The Importance of Sharing

Sharing is not a natural thing for a child to do. It seems that most children have an ingrained desire to keep things for themselves. Thus, if there is one ball and two children, the child having the ball will simply assume that since he has it, it’s the other child’s tough luck that he doesn’t have one!

Parents have the task of breaking down this self-centered view of life to teach their children that the things that their child has should be shared with others. It is simply the right thing to do.

If you attended December’s Congregational Meeting, you heard a fair amount about what the Christian Reformed Church calls “Ministry Shares.” These are funds that every congregation within the denomination is asked to collect from their members and then send to the denomination. They are not dues in the sense that if we want to belong, we have to pay.

Rather Ministry Shares, which we and the other 1,046 congregations send to the denomination, are used for shared ministries. It is an understanding that as part of the Christian Reformed Church, we are able to do a lot more when we all work together. And so instead of every church duplicating efforts, we pool our resources in order to be more effective in doing things that we would otherwise not be able to do.

When we give our Ministry Shares to the denomination, it makes it possible for missionaries to go all over the world sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. When we give our Ministry Shares we are making it possible for new churches to be planted in the United States and Canada. We are making it possible for military chaplains to bring hope and comfort to those in the military all over the world. We are able to help both the mentally and physically disabled.

By paying our Ministry Shares we make it possible for work to happen in many ways all over the world. Until this year we have not been able to share with our Christian Reformed brothers and sisters in doing this work. We had been facing some tight financial restraints, but we are convinced that it is important for us to share what we have with others so that more effective work can be done.

God is opening our eyes to see beyond ourselves more and more. We are doing that with our support of the Christian schools in Kenya and by helping our brothers and sisters there to get more food. We are helping our sisters at the By Faith Recovery House as well. God is making it possible for us to reach out to others beyond ourselves and help meet those needs.

I hope that this brief explanation helps you further understand what Ministry Shares are all about. If you have any questions or concerns about these Ministry Shares, please feel free to ask me or anyone on the Council.

Pastor Jerry

January 2007

CLICK HERE FOR A SHORT MOVIE ABOUT MINISTRY SHARES (WMV):

Another Perspective on Ministry Shares

The discussions during the congregational meeting concerning ministry shares (formerly quotas) reminded me why we joined a church in the Christian Reformed denomination. I personally have long had a problem with the policy of most evangelical denominations and almost all para-church organizations to have missionaries visit churches and raise their own “support.” It doesn’t seem to fit the biblical examples that I see in the book of Acts of the Apostles. In all the letters of Paul he never reminds his supporters that he is behind in his support or asks for a special gift. It seems this method favors the most effective salesmen not necessarily the most gifted missionaries. I not denying that God doesn’t and hasn’t used this method to accomplish His will, but I’m not sure it is the best way to send the best people to the mission fields.

It seems to me that godly men and women with experience in missions, who know what is needed and who will be successful, are in the best position to select those for extended oversees or home missionary roles. This is the primary method that foreign missions is supported in our denomination, but it only works when local churches give to support their ministry shares. There is always room for special support to either foreign missions or even to individual families who have special or close relationships to some congregations like the Campbells do with Faith Church, but it was still encouraging to me to see us able to support the larger church and its commitment of a number of corporate ministries including foreign missions. Ministry shares are as biblical a method of support as our sending Jerry and Claire as our personal representatives to Kenya this year, Lord willing.

George Garden
Elder-elect