Making the Most of Holiday Giving

Here We Go Again

It’s that time of year again. Soon, we’ll start seeing all the annual pushes for donations. Some will come from our churches; many will come from external organizations, both Christian and secular. We’ll be pummeled with needs and enticed with “matching gift” opportunities. Organizations we support will encourage us to participate in special campaigns; others that we aren’t interested in will ask us to get involved.

For many of us, these requests will be just so much noise added to the cacophony of the holiday season. For others, they’ll be guilt-inducing pleas that make us feel ashamed (or worse, blamed) because we don’t live in the dire circumstances they paint. Most of us probably dread the influx of requests that we know will be coming.

Last year, we discussed the problem with year-end giving. The compassion fatigue induced by the barrage of requests can shut us down and cause us to disengage our hearts. And we discussed a couple of ways to prepare for more meaningful giving at the end of the year.

We often dread this time, but we don’t have to. The season will inevitably bring dozens of requests (at least) for help. If we’re prepared, we can participate in meaningful opportunities as the Holy Spirit leads us, and year-end giving can be a special highlight of the season. In this article, we’ll dive a bit deeper into preparing for the “season of giving”.

Back to top

Some Guiding Questions

As we anticipate the opportunities for generosity during the holiday season, we have a chance to prayerfully review some important questions.

Financial Landscape

• Are we on target with our planned giving for the year? If we’re not where we had planned and hoped to be, is God calling us to extra giving at the end of the year? There’s a danger here, of course. If we’re not meeting our giving goals for the year, it can be easy to get legalistic and put emphasis on a target number or percentage, adding stress to the season. Certainly we need to leave the Holy Spirit room to convict us regarding giving, but we should never put ourselves in a position of giving grudgingly (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).

• Has God provided extra this year that we hadn’t planned on? If so, he may be calling us to respond to his provision with additional giving in this season. Indeed, it’s possible that this generosity is part of the reason for God’s provision!

Vision

• Has God given us a special Kingdom vision this year? Perhaps we’ve been exposed for the first time to the 2 billion people currently beyond the reach of the Gospel, whose eternal destiny depends on missionaries reaching them before it’s too late. Or maybe we’ve learned about the dire situations of the Persecuted Church in so many countries around the world. Or maybe God has touched us with the transformational potential of clean water in a village that has no access currently. Through relationships, through our churches, through many means – God can and does reach us with visions specifically for us. Has he done that for your family this year?

Spiritual Growth

• Is God calling us to grow in gratitude this holiday season? How should we be reflecting that gratitude in generosity?
• Is God calling us to greater contentment? Are there things we could consider sacrificing this year in order to free up resources for greater generosity?
• Does God want to build our faith in this time? Is he asking us for an additional level of trust in his provision so that we can give more liberally now?

Master

Finally, it’s important to ask the question of whether we’re serving God or money (in the form of materialism) in the holiday season. We must address this question in a spirit of grace, not judgmentalism (including self-judgment!). Of course we’re going to spend money on gifts. Of course we’re going to spend on entertaining and food. Maybe we will spend on travel and entertainment. None of these are bad things.

But if we believe that “Jesus is the Reason for the Season,” then it’s reasonable – maybe even required – to ask if our spending and giving reflect that. Maybe we’ve been giving faithfully and generously all year and this is the season where we’ve planned on extra spending. We have to give ourselves grace to faithfully steward what God has provided as he leads us, not as marketers and even charitable organizations would sway us.

None of these questions are meant to induce guilt or to suggest the “right” answers! They’re simply questions that can guide us as we think through the potential for giving this holiday season. The key is to prayerfully seek God’s leading as we consider these thoughts.

Back to top

Seasonal Giving Considerations

Suppose God is leading us to an extra measure of generosity this season. How do we quiet all the clamoring voices and zero in on what God wants us to do? The reality is that while God provides for us abundantly, resources are still limited. A dollar given to a specific charity is a dollar not given to church, or to any other charity. There are only so many dollars, and each can be given only once.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

— 2 Corinthians 9:7

So how can we make these decisions? A few suggestions (not rules!) follow.

1. Give Prayerfully

First and foremost, our giving should be directed by the Holy Spirit – and we seek His direction in prayer. This might be prayer about amounts and organizations or it might be prayer about causes and visions. Or maybe it’s all of the above. The point is that our giving should be directed by God, not by marketers (even marketers for non-profits!). Responding to marketers often leads to begrudging giving. Our most cheerful offerings will come from giving in ways that God has led us.

2. Give Purposefully

Many worthwhile organizations and causes need help. Often, we give to causes that have impacted us. The family of a cancer survivor, for example, may find meaning in giving to cancer research organizations. Someone who has been rescued from human trafficking will likely support one or more anti-trafficking organizations.

This is why we need to start with prayer. But having started there, a key consideration is how our giving reflects on God.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

— Matthew 5:16

Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

— Mark 9:41

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

— 2 Corinthians 9:12

Scripture nowhere forbids giving to secular organizations. In fact, general sharing with our neighbors is a constant theme in the Bible. But there is extra purpose in giving that focuses on God’s glory – purpose beyond the needs of today and into eternity. With that in mind, here are a couple suggestions (again, not rules!):

• Consider Kingdom causes. The holiday season is a time to emphasize the King. Causes that specifically support proclamation of the Gospel – especially among the least-reached (Matthew 28:18-20) – or that support God’s people undergoing persecution (Hebrews 13:3) reflect directly on the King.
• Prioritize Christian organizations. There is often significant overlap between Christian and secular organizations in terms of the “what” – whether it’s digging wells, providing disaster relief, feeding the hungry, etc. But there’s a huge difference in the “why”. Secular organizations see relieving human suffering as an end in itself; Christians see it as a means of bringing glory to God and obeying the second Great Commandment. As the verses above indicate, the “why” matters.

3. Give Particularly

This is a great time of year to give in ways different from our normal giving. Perhaps we pray for a cause or organization that God has placed before us but that we haven’t supported financially. Many churches have special year-end funds set up for ministry that’s different from their regular ministry (special missions, etc.).

Giving to something different can be exciting and can broaden our recognition of the ways God works in the world.

4. Give Possessions

Scripture often encourages us to give of our possessions – what we’d call “non-cash donations”.

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:9-10

“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

Luke 3:10-11

This is a great time of year to think through possessions we’re not using and who could make use of them. Most of us have closets full of clothes we don’t need or garages full of toys and tools we no longer use. Donating items like these to local Christian missions that run second-hand stores is a great way to free up clutter in our own lives, help provide for the needs of others, and empower Christian organizations to glorify God in the process. This could become a great family tradition!

5. Give Personally

Giving of ourselves – our time, our labor, our expertise – can be one of the most meaningful ways to celebrate the holidays, especially if we don’t have the funds for monetary giving. This kind of giving is often the best way to involve the entire family in serving God through serving others – whether it be at a soup kitchen, a shelter, or through special projects sponsored by our church. Many churches have special serving opportunities during the holidays and these can become some of the most meaningful family traditions.

Back to top

Preparing for Holiday Giving

We can approach holiday giving in one of two ways. On the one hand, we can be driven by marketing messages, overwhelmed by massive and unending needs, and often consumed with guilt that we can’t do more to meet those needs. This approach will nearly always lead to compassion fatigue and may even cause us to close our hearts to the ways in which God might lead us.

On the other hand, we can let God drive our giving through prayer, lending purpose and meaning to the ways we give, freeing us from false guilt, and enlarging our hearts for him and for others.

Presumably, we’d all choose the second option. But there’s a catch. Like with anything else, if we’re going to make the most of holiday giving, we must prepare for it. Here are a few simple steps to take to get ready to maximize both God’s glory and our fulfillment through holiday giving.

1. Pray over it

We begin by asking God to guide our giving. This is more than just questions of “how much?” and “what organizations?”. We start by asking God to give us a vision for what he wants to accomplish through our giving this holiday season. How can we bring him glory? How can our giving result in praise to God from believers and open the hearts and minds of non-believers to his love? Where is the intersection between the vision and passion God has shown us and the opportunities to give into that?

2. Plan for it

Yep, that’s right – our old friend the Spending Plan! Here’s the reality – like we said before, we can only spend a given dollar once. If we spend it on giving, we’re not spending it on Christmas gifts. If we spend it on gifts, we’re not spending it on entertaining. You get the idea.

If we’ve been saving throughout the year for the holidays, knowing that additional spending would occur, then that saving becomes the starting point. We should include holiday giving in our spending plan for the holidays, right along with other priorities like buying presents and family experiences. By planning our giving, we take the stress out of it and can give more cheerfully.

3. Prioritize it

But what if, like most people, we haven’t adequately prepared financially for the holiday season? Then we’re going to need to prayerfully determine how we’re going to retain a priority on holiday giving despite the challenges. Maybe some other spending needs to shift or be postponed until after the new year. Maybe other holiday spending needs to be downsized a bit to make room for giving. We need to do this from a place of grace, not guilt or judgment – but God is honored when we deny ourselves in order to prioritize generosity.

4. Provide for it

Having prayed over, planned, and prioritized our holiday giving, the final step in preparation is to provide for it. That means actually setting aside the funds somewhere – a separate account, an envelope with cash, however we do it – to be devoted to giving. We can make our way through the first three steps with the best of intentions – but if we don’t actualize those steps by setting aside the funds, our planned giving will never get beyond wishful thinking.

We’re Not Done!

We started this article on the note of “here we go again”. And we could write a similar article next year with the same beginning. If Jesus doesn’t return first, the holidays are coming around again next year. What do we want them to look like?

As we review our giving and serving this year, how do we feel about how we responded to God’s leading? Did we have a clear enough vision? Were we prepared to execute on that vision? If not, what will we do differently next year to ensure that our holiday giving brings glory to God and fulfillment to our families?

Back to top

A Final Word

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

— 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

We’ve referred to Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians a few times in this article. Paul was writing to the church about a special collection for the believers in Jerusalem, who were suffering from a famine. His instructions are often used in support of the concept of tithing, but they apply better to something like year-end giving, since this was “above and beyond” giving not directed to the local church but to a special need.  A few final thoughts:

Sowing and Reaping

Scripture repeatedly instructs us on reaping and sowing and provides multiple examples of individuals and the nation of Israel reaping what was sown. Paul’s point here is similar – we’ll reap in proportion to what we sow. We shouldn’t think of this strictly in terms of the amount of our financial giving (though that is certainly one application). It’s not as much about amount as it is about what our gift represents. In the previous chapter, Paul praises the Macedonians for their giving – with no mention of the amount they gave. Instead, he noted that they gave sacrificially out of their own poverty (2 Corinthians 8:1-3). Jesus similarly singled out a poor widow for a gift that was small in absolute amount but great in what it represented to her (Mark 12:41-44).

Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

— 2 Corinthians 8:11-12

After his praise of the Macedonians, Paul made it clear that God’s call to the Corinthians was not “do what they did and even more”. This is not about comparing ourselves to others. It’s about honoring God with our giving. Note that Paul instructs the Corinthians to give according to their means. Earlier he had instructed them to prepare for the collection by setting aside money in keeping with their income (1 Corinthians 16:2). Again, some have seen instructions about the tithe in this, but the context is that of a special collection – what we today would consider a disaster relief fund.

Paul here emphasizes their willingness (more on this shortly). God is not asking for what we don’t have. Instead, he is the real owner of everything we do have, so he’s asking for us to give willingly according to how he has blessed us.

A Cheerful Heart

As we’ve said repeatedly, holiday giving tends to go in one of two directions. Giving that’s driven by the cajoling of marketers, emphasizing need and often inducing false guilt, tends to be reluctant, begrudging giving. It’s more about relieving our guilt than it is about accomplishing God’s purposes. It’s not the cheerful giving that God is looking for.

But when we give out of a vision from God and out of gratitude for his provision, we’re able to give cheerfully. We focus more on what God is doing than on all the needs we can’t meet.

This is why preparing for holiday giving is so important – it puts us in a place to give cheerfully rather than grudgingly, expectantly rather than reluctantly.

God’s Blessing and Our Abounding

2 Corinthians 9:8 is another “so that” verse. It recalls God’s original blessing of Abraham and later of Israel – not a blessing simply for their enjoyment but a blessing to equip them to bless others (See Genesis 12:1-3; this is a mega-theme in the Old Testament). God blesses us abundantly in order to equip us to bless others, abounding in “every good work”.

We should think of this in a much broader context than financial giving. In the holiday context, abounding in every good work includes opportunities for serving and sharing as well as for giving. If funds aren’t available, we can “abound” without financial contributions – and without guilt, if we’ve prayerfully prepared for the season.

Sowing generously; giving cheerfully; abounding in every good work. This is the response of those who have prepared for generosity in the holiday season. Whether that generosity takes the form of financial giving, sharing of possessions, or serving (or all of them!), it’s the prayerful preparation that creates cheerful, grateful hearts. This is the difference between haphazard giving as an afterthought and truly cheerful generosity. And after all, isn’t this how God gave to us?!?

Back to top