More Ways to Respond to the Earthquake
Being on mission with Christ involves so much more than our financial contributions and I was looking for ways to respond to the the tragedy in Haiti that went beyond my giving.
This morning I was reading a post by Eric Foley at Transformational Giving and he pointed me to some ideas posted by Jon Hirst at Generous Mind. It went so much farther than what I wrote yesterday that I thought you might get some more ideas for your own response.
One of John’s suggestions was what I encouraged yesterday,
Give in community. Instead of making giving an isolated effort, give with your family, your church or your work. Transfer some of what you have learned to others and challenge them to action as well.
But he went on to offer 5 more simple ideas about our response to the earthquake. You can read them here.
What about you? Have you acted upon the tugging of the Spirit on your heart.
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. – James 1:22 (NLT)
Grace and Peace,
Terry
P.S. I have done a little more research about Haiti and plan to share it with some of those in my circle of influence. I hope you follow through with some actions of your own. I would love to know what you and your groups are doing.
Tagged with: Haiti
Filed under: Life Habits
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Terry, thank you for sharing your thoughts and links to the blog I wrote about how to be a generous mind in a tragedy. I can’t wait to read how God uses your efforts to grow the people around you in Christ.
I responded to Eric’s blog with an idea that I thought I would share here. While a financial response is an act of obedience that God wants from all of us, the key to growing in our relationship to God as we respond is what comes after that initial act of obedience. How do we build momentum in our understanding of what God is doing in Haiti.
That is a scary idea because we have no idea what God is doing and we are probably questioning God as to why this would even happen. But we know that God will bring good even from the most aweful things and so our job is to probe the Bible and through prayer and see how we can be a part of what God is up to in this part of the world.
What an amazing journey God lets us be a part of!
Thanks Jon, I appreciate your reply.
I count it a blessing to be able to join with you and others in this effort.
One of the struggles that I have observed in the area of giving in the church is in giving consistently, faithfully, and in expectation of how the Lord will use the giving to further the Kingdom. It seems that we give without really embodying ourselves into the giving; when our money goes (or doesn’t go) into the offering basket then in our minds, that is the end of the story. This “disconnection” that our givers (and non-givers) seem to be experiencing has been a burden on my heart for a very long time. In response to this (and with your inspiration on goals being tied into a story, Terry), I started a “scrapbook” for my cell group that contains “The Story of Our Giving”. At the moment, the book contains photos and brief remarks on how our giving last year furthered the Kingdom. The intention is to have members take time each week to remember the wonderful story of our giving at a more intimate level (it’s something that they can hold in their hands, read and share with their children or friends they invite) and when they are done remembering they have the opportunity to continue the unfolding of the story by putting their giving into a pouch contained in the book. Every member is also encouraged each time they have the book in their hands to contribute their own stories about giving, or scriptures and quotes of inspiration about giving – they are a co-author with the rest of us. I am hoping that this story book will help us all grow in our giving and that we begin to experience the beauty of embodying our whole being into giving as our Lord Jesus Christ did.
Terry,
This is something that was talked about Sunday at our church. You know Blackaby talks about seeing where God is at work and joining Him there and is there any doubt that Haiti is a fertile ground for the Gospel and that God has opened doors for the church to show the love of God in many ways including asking people if they know Jesus, recognize their sinfulness and share that Christ came to give freedom from those sins. I feel my role is to pray knowing prayer is powerful and that God can work where I am not. Hope that makes sense. Love in Christ, Ken
Ken,
Thanks for joining me in praying for Haiti. Last night our church spent some time praying for the residents of Haiti, the rescue workers, our armed forces who have been sent there and others.
Love the idea about giving through community. Thanks for pointing me towards the idea, Terry.
And congrats on a great blog.
Scott, thanks for dropping by. I always enjoy our conversations. I look forward to exchanging ideas with you. Any time you want to share something with me and our readers don’t hesitate to join in.