23/11/2022
https://www.facebook.com/100070808873717/posts/215337774169850/?mibextid=Nif5oz
✝️OFFERING NON CASH ITEMS AND SELLING THEM IN CHURCH
Beloved,
Love and Calvary greetings to you all.
It's been a while, but the above issue generated debate on this platform. I appreciate all the submissions during the discussion. Also, I value such observations and concerns, because sharing is caring. Through healthy interactions we inform and enrich one another. Thank you! Below is my response/guidance concerning the matter:
Offering non cash items in church and selling them therein, is something I personally have at times felt uncomfortable with. There's when stuff becomes the main thing! It bothers me, because that shouldn't be the case. A number of Christians are also ill at ease about the practice and so think that to avoid unnecessary disruption and disarray, the church should allow offering cash, only.
Nonetheless, to rightly handle this matter, we ought to distinguish between *what* is done and *how* it is done, in view of *why*. It's possible to do what is right but in a wrong way.
Offering non cash items to God is not wrong in itself.
1. It is biblical
God always required His people to bring 'fruits of their labor' (as a tenth of their first harvest) to the temple (2 Chr. 31:5; Neh. 10:35, 37). Offerings are primarily for two purposes: the Priests' upkeep (Ezek. 44:30: Mal. 3:10), and God's work (Exod. 36:3-6).
In each case, people would give "freewill offerings." That concept ties in with Paul's instruction: "Each of you should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion..." (2 Cor. 9:5-8).
2. There's no biblical instruction that only cash is to be offered
There's enough scriptural evidence that giving can be with money or other items. People would give animals, birds, grains, foods, gold, silver, bronze, fine linen, etc. Exodus 34:4-28 gives a long list. There is even a classic example of offerings of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4). Scripture only instructs us to offer a good measure and high quality items (Luk. 6:38), cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:6), freely and wholeheartedly (1 Chr. 29:9), in proportion to the way the Lord has blessed us (Deut. 16:17), and when we've repented (Mat. 5:23-24).
3. Equating the practice with Jesus' act of cleansing the temple is a mismatch
The main reason why many are against selling items in church is because Jesus chased sellers from the temple. However, there is a mismatch. What was happening in the temple differs from what Christians do in some churches today:
a. These sellers would take the money for themselves. It was a market, in the real sense! What is done in church today is simply changing items into cash to make it handy for use.
b. Sellers were hiking prices for personal gain. Today the amount got, even if the buyer offers what's above the market price, is still for the church.
c. Sellers had high jacked the place where gentiles used to sit for worship, and put there stuff for sell. In churches today, items don't displace people, or they shouldn't.
In view of the above, therefore, giving Jesus' act as a reason to stop offering items to God in church is a misrepresentation.
4. Abuse of the practice
In some cases and churches, offering has been abused. I have personally seen certain church leaders, lay or ordained, who focus solely on selling stuff at the expense of preaching the gospel. That is disheartening. Money and all that it does in church, plus its other activities and programs, should only be a means to the main, not the main. The main ministry of the church is preaching the gospel, so people can turn from their sins, live fruitful lives, and hereafter inherit eternal life.
5. The remedy
The question now is: how can we best handle the practice? In my view, the solution should be regulation not termination. In an event where regulating may require or lead to giving cash only, especially due to the church's context and/or location, well and good. It is conditioning all church congregations to offering money only that we should avoid, because it might result into stopping some faithfuls from giving to God.
We should not stop offering items, or turning them into cash. Rather, we should fine-tune the practice and ensure that it does not disrupt or disturb worship.
6. Uphold and maintain ecclesiastic etiquette
a. Items should not be sold, until the service has ended. In West Ankole, we made it clear to all ministers - both lay and ordained.
b. Some items should not be brought into the sanctuary. To maintain order, decency and safety, certain items like animals, birds and other bulky stuff should be kept and sold on the outside of the sanctuary, like we do with bibles, tapes, and other church related items from church shops and canteens. Let the minister offer the items at the altar, even when they are on the outside. The Lord can still hear and bless the giver.
c. Telling lies when selling/changing items into cash is wrong and ungodly. Calling ten eggs twenty, or even eleven, is a bad lie! Such lies are to be attributed to the individual's character, not the church's. I urge anyone to refrain from such behaviour. The seller can interest people without telling lies.
d. An offered item belongs to the church, not to the offerer. When you give and your offering is received and prayed for at the altar, it ceases to belong to you, the offerer. I've heard of some who follow offerings to the vestry, still claiming ownership over them! What is offered, is thereafter planned for and put to use by the church leadership.
Otherwise, thank you for your questions and concerns. Let's keep learning and serving together, to the glory and honour of our Lord.
Love that unites. Blessings to you all!
Rt. Rev. Johnson Twinomujuni,
Bishop of West Ankole Diocese
