Faith Promise Missions

[brosmith]

And that's exactly what Faith Promise does. You and God decide what you'll give. You simply write only that figure on a card and turn it in' date=' so the church has some idea what to expect. It's an administrative tool to help determine the missions budget.[/quote']

Some would call this a matter of semantics but there is a distinct difference between faith promise giving and Biblical faith giving.


Faith Promise Giving:


?Promising, by faith (normally, a year in advance), to give an amount of money

(which you do not presently have) to God for His work, if He will provide it for you.?


Biblical Faith Giving


?Giving an amount of money to the Lord from what you presently have

(whether part, or all of it), and then, by faith, trusting God to meet your needs.?


When people try to say that faith-giving is promising to give to God an amount of money which you presently cannot see or do not have, that is NOT faith-giving, but is by definition a different financial term called surety and the Bible clearly WARNS us to NOT BECOME SURETY.

Surety is a formal engagement (as a pledge) given for the fulfillment of an undertaking; guarantee; a basis of confidence or security. When you fill out a faith promise commitment card then you have become a debtor and you are asking God to pay your bill!

Oswald J. Smith found a gold mine (humanly speaking) when he introduced giving to missions on the credit plan. ?You do not have the money today? That is okay, just give to missions on credit. Tell your local church that you will commit to a debt for missions for the next year, and they will spend that money right now. You can just pay them back on monthly terms.?

It is very hypocritical to teach people that it is wrong to commit themselves to buying things for which they do not have the cash, and then turn right around and pressure them through preaching to commit themselves to promising to give God an amount of money which they do not have.

http://www.libertygospeltracts.com/bibl ... money1.htm

[LindaR]

Had to bump this thread. Our church just finished a Missionary Conference, stressing "Faith Promise". Thank you brosmith for this excellent post.

[John81]

This seems to be an increasingly popular concept. Also, I've noticed over the past year or so some Christians take on an air of spiritual superiority by claiming they have more faith in God because they make big promises to give large amounts of money if God will provide them with the money. They believe their faith is bigger because they are excercising more faith by promising to give what they don't have.

Why all this pressure by churches and Christian organizations to get folks to promise to give what they don't have? Why all these constant efforts to grow programs or create new ones when there is no money for such?

What happened to being content with what we have and using what we have for the work of the Lord?

I love reading of old time men of God, including George Muller, who truly trusted God to provide. They didn't go out begging money, they took their needs before the Lord and trusted the Lord to provide...and the Lord provided!

Churches where they felt led to send missionaries someplace would pray about this and if so guided, send forth missionaries with whatever monies they had available.

Our giving is based upon the leading of the Lord and thus far the Lord has not guided us to make pledges to give what we don't have or to declare we will give any certain amount within a years time.

Paul gives plenty of examples of how Christians are to give and how missionaries and other Christian workers are to carry on the work the Lord has for them.

[Standing Firm In Christ]

I suggest a study of Acts 4 and 5 and Ananias and Sapphira.

They promised to give something they didn't have... money from the sale of their land. They committed to give ALL.

It wasn't an "oath" in the manner that folks keep quoting (really need to study the context of the "oath" passages as they relate to swearing something "by God", thus profaning God, but that's another rabbit for another trail) it was simply their commitment... which God took seriously.

When God laid on their heart to give it all... he knew how much they were going to get, and he had it set aside for a purpose. They frustrated the Spirit of God.

I have studied Acts 4 and 5 extensively, and cannot find any Scripture to say God laid it on Ananias and Sapphira's hearts to give anything. As a matter of fact, I cannot find where they were part of that early Church, but were rather deceivers trying to make themselves look good in the eyes of others.

Notice in Chapter 4 that the multitude of believer's set the FULL PRICE of the properties sold at the feet of the Apostles...

Acts 4:32-35
32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

Then, Chapter 5 starts with a three-letter word that shows opposition to the charity and one-heartedness of the Church in Chapter 4... the word 'But'.

Acts 5:1-2
5 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
KJV

It is obvious That Ananias and Sapphira saw what was going on in the Church and wanted to be a part of it. But they were not a part of the group that sold their houses and land and brought the prices of them and laid them at the Apostles' feet. They were not a part of the multitude of believers who were of one heart and one soul.

[Alimantado]

Wow, answering a post from almost two years ago must be a forum record!

[LindaR]

Wow' date=' answering a post from almost two years ago must be a forum record! [/quote']
I thought it was a good topic to be bumped, so I bumped it. :Green

[brosmith]

I have not changed my mind on this subject. I am thoroughly convinced that God operates in present provision not in future expectations. In the past year and a half God has permitted us to give $12,000 to the Lord's work and not a single dime of it was given through faith promise (and I make less than $20,000 a year).

[LindaR]

I have not changed my mind on this subject. I am thoroughly convinced that God operates in present provision not in future expectations. In the past year and a half God has permitted us to give $12' date='000 to the Lord's work and not a single dime of it was given through faith promise (and I make less than $20,000 a year).[/quote']
Bro Smith,

I really appreciate you sharing that Liberty Gospel Tract Bible Study on Faith Promise. I"ve shared it with another couple in our church who are dead set against "faith promise". This is the third year that our church has been doing "faith promise"...and so far, we've never filled out that "commitment" card.

[speerjp1]

I have not changed my mind on this subject. I am thoroughly convinced that God operates in present provision not in future expectations. In the past year and a half God has permitted us to give $12' date='000 to the Lord's work and not a single dime of it was given through faith promise (and I make less than $20,000 a year).[/quote']

Along these lines, I recently heard a great message of which a part was a warning against tempting God. When Satan tempted Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, he said that Jesus could do it because God had promised in his word that he would send angels to keep him from harm. Jesus did not jump and instead quoted scripture against tempting God.

We cannot arbitrarily pick Biblical promises we would like to benefit from and make some kind of effort in order for God to "come through on his end of the deal" as we please and for our benefit. Much less should we be taking something so convoluted as the faith promise programs used in so many churches.

I say convoluted because even in my own church and many others there is quite a paradox occurring: the membership must come up with an amount to give over the next year by faith while at the same time the "church" doesn't take a single missionary on for support until all the commitments have been tallied.

Why is there no faithful taking on of missionaries? Why not pray about who God would have the church support and tell them they can count on a certain monthly amount and then trust God to come through on his end of the deal?

I say neither should tempt God, but do as the Bible commands and simply give what God has given to us. :2cents

[LindaR]

There seems to be a bit of "bragging"...letting "the right hand know what the left hand is doing". This is happening in our church. We don't take a missionary on for support without "knowing" what the "faith promise" is going to be. This is the reason why they "strongly" urge (I call it somewhat coercive) everybody to turn in their commitment in order to tally the amount.

I agree...it's "tempting God"

[Annie]

Wow. The only time I've ever been exposed to "faith promise" giving is when I visited an IFBx church a long time ago. I asked someone else who was there what "faith promise" giving was. When they explained it, I thought it sounded gimmicky and foolish. Maybe other churches handle it differently--I don't know because I've never been in another church that incorporates it into their program.

[John81]

Trust God, give according to His leading, support missionaries according to His leading. These various appeals for money and the way they are put forth really harm the cause of Christ.

Our pastor won't even make a collection when our church holds a special event or during special holiday services where he knows many folks who are not regulars in our church will attend for the sake of making it clear the focus is on Christ and not about getting money.

[canesnc5]

I have not changed my mind on this subject. I am thoroughly convinced that God operates in present provision not in future expectations. In the past year and a half God has permitted us to give $12,000 to the Lord's work and not a single dime of it was given through faith promise (and I make less than $20,000 a year).

I may have missunderstood you since this originaly started almost 2 years ago, but it seems one of the reasons you were against faith promise was filling out the cards because then someone would know what you gave. Did you not just tell everyone on here how much you gave last year?

From reading all the other posts I don't see where you ever answered the question about how many missionaries your church supports.

As far as some of the other concerns about faith promise, if your pastor and churching are teaching and utilizing t correctly it will negate all of the concerns. I believe faith promise is taught in the bible and I have been apart of 2 church's that participate in it and the results are amazing.

Sounds to me that you are not really a "cheerfull giver".

By the way, since you are so much against "faith" how did you get saved. I am sure you did not witness the death, buriel, and resurrection just as you may not see right now that you have the means to give to faith promise.

[LindaR]

I may have missunderstood you since this originaly started almost 2 years ago, but it seems one of the reasons you were against faith promise was filling out the cards because then someone would know what you gave. Did you not just tell everyone on here how much you gave last year?

From reading all the other posts I don't see where you ever answered the question about how many missionaries your church supports.

As far as some of the other concerns about faith promise, if your pastor and churching are teaching and utilizing t correctly it will negate all of the concerns. I believe faith promise is taught in the bible and I have been apart of 2 church's that participate in it and the results are amazing.

Sounds to me that you are not really a "cheerfull giver".

By the way, since you are so much against "faith" how did you get saved. I am sure you did not witness the death, buriel, and resurrection just as you may not see right now that you have the means to give to faith promise.

For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. (2 Corinthians 8:12)

Faith promise is based on making a "promise" to God that you will give a certain amount (which you do not posses) weekly, monthly, etc. to missions. It is a means of letting the church know (the treasurer/bookkeeper) how much they should allow for missions...that is the way our church does "faith promise". Scripture says to give according to what "a man hath, and not according to what he hath not". Faith promise is giving to God "on credit". I would suggest you read the Liberty Bible Study on "Faith Promise" which brosmith posted:

http://www.libertygospeltracts.com/biblecrs/money2/money1.htm

Faith Promise Giving

[Pastor Matt]

Actually it is God telling you how much to give. Who am I to say that God can't me how much to give? Only God know the future. Some of us are limiting God by saying what he can't do. If God can't tell me how to give ahead of time, who is the one telling me? Satan? My flesh? Jim Bob on the sound system?