Honoring the Lord With Your Wealth, Not Just Your Firstfruits

Pete Ballentine – CCCC Board VP and Stewardship Committee Chair

Do you like opening envelopes with checks for six figures in them?   In December, I got to open up a letter sent by the estate of Leta Littlefield, our oldest church member, who had died last February 2023.   It included a check for $40,000 to be used as the church needed.   We had already been praying for God to provide funds to help with a new church roof.  Thank you Lord and Leta!

Leta’s gift is officially called a “legacy bequest”. It is a gift out of the assets God has entrusted us with as His people.    As pastors, we are familiar with Proverbs 3:9, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.”   Firstfruits relates to our regular ongoing income that we give to the Lord.   But wealth, in the Hebrew, actually implies the possessions, property and assets we have accumulated.    Many Christians practice giving from the firstfruits of income, but most do not fully understand or practice giving that is from one’s wealth as well.

The CCCC has been blessed with an outstanding resource from the NAE called “Financial Health” put together by Pastor Brian Kluth.    Go to their website (www.naefinancialhealth.org) and you will find a series of short one-session video courses for pastors and church leadership boards related to the areas of personal and church finances, stewardship and generosity.   For each course you complete, the CCCC through a grant, will send you $500!

I just recently finished the “Bless Your Church Legacy Bequests” one session video course on the website.  Brian shares some helpful insights, such as:

*Most people have 10 percent in cash accounts and 90 percent in assets, property and insurance policies

*The largest donations come in people’s later years and when they go to heaven.

*Only 5-10 percent of Christians honor the Lord with planned gifts of assets or legacy bequests to their church and ministries they support.

*Up to 40 percent of Christians say they would be willing to honor the Lord by giving a bequest to their church if they were invited, encouraged and equipped to do so.

*Most legacy gifts are normally 5-6 figures, sometimes 7 figures.

The course encourages discussion together as a leadership team regarding how best to educate and encourage your church members in the area of legacy bequests, including bulletin and newsletter articles, setting up a brokerage account to receive gifts, and using a Bless Your Church planning brochure and a 50 page Christian Legacy Organizer developed by NAE Financial.   I highly recommend this course for you and your church board.

The fact is that over the next twenty to thirty years there is going to be a significant transfer of wealth by the Builder and Baby Boom generations.  A question to be asking is this – Is our wealth just going to go to our family or are we going to tithe our wealth also to the Lord – and leave a legacy bequest for God’s Kingdom work after we are gone?