United Church of God

Update from the President: July 11, 2019

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Update from the President

July 11, 2019

United Youth Camps Update

Last week, half of our annual United Youth Camps teen camps were conducted. All has gone well and we are thankful that everyone has safely returned home.

We still have Woodland, Northwest and Winter Camp to go. In addition, 4 more pre-teen camps around the country are in progress for the remainder of the summer.

The largest camp registration has been for Northwest camp, with 118. Bev and I visited Camp Cotubic, a little over two hours north of the home office, where there were 116 campers and 51 staff. Eleven of the staff were ABC graduates. Pastor Jaime Diaz came up from Temuco, Chile, and after camp we were glad to have him visit the home office.

Picnic for Home Office Staff

Yesterday, the home office staff held an employee picnic at Sycamore Park in Batavia. Everyone loved it. It was for employees and their families and we enjoyed being with one another in a non-work setting. I've said this before, but I'll say it again. We work together with a wonderful group of people who are focused on our mission. I have never worked in a better environment than the one we currently have here in the home office and in the field ministry.

Reports on Food Security help for Africa

Our brethren in Zambia and Zimbabwe have been on the brink of starvation. Most do not have work, so when their subsistence crops fail, hunger, starvation and death are at the door. I have been writing about this in our eNews reports. Good Works and LifeNets has stepped up to organize relief. What is so critically important is that the needed relief actually gets to the intended people. That has been done!

Various churches have helped from a generous heart. Robert Berendt in Edmonton wrote us: "We are mailing a cheque for $6,100.00 which we would like to see used for the members in Zimbabwe, if possible, or any other need in that area. Valerie has been faithfully keeping track of all the donations. These funds were donated in various ways by various people in the 4 churches I have pastored for 20 years."

You can read other recent reports and see photos of food being distributed:

Giving, Goodness, Generosity and Grace

Keying off the above reports of liberal giving and subsequent distribution of food to our congregations to benefit stressed and starving brethren in Africa, I would like to share the following thoughts with you.

Are you putting into action the truly awesome gifts of grace that God has given you? That might seem like an unusual question, but that's what the apostle Paul directed the disciples at Rome to do, which applies to us today. Paul outlined in Romans 12 that we are given spiritual gifts, which are applied according to God's goodness—God's grace—that is bestowed on each of us.

These include gifts of effective speaking, teaching, encouraging, giving, providing positive leadership and performing cheerful acts of mercy (Romans 12:6-8). Paul noted that each disciple is given these spiritual gifts in different ways or proportions. Notice again, one of those gifts of grace is the gift of giving or generosity.

Paul specifically encourages us to activate the gift of giving "with liberality," or as the New Living Translation puts it, to "give generously" (Romans 12:8, emphasis added throughout). This spiritual gift manifests itself as a mindset. As we read throughout the New Testament, disciples of Jesus Christ truly are a generous group. They give freely of themselves. It is not about money alone.

Being generous is not always a natural human state of mind. And neither is it totally linked to one's economic state. Some try to justify or rationalize hoarding and stinginess as a necessary response to the world we live in. It can be taken to extremes. Even J. Paul Getty, once described as the richest man in America, infamously installed coin-operated telephones at his 72-room Sutton Place mansion in England.

While sometimes generosity refers specifically to financial offerings, being of a generous mind goes much further. Being generous embodies an attitude of giving without expecting anything in return. It is a way of expressing compassion and making a difference. Whether one speaks, teaches, encourages, leads, shows mercy, or exercises any spiritual gift or act, one must first embrace the generous giving nature of God Himself, not expecting to be paid back or compensated. Paul told the Corinthians that openly being of a generous nature was proof that a disciple's spiritual love was "genuine" (2 Corinthians 8:8). As Paul instructed the disciples living in the then-rich trading city of Corinth, "But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving" (2 Corinthians 8:7, NIV).

Generosity is a manifestation of our character. It is a reflection of a caring heart, directly reflecting who we are. The degree to which we are generous with our time, our words, our actions, our careful listening, our material goods, our prayer life, and yes, our financial offerings, reflects God's grace, God's goodness in action within each of us. Generosity is not for the well-to-do only. In fact, generosity is often shown most significantly by those of lesser economic means.

I served as a trustee of a charity in the United Kingdom that helped victim children in Chernobyl, Ukraine, where we helped establish a rehabilitation center. Our director spoke to various groups throughout the country about the great need for such a facility in a country that was collapsing in the wake of the nuclear disaster and could not care for its own people. He observed that a significant amount of support came from Women's Institutes where ladies would readily give their support in a modest personal contribution. At the same time when he spoke to affluent groups that included noted public figures, many would smile, encourage him to "keep up the good work" and contribute very little or nothing at all.

To further illustrate this point, Christ gave us the example of the widow who came into the Temple. As we read in the account of Mark, Jesus sat down in an area of the Jerusalem Temple and watched as people passed by and dropped money into the offering box, even "large sums" (Mark 12:41). Then came an old widow, someone who had lost her husband and primary source of income. Jesus watched carefully as she generously put in two small coins. Jesus didn't feel sorry for her. Instead, He praised her.

"This poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box," Jesus told His disciples. "For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of poverty has put in everything she had, all that she had to live on" (Mark 12:43-44, ESV).

The rich who had entered into the temple to give gave of their excess. But, this widow wanted to give; this was her nature. She gave of herself. She generously chose to sacrifice much.

I want to share with you a very personal example of one having such a generous heart. My mother, Nina Kubik, was widowed at age 40. Her husband, my Dad, died at the age of 42. We had five children in the family. I was the oldest and then a 19-year-old freshman at Ambassador College. The youngest was age three. Both my parents were church members. After his death, she became what used to be called a "third tithe widow." She worked cleaning homes the rest of her life, but was greatly beloved and well cared for in the congregation.

Despite having little in the way of material goods, my mother was well known and loved for her open heart and generosity. She never missed anyone's wedding or baby gift. She had a way of efficiently shopping at outlet stores and finding bargains so she could give gifts. People were always visiting her home and since she lived only a few miles from church, they often came after morning Sabbath services and would pitch in for a mid-afternoon meal. Everyone gave generously!

She taught us children to be generous and giving to others; even after I was well into my ministry sometimes reminding me not be stingy with my Holy Day offerings! She may never have had much money, but she was never without. People cheerfully helped her with car and home repairs. Somehow along with her generosity she was thrifty and always set a high bar of care for others. Even today I think of her when I read of the widow who threw in her two mites to the treasury in the temple.

Paul really brought home what it means to have a generous frame of mind in chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians. To spiritually connect the gentiles in the Roman Empire with the famine-plagued churches in Judah, Paul had set about collecting a special multi-country relief offering to help the impoverished Jewish Christians. In writing his second letter to the Corinthians, he vividly explained how in nearby Macedonia disciples had cheerfully responded by giving until it hurt—a true sacrificial offering. He noted that through the grace of God, "their abundance of joy and extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity," as they gave "according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord" (2 Corinthians 8:2-3, ESV).

In these two chapters, Paul urges the Corinthians not to let him down, but to rise to the occasion with generous giving as did the Macedonians. Paul emphasizes a critical takeaway: God Himself takes notice of a generous attitude and gets involved!

As Paul explained: "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:6-7, ESV).

What happens when we give freely with generosity? "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8, ESV).

Simply put, when we are spiritually in a generous frame of mind, we cannot "out-give" God. Let us exercise the spiritual gift of generosity, giving of our time, our resources, and ourselves—let us focus on proving that our love for one another is genuine.