As you’ve walked into the Gathering Place recently, you’ve noticed hearts decorating our walls. These aren’t just decorations—they’re reflections from our community answering the questions from our weekly heart cards. I encourage you to continue sharing the desires of your heart as we move into this final week of discovering Extravagant Generosity.
Today, I want to invite you into a deeper conversation about generosity. Not just because our church needs financial support, but because we need the spiritual growth that comes from giving extravagantly.
Two Questions to Ponder
Before we go further, consider these two questions:
● Why do I give?
● Who benefits most from my giving?
What Scripture Teaches Us
Two passages have shaped the church’s understanding of giving across generations.
Malachi 3:10 reminds us: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse… Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
And Matthew 6:21 teaches: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
There’s that word again: heart.
The Truth That Changes Everything
The real motivation for generosity is not the church’s need for funds, but rather our need to give so that we can grow in our faith.
Think about how you express love to those you hold dear. You give gifts, time, energy, yourself. Our financial support of our church works the same way. It’s a reflection of our love for God, an expression of our maturity as disciples, and a revelation of our real priorities in life.
Second Corinthians 9:7-8 tells us: “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”
What Does Extravagant Generosity Look Like?
Bishop Robert Schnase writes: “Extravagant does not correspond with giving that is merely dutiful, required, or burdensome. Extravagant denotes a style and attitude of giving that is unexpectedly joyous, without predetermined limits, from the heart, extraordinary, and propelled by great passion. Extravagant Generosity is giving to God as God has given to us.”
It’s February—the month we celebrate hearts and love. How fitting, because giving the way God intends is not a matter of how much we have in our accounts. It is a matter of the depth of God’s love in our hearts.
Moving Forward Together
I believe Resurrection is poised for a paradigm shift about stewardship—one that will help us recognize the power of our generosity for those who worship here today AND for those who will worship here in the future.
This is abundant giving—as much about attitude as it is about amount, as much about quality as it is about quantity.
Next Sunday, you will be invited to complete your commitment card for the coming year. This is not about pressure. This is about demonstrating that extravagant generosity begins with extravagant love—and that love transforms everything it touches.
Thank you for your open hearts and your commitment to helping Resurrection become a community defined not by scarcity, but by abundance—the abundant generosity of God that flows through us to a world in need.
In Christ’s Liberating Love,
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Sharri L. McGlauthing
Sharri@ResurrectionMCC.org