I saw it happen, again, today with my own eyes. A NewSpring couple had a vehicle that they no longer needed. Rather than selling it, they decided to donate it to the church. At the same time, a young woman in our church needed a vehicle because she was asked to return the car she had been borrowing. Today, she received the keys to her new-to-her car. I love watching the church be the church.
There’s a passage in the book of Acts that talks about the early church. Among other things, they were known for sharing everything they had. That same thing happens almost everyday at NewSpring. It’s one of the reasons I so love my church family. It’s a very generous community. Folks are genuinely interested in helping others. They live out what it means to love God and love others.
You ought to know that this characteristic of NewSpring’s ministry didn’t happen on accident. I’ve learned through the years that the local church tends to model what their leaders value. NewSpring is a generous, sharing church because Scripture says we should be and because Perry models this in his own life. I’ve seen him give away his own possessions. I’ve watched him push for our ministry to generously support various community organizations. I’ve been in the meetings when he’s championed giving our resources to other churches. Perry has a huge heart for helping others.
If your church shut its doors today, would your community know it? And, as a Christ-follower, are you generous with your possessions and your financial resources? I hope you have the opportunity to wrestle with these questions. I’m convinced it’s a key ingredient to our mission as we bring the message of hope to our communities.
That’s great! I was reading Titus 3 this morning and was struck by how Paul tells Titus to remind his congregation to be “ready for every good work.” (verse 1) It made me wonder how ready we are to do what is needed when given opportunities to serve. It’s so much easier to do that when it’s modeled by those around you!
Great story. inspires me to shape our church family the right way. I had a great challenge from a child not o long ago. I posted about it.
-Travis
How encouraging.
It’s really inspiring to see people give selflessly! Great work.
By the way, I love that call at the end: “If your church shut its doors today, would your community know it?” Brilliant.
We’re working on that question ourselves :)
I’ve been on both sides of this coin. As a little girl in a poor fam, a huge childhood memory is of my p.’s church stepping into our needs with their generosity. We were always so grateful. Now I get to do the same, and I’m just as grateful. Thanks for sharing this.
What a great story. About two months ago I actually had the same thing happen to me at my church. My car had broken down twice in a row, and my money situation wasn’t very good, being a college student with a small amount of income. There was a series of God-timed events that led someone in the church to overhear my car problems on the Saturday night that my car died, and I had their extra car at church the next day. Talk about God orchestrating things! I offered them some money for it, but they declined it and said that if I wanted to give any money, to just donate it to the church. How cool is that? And now that I’ve graduated and am working, my current plan is to find someone who really needs a car and either sell it to them for a really low price or just give it to them. A little pay it forward action going on there.
isnt that fantastic when the work of the Lord is right in our faces – an undeniable proof that He cares for each of us and provides us with exactly what we need
but still some dont see it – or attribute it to coincidence -
I pray you reach those people in your ministry