Giving has always been part of what I do. Recently my husband and I made the decision that we should start teaching our eldest daughter about the principle of Biblical giving.
It always seems to surprise me that the act of giving is often thought of as "after everything is paid for, I will give from what is left". Really it should be I give from the gross amount and then I live off the rest.
My daughter's Sunday school adopts two children with Compassion. So we made the family decision that rather than us giving my daughter money for this and she throws it in the jar, we should incorporate this into her pocket money. We then give her the option to decide what she should or want to give.
This in turn teaches her about money, budgeting and giving. Even at the age of 8, she is beginning to understand the cost of a weekly comic and the difference in cost to a monthly one. She thinks about what is what to give and makes the decision about whether it is more or less that week.
I am not saying this in a way to make folks feel bad and we certainly don't have it sorted. (Today we had not given pocket money yet and when I asked my daughter what she would like to put in, as I would cover it, she quickly said £10.... I then reminded her that it would be coming from her pocket money and she revised her figure)
There is lots of thought about Giving and whether it should go to the local church or other organisations. I will let you decide how to give. I have tended to give to the church AND para church organisations. Why is that? Quite simply, I believe we are each called to give. We are all to be senders. I have a specific burden that my church does not give to. I do not see this as a flaw in my church, it is simply that their corporate call differs from my individual call.
I have to be obedient to what I feel God has called me to. No one has a right to tell me how to give.....just as much as I have no right to tell someone else what they should give to.
What I can ask is that you give according to what you believe is right.
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