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PRESENTED BY: Revs. Maria Mallory White & John

F. White II

2020 1st District W.M.S. Wordshop

Love is a Verb: Developing a Culture of Giving

©The Immanuel Temple 2020

▪John Wesley, who wrote in 1786,

“I am not afraid that the people

called Methodists should ever

cease to exist in Europe or

America. But I am afraid, lest

they should only exist as a dead

sect, having the form of religion

without the power”

Love is a Verb: Developing a Culture of

Giving

1


▪David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons in

their book, Unchristian says, the way

we’ve always done it doesn’t work in

a context where most young adults

believe the church is boring,

judgmental, hypocritical, out of

touch, anti-homosexual, insensitive,

old-fashioned and boring.


Giving

2


• When we allow the Holy Spirit to push us

beyond come to us, thinking, we begin to

imagine go to them possibilities for all the places

we can carry the grace of God with us to where

people already gather

• Missionaries where must you go?

• Missionaries you are not doing ministry for

people you must do ministry with people


3


• The greatest threat to our mission

today is not failing to offer

ministry in an exemplary way but

failing to experiment with new

approaches

• What fresh ways to do we need to

consider?


4


• To do ministry requires a

conversion of the imagination

• God’s call to service and

ministry is the place where our

deep gladness and the world’s

deep hunger meet


5


• By responding to God’s call to serve others:

• We bear witness that the life and teaching

of Jesus are true

• The fullness of life is discovered in the

giving and not in the taking

• Abundance is found in loving rather than

in fearing

• Happiness comes in opening ourselves to

others rather than by closing ourselves off


Giving

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• Serving put’s Jesus’s love into practice

• Leadership isn’t about controlling or

restraining or holding meetings, it’s

about helping people discover their

gifts, fulfill their ministries and unleash

people to do ministry


Giving

7


• Qualities of Generous People – 2

Corinthians 8:2-5

• Status is no big deal – Verse 2

• Willingness to give sacrificially – Verse

3

• Seeks opportunities to be a difference

maker – Verse 4

• Have their priorities straight – Verse 5


Giving

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• People give to a compelling vision

they do not give to Bills

• It must inspire and have clarity

• It’s greater than keeping the

lights on

• It must have next steps

• How are lives being impacted?


Giving

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• Money has one purpose in the church and that is

to make disciples

• Money follows ministry and not ministry

follows money

• There is a fundamental connection that exists

between a person’s spiritual life and their

attitude toward money and possessions

• All people who give in a God-honoring way

are growing in their faith and becoming more

the people that God created them to be


Giving

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• Giving should be an outward, material

expression of a deep, spiritual

commitment, and indication of a

willing and obedient heart

• Giving is one of the ways that we

nourish our souls to stay in proper

alignment with our LORD.

• Our Giving says who is in charge of

our lives, God or us


Giving

11


• Sowing Seeds

• God loves planting seeds in us and

through us - Matthew 13:19-23

• Jesus doesn’t tell us not to waste our

seed on people whose hearts are

concrete hard pathways of

misunderstanding

• We sow carefully and sparingly as if

the seed of God’s love is in a

precariously short supply - 2

Corinthians 9:6


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• Jesus wants us to fling out lots and lots of Jesus’

love into hearts that won’t grasp it before the

Thief comes along and snatches it away.

• Some of our seeds of love will go unnoticed –

snatched away by the Thief before anyone even

notices them

• Some of our loving actions will fall on hearts that

are full of spiritual rocks- rocks that make it

hard for faith to take lasting root


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• Some people have been caught up in the thorns

of materialism and the anxieties of life that our

seeds of love get chocked before they can mature

• There will be other times we will fling seeds of

Jesus love on soil that God and his many

servants besides us have been preparing for just

such a moment

• These seeds will take root and grow and

produce fruit


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• Looking in from the outside we

can’t tell what kind of soil is in

somebody’s heart

• Through small acts of kindness,

listening and sharing we can bring

our family and friends closer and

closer to a relationship with Jesus


15


• Our goal must be to form the nature of

Jesus within, deliberately and lovingly

serving God

• What does that look like?

• Matthew 6:32-33

• Seeking God’s Kingdom First means

the main event of our lives is focusing

on God and what does God focus on

PEOPLE


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• It means being outward toward others in

the righteousness, generous ways God

desires

• While others may devote their waking

hours to pursing self-gratification, when

we seek God’s Kingdom First, we are

trusting in God’s generosity toward us at

the same time as we are sharing it with

others

• It’s not the goal that we don’t have fun

but those things aren’t the life goal


17


•Our life goal is to personally grow

closer to Jesus and to touch every

single person we can with Jesus love

• If we are generous towards God, is

God really going to be anything less

towards us?


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• Communicate

• Tell the W.M.S. Story

• How often do the Missionaries who

didn’t go to the executive board or the

Quadrennial see the videos that have

been produced about the work that has

been done?

• Conference Officers must thank

givers for giving in this new way

• Letters and Emails


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Questions to Consider

Are we making disciples of Jesus Christ who are prepared for and

active in incarnational mission?

Are we fruitfully and faithfully allowing God to work through our

church to make a difference in the lives of people?

Are the systems and approaches of our church helping or hindering,

welcoming or providing obstacles for younger generations to join?

Where is the presence and power of God being manifested in our

church’s life, in our personal life and in the lives of the leadership of our

church?


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- A Generous Life – Maria Mallory White & John F. White II

- 5 Practices of Fruitful Congregations Revised - Robert Schnase

- Just Say Yes – Robert Schnase

- Developing a Giving Church – Stan Toler and Elmer Towns

- Financial Fornication – Tarra Jackson

- God and Your Stuff – Wesley Wilmer

- Unchristian - David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons

- Whose Offering Plate is it? – J. Cliff Christopher

- It’s Not your Parents Offering Plate – J. Cliff Christopher

- Contagious Generosity – Chris Williard & Jim Sheppard

- Revolution in Generosity – Wesley Wilmer

- Maximize – Nelson Searcy

- Funded and Free – Casey Graham & Joseph Sangle


Reading List

21

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”


©The Immanuel Temple 2020 22

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