In addition to being the founding pastor of The Ridge Fellowship, I’m also a financially contributing member.  I give at least 10% of my pre-tax income to this church, and I wanted to share some of the reasons why.

1.  I believe in the mission of this church. I’m proud to be a part of a church that cares about reaching people that are disconnected from God and church.  I’m proud to be a part of a place where the mission is to help people know Christ and grow to be like him. Every time I hear a story about a family put back together or a teenager who decides to follow Christ or a man who gets back into church, I know that my contributions played a small part in that. People’s lives are being changed and this church is a part of that. Jesus said that our treasure would follow our heart, so because my heart is with this church, I want to financially support it.

2. I want to be an example to my children.  I can’t complain about the younger generation, if I’m not helping to lead them.   Like you, I don’t want selfish children, caring only about their phones, clothes, and friends. I want my kids to care about other people. That’s not going happen by accident, I have to be intentional about modeling that.   I cannot tell them to care about others and then spend 100% of my paycheck on our own needs and wants.  If I want my kids to be generous then I need to be as well.

3.  I give because God tells me to trust him by giving and blessings will follow. In the Old Testament, God explains to his people that they should tithe, which is ten percent of their income and he would pour out blessing.  In the New Testament, Jesus talks a lot about giving and money.  Paul writes a lot about money.  He tells believers this: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  Every month, we automatically give to our church because that honors God.  We want to honor God, even when it’s difficult, even when things are tight. There have been times that we’ve gone without something, but we never cancel the contribution to the church.  Personally I’d rather rob the electric company before I robbed God.

Our family does most of our giving online. We use the Bill Pay feature from our bank and on our website under Online Giving, I checked “Building Fund” and chose to make my monthly contribution recurring.  It’s fast, convenient, automatic and it keeps me from forgetting to do what’s really important to me.

I want to encourage you to automate the important by setting up your online giving profile today by going to http://ridgefellowship.com/#/online-giving

Thanks and God Bless you as you automate your giving!

Darrell