Reclaiming the Offering
In post–pandemic church life, there is increasingly less emphasis on the Offering during services. In this short article, Keith Gardiner, our Diocesan Fundraising Officer for Church Growth, invites us to renew our focus on the Offering as worship.
Several reasons have been put forward as to why the Offering is now less of a feature in our worship services. Giving to honour God and support God’s ministries has increasingly become electronic; there are concerns about passing the offering plate related to COVID–19; embarrassment that the church is asking for money; interruptions to the flow of a service. As a result, it is easy to lose sight of the Offering being an important way that we should be worshipping God corporately.
Giving as Worship
“No man should appear before the Lord empty–handed: each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.” (Deuteronomy 16:16–17)
“Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness.” (1 Chronicles 16:29)
“On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come, no collections will have to be made.” (1 Corinthians 16:2)
Based on these Scriptures, the Offering in church has for centuries been an act of collective worship to God and a thankful response to him for his generosity. Our Offering is a visible and tangible way of expressing our love and devotion to God and our faith in Jesus as our Saviour. We are invited to give up something we value – our money – as a sacrifice to God. Therefore, rather than primarily being a way of collecting money for the church, it conveys a sense of our priorities and represents the offering of our whole lives back to God.
Reclaiming the Offering as a joyful act of worship
We can introduce the Offering very simply, with a prayer, a sentence of scripture or a song, or we can make it a moment to celebrate God’s generosity by hearing real stories of God’s provision. It can also be a time of explanation or teaching, enabling the congregation to make the connection between their giving and the ministries of the church. It can even be an opportunity to highlight different ways to give.
In whatever way we chose to express it, I invite you to reclaim the offering of our money to God as a vital and joyful part of your worship services. Whether offerings are given online, placed on a passing plate or dropped into an offering box, all are acceptable to God and worthy of celebration.