Our God Dream (mission) is to connect our communities with Jesus to transform lives. Everything we are doing on a daily basis needs to help us move toward this goal. Every aspect of our church-life and our personal journey of faith should be helping us to make this a consistent reality. Every. Action. Matters.

Now that you’ve learned about our core values and stewardship principles, it’s helpful to learn more about cultivating financial generosity. We hope the insights below will help answer your initial questions as well as inspire you and energize you to start, continue, or grow your financial giving!

GENEROSITY ESSENTIALS

Here are some helpful insights from Rev. James Harnish (from his book, A Disciple’s Path: Deepening Your Relationship with Christ and the Church - Companion Reader) to remember when practicing generosity:

• Generosity begins with God. Generosity begins not with what I give to God, but with what God has given to me. the Bible says that extravagant, self-giving generosity is the tangible expression of the love that is in the very heart of God. We are generous because God has been so extravagantly generous to us.

• Generosity is vital. Generosity is not optional for followers of Jesus Christ. It is the spiritual discipline that shapes our lives around the extravagant generosity of God. Our use of money undergoes a fundamental transformation when we stop asking how much of our wealth we will give to God and start asking how much of God’s wealth we will keep for ourselves. Generosity is the only antidote to greed, which is one of the seven deadly sins. Greed is sinful because it is an inherent contradiction of the essential character of God. It is deadly because it results in spiritual arteriosclerosis that blocks the flow of God’s life into our lives and into the world.

• Generosity is intentional. It doesn’t just happen. We don’t become generous unless we plan for it. If I decide to be generous at the end of my spending, there won’t be anything left to spend. That’s where tithing comes in. The biblical practice of giving the first 10 percent of what we earn for God’s work in the world is a spiritual discipline that enables us to build consistent generosity into our financial lifestyle and becomes the base line or beginning point for a generous life.

• Generosity grows with practice. It is a learned behavior that runs against the grain of the predominant mood of our culture. It is a spiritual discipline that, if practiced over time, will enable us to break free from a self-centered life and grow into a Christ-centered one.

• Generosity is joyful. Generally speaking, generous people are joyful and stingy people are grouches. When we give all we can, we experience the joy of knowing that through our generosity, we share in the way God is blessing our lives and the lives of others. My giving enables me to get in on God’s transformation of this world into something like the kingdom of God.

• Generosity results in blessing. [We] can’t promise that if you tithe, you will get rich. [We] can promise that if you develop the spiritual practice of generosity, you will be blessed and your life will become a blessing to others. Ultimately a generous heart is its own reward.

MAKE YOUR PLEDGE

The first thing we want you to do is to assess where you are in each of the 5 areas of stewardship: prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Next, we want to invite you to make a prayer about where God is leading you to grow in each of those areas. Have a conversation with God and listen to what the next faithful step on your journey of faith is going to be in order to make a difference - you might be surprised by what God is calling you to do!

Once you’ve done these two things, we want you to pledge - or make a commitment - about how you’re going to make an impact for 2022. See how to pledge below:

Pledge Financially

Pledging financially lets us know how much giving we can anticipate in order to keep the ministries of Mountain Park UMC thriving! Click on the button below to make your pledge now or sign-in to Realm to update your pledge.

Give Now

Are you interested in giving today? You can give online once or with a recurring gift.

GIVING RESOURCES

Learn more about how to start and manage your online giving!

PLEDGE TIME & TALENT

Pledging your prayers, presence, service, and witness will help us faithfully fulfill our God Dream (mission) through our core values. Fill out the form below to make your commitment and learn more about how you can serve through the life of our church.

WHAT’S NEXT?

You can learn more about how to leave a legacy through Mountain Park UMC that will have a lasting impact for generations to come.