gen·er·ous
1. Liberal in giving or sharing.
2. Characterized by nobility
3. Marked by abundance; ample
2. free from pettiness in character and thought,
3. full or plentiful
Generous in their praise of God and care of others.
Generous with their resources to fulfill a mission that is challenging, inspiring, and life changing.
Generous with their enthusiasm for the Body of Christ.
Generous with their hearts, their enthusiasm and their hospitality.
As we approach Lent, I hope you will develop some kind of personal habit or discipline that involves understanding that your life is so full you can afford to give in all kinds of ways to other people. I consider that to be baseline spirituality.
Generosity, or the lack thereof, is perhaps the most telling evidence of faith, character and values.
What do you think characterizes a generous church?
“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” Mother Teresa
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“What do I think characterizes a generous church?”
I must admit that like many, if not most, my thoughts, when first considering an answer for this question, went to money and to the story in the scriptures of the widow and her cheerful giving and her unselfish gifting of all that she had — her mites.
I wonder why that is…why it is that almost immediately and when the word “generous” is used with the word “church,” we think “money.”
I wonder why it is that when the word “generous” is used with the word “church” we couldn’t, first and foremost, think of the sports metaphor for “giving your all” — “leaving it all on the field” — in reference to serving and being of service to others rather than the giving money and then believing that your debt to God and the church has been paid.
Wonder what change of mind-frame it would take for the mites given by the widow to not represent money but to symbolize a person’s “leaving his or her all on the field” in service to others.
Wonder what change of mind-frame it would take for a person to consider him or herself a member of a “generous church,” not because of the size of the check he or she writes but because of the fact that he or she smiles so much and so often to strangers as well as to friends that his or her face actually hurts while also being tired.
…so…what do I consider the characteristics of a “generous church”?
1. …each person attending such a church realizes that the church is only as generous as he and/or she is generous;
2. …each person chooses to live generosity in a myriad of ways other than just the giving of money;
3. …each person is generous in the truest sense of the word to each and all other persons in the church;
4. …each person choose to live generosity each and every day of the week, not just on Sunday and/or when it is to his or her benefit or credit;
5. …living generosity is a way of life, a lifestyle that is so normal and so much a part of a person that it happens without thought and/or effort;
…and, in my thoughts, these are the most important characteristics of a “generous church”…
6. …a “generous church” does not live solely for and within its four walls;
7. …a “generous church” is an attitude that cannot be held and/or contained in its four walls;
8. …a “generous church” is bursting at the seams to get out there on the playing field called the world — not for itself, but for Christ — in order to “leave [all its “thank yous”; all its service; all its “How can I help yous”; all of its smiles; all its praising, honoring, and thanking of God; all of its mites, but not its money; in other words,] all of itself on the field” as Christ did on the cross.
…consider reading Acts 2:42-47…now that’s a “generous church.”
Wonder what mind-frame change it would take for today’s churches to choose to be much and more like the Pentecost church, Christianity’s first church as described by Luke.