God’s Collection Centres

I know I should honour the LORD with my substance. Is the church the only channel through which one gives to God?

Funds collected from taxation have been used by nations to carry out many functions. Most modern governments use taxes to fund welfare and public services. These services can include education, health care, pensions for the elderly, unemployment benefits, and public transportation. Energy, water, and waste management systems are also common public utilities. A nation’s tax system is often a reflection of its communal values or the values of those in power.

Governments use different kinds of taxes and varying tax rates. If you work for an employer, tax is usually collected under the pay as you earn (PAYE) scheme. This means the tax you owe is automatically deducted from your pay by your employer and sent to Inland Revenue.  Many fill out a self-assessment tax return.

Value-Added Tax, VAT, is usually administered by requiring the providers of goods or services to complete a VAT return form, giving details of VAT it has been charged (referred to as input tax) and VAT it has charged to others (referred to as output tax). The difference between output tax and input tax is what is payable to Inland Revenue. 

Governments make the payment of taxes mandatory and hold employers, businesses, and companies as collection agents. Although giving – donation – is voluntary in The Kingdom, it has its own designated collection agents. Our heavenly Father, the King, expects us, His children, to be knowledgeable in Kingdom finances and economics and the dynamics of how it all works together for good. We’re to respond to His love and wisdom.

In the modus operandi of the Kingdom, for example, we are instructed to never worry about the basic necessities of life: what to eat, what to drink or what to wear, and perhaps in the light of modern-day pressures, where to live or what to drive: not Kingdom concerns but the pursuits of pagans. Our heavenly Father “certainly knows we have need of them. But first, be concerned about His kingdom and what has His approval. Then all these things will be provided for you”¹

Kingdom-minded citizens (for it is possible to be a Kingdom citizen and not be Kingdom-minded) understand, just like Abraham², David³ and Paul⁴ did, that whatever we have to offer to the LORD has come from the LORD.

When Isaac asked his dad, Abraham, about the lamb for sacrifice, the response he got was a remarkable demonstration of faith: “Son, God will see to it that there’s a sheep for the burnt offering.”². So, giving is totally voluntary, based entirely on self-assessment, under ‘Give As You Earn’: “Each of us must make up our own minds about how much to give. God loves people who love to give.”⁵

Types of giving

a. Upkeep of Meeting-place for Your Community of Faith

Believers operate in communities which are called various names: community of faith, church, house church, or fellowship. These communities require budget to run. Meeting facilities, staff, equipment and communal services and activities must be paid for. Believers must contribute to the running of their faith communities.  

b. Value-Minded Giving is what Believers do to those who labour to make them understand God’s word. These may be at local faith community level or beyond. The Kingdom’s constitution at Galatians 6:6 (NLT) stipulates that ‘those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them’. 

1 Corinthians 9:11 (GW) buttresses: “If we have planted the spiritual seed that has been of benefit to you, is it too much if we receive part of the harvest from your earthly goods?” 1 Timothy 5:17-18 (GW) demands that we “give double honour to spiritual leaders who work hard at teaching the word of God.

The Scripture says, ‘never muzzle an ox when it is threshing grain’, and ‘the worker deserves his pay.’”

c. Giving to Charity

Giving to the poor is likened to lending to the LORD and we are assured of a good return⁶. Psalm 41:1-3 elaborates on the payback mode of God’s Surrogacy Scheme:

Blessed is anyone who cares for the poor and the weak; in time of trouble Yahweh rescues him. Yahweh protects him, gives him life and happiness on earth…Yahweh sustains him on his bed of sickness

According to our Lord Jesus⁷, whenever we give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty; show hospitality to strangers; clothe the naked; visit the sick and prison inmates and (in the light of our answer to last week’s question on the priority of The Kingdom) educate the ignorant and knowledge-impoverished we are, really, giving to minister to (or, serve) Him: the Lord would be mirrored in every life, each person being in His image. The goal is to be helped to mature into His likeness.

The Promise

“For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints (by contributing to the support and comfort of the poor Christians who were suffering persecution in Judea)—and you continue to serve them”. Hebrews 6:10-11 HCSB)

An Example

Cornelius was praying one day when he received an angelic visitation in which he was told, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and harkened to, and your donations to the poor have been known and preserved before God [so that He heeds and is about to help you]. And the outcome was visible to all: divine direction, guidance that led to his salvation and of everyone in his family. (See Acts 10 AMP)

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This is a revised article, the original of which was first published on 9 August 2009 in my Making Sense of Life column in The Nation on Sunday, a Nigerian newspaper.