our various state ​ministries, such as Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma Baptist Homes ​for Children, and Pregnancy Resource Centers (Hope Pregnancy Center,​ thinkimpregnant.org) - see oklahomabaptists.org/cooperative-program​ for more details. The remaining portion is forwarded to the Southern ​Baptist Convention (SBC), which goes to support the various national and ​global ministries of the SBC, such as the International Mission Board ​(IMB), the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and others such as our ​six SBC seminaries, training future pastors and missionaries for ministry.

The main takeaway is that every dollar given by us as a church family ​goes to support our own church, our own state ministries, and our ​ministries within the SBC at-large. When you give, every dollar supports ​local, state, and world missions.

Southern Baptists are zealous about fulfilling the Great Commission ​(Matt 28:18-20). As a result, the SBC is a cooperative of over 47,000 ​independent, freely-cooperating churches which has resulted in the ​largest missions-force in the world today dedicated to seeing as many ​people as possible be born-again by faith alone in Jesus Christ. It is so ​good to be part of God’s work through Southern Baptists as we seek to be ​faithful to Christ!