Core Beliefs

The following are Core Beliefs around giving and generosity at Life.Church. However, we encourage you to prayerfully identify and define your own core beliefs that will govern conversations around generosity at your church.

• God owns it all, and He provides everything we need to accomplish His purpose.
• Generosity is what we want forpeople, not fromthem.
• The tithe comes first and is followed by irrational generosity. (We believe that tithing is set out and defined in the Old Testament in Malachi 3, and affirmed by Jesus in the New Testament in Matthew 23.)
• We are bold and unapologetic about giving and generosity, but we are not asking for money.

Our Approach to Generosity Conversations

Preparation and Mindset

• Being prepared is key, and the first step in that preparation is to seek God.
• It all starts with relationship.
• Know your audience—whether that’s one person or one thousand. A great tool we use to define different audiences from a giving perspective is our generosity pyramid.

• For some, giving may not be their next step. For example, for someone who has never attended church before and is questioning if there is a God, their next step may be to show up to church again next week.
• Hesitancy to give may be the symptom of a deeper root issue.
• Let God own the outcome.

Generosity FAQs

The following are a few of the questions we get asked most frequently. They provide a good starting place as you begin to build a framework for equipping others to step boldly into conversations about giving and generosity.

1. What if I give, just not to the local church?
2. Why should I trust your church with my money?
3. I’m in a lot of debt. What should I do about giving?
4. I want to give, but my spouse doesn’t. How should I handle that?
5. Should I tithe on gross or net income?
6. What if I give my time instead of my money?
7. Isn’t tithing an Old Testament concept?

Personal is Powerful

We also believe that your own generosity story is a key tool for having generosity conversations. The great thing about your personal story is that it isn’t offensive. It’s sharing what God has done in your life. Here are a few hints to help you prepare to share your story with others.

• Write it out.
• Practice sharing it with others on your team.
• Be ready at a moment’s notice.

Tensions

We also believe there are certain tensions that are okay to live in. There are areas and conversations that don’t have a “right” answer, but must be constantly weighed and processed in each individual situation. For example, when talking with someone who is in debt but wants to give, we know that while Jesus said not to live in debt, He also reaffirmed the tithe. That’s why we say that it all starts with relationship. For this reason, asking questions, gaining context, and having the ability to live in certain tensions are keys to meaningful conversations about giving and generosity.