This is definitely worth a repost!
West Ridge Church Gives Away Money
http://www.westridge.com/
from tonymorganlive.com by tony
We did something today at West Ridge that we’ve never done before, and the stories are already starting to flow in from people who were deeply impacted by the experience.
We’re in the middle of a brief three-week series on being “Fearless.” Basically, we’re teaching about how big our God is and that Christ-followers should be champions of hope and courage in today’s rough economic times.
After teaching a couple messages from 2 Corinthians 9:6-11, Brian challenged our church to immediately demonstrate generosity and faith. Following the example of something we heard about from Rob Bell…
* We took several thousand dollars from the church’s funds and put them in two big buckets at the front of the auditorium.
* At the end of the service, we asked folks to bring cash offerings to add to what was already in the buckets.
* It felt like just about everyone in each service came forward to make an offering. Literally thousands of people participated.
* Then we encouraged people who are hurting financially to come forward and take the money from the buckets. Some people grabbed one handful. Other people grabbed two handfuls depending on their needs.
* In one service, the buckets were emptied and people just started writing checks to other people.
Obviously, since we didn’t count the money between the offering and the giving, there’s no way to know exactly how much was given away today. All I know is that this was a great picture of the church in action. People who God has blessed gave an offering from what God have given them. Then God used that offering to bless people who needed help.
Wouldn’t it be something if the Church in America became known for its generosity?
