Taking Up the Collection in Church
Taking Up the Collection I can still vividly remember sitting in church as a teenager during the 60s. The time would come for the offering. A very worthy elder (normally the same one) would start and somberly intone, ‘Your frugal offering will now be received’. Frugal! Seriously! Did he really say that? Actually he didn’t […]
read more
Gospel Patroness
November 13, 2024|
Church Gospel Patroness In 2013 John Rinehart wrote a stimulating little book called Gospel Patrons about wealthy individuals who used their financial resources to fund the ministries of famous Christian leaders. The patrons are rarely acknowledged but their generosity has had lasting influence. Another such person is Margaret Baxter nee Charlton. Margaret (1636-1681) married the famous […]
read more
Resourcing the Tabernacle
September 5, 2024|
Church Resourcing the Tabernacle Guidance for raising resources for God’s work can be found in numerous places in the bible. Some of those valuable references are in sections that are often rarely read or skimmed over. In my youth I remember reading and hearing stories in the book of Exodus about the burning bush, the plagues […]
read more
Ask your friendly Robot
Applying AI to raising resources for ministry
read more
Ask for It
Ask for It In a former post I related the story of my lovely daughter-in-law Natalie who was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer last year. ( Prayer for Healing https://givinggenerously.com/prayer-for-healing/). At time of writing Natalie is doing as well as possible for someone with her illness but we continue to pray. Natalie and her […]
read more
Gold in them thar hills
Gold in them thar’ hills There was a 1931 song by Frankie Marvin about the urge to go prospecting in California: ‘There’s gold in them thar hills’. The yellow ore is there and all you have to do is go out and get it. I suspect some of our major retailers work on a similar […]
read more
52 Years and Counting
Fifty Two Years and Counting Helen and I have recently celebrated fifty two years of marriage. It has prompted me to reflect on marriage in general and our marriage in particular. Many years ago, in 1995, we visited the then famous Crystal Cathedral in Los Angeles, where I was attending two weeks of seminars in […]
read more
The Bible and Raising Resources
The Bible and Raising Resources There was an article in the press at the end of August 2023 reporting on a survey of clergy. Apparently a significant portion of the clergy of an historic and famous overseas denomination is advocating for major departures from classical Christian teaching on morality. What was of particular interest was […]
read more
Prayer For Healing
Praying for Healing This year a close and treasured member of our immediate family became seriously ill. I mean seriously ill. She was really walking through the valley of the shadow. Of course I was moved to pray for her but exactly how? A number of verses jumped into my mind and I found that […]
read more
Learning about life and money from Dad
Learning about life and money from Dad I was blessed with a good father, Arthur Edward Kinkead Irvine. He was born on Sept 4 1910 in the Post Office at Nundah, Queensland where his grandmother was post mistress. So he would have been 113 today as I write. He in turn had been blessed by […]
read more
Dealing With Debt
Dealing with Debt Recently I was in another state and went to a new church one Sunday. It turned out that they were in the middle of their annual end-of financial-year vision series. The pastor spoke enthusiastically and gratefully about how the church family, by their generosity, had reduced debt on their building from over […]
read more
