This year, our pastor set a crazy goal of raising $500,000 for the Christmas season starting in November. Would you believe that $1.7 million was raised in just one week? That’s awesome! I’m so proud of my church’s members and attendees who went above and beyond to help people they don’t even know!
Here, in Costa Rica, we are also doing a type of “Be Rich” campaign entitled ¿Cómo ser ricos? (How to be rich). It’s a three-part series that began in a surprising way. Before I tell you how we kicked it off, I must give you some background information.
When Openhouse (that’s our church) started, the pastor said that an offering plate would never be passed around. Julio said that, because people here are leery of evangelicals (that’s us) when they “ask for money”. The concept of tithing and offerings is misunderstood and not well received here. The culture, as a whole, may be used to giving some money to the Catholic church during mass, but generally what’s left over or change found in your pocket – not giving the “firstfruits” or a set percentage.
The first Sunday of this series, Julio said that he was going to do something that he had never done before. He was going to pass around the offering plate. A lady in our small group later said that she knew that this would one day happen. But not how she thought.
Offering plates were passed around, but not to collect money. To give money! That Sunday that Andy set the goal of $500,000, our church’s stewardship team was visiting NPCC in Alpharetta and was moved by the sermon. Upon their return to Costa Rica, they decided to give their own money to start a movement of generosity at our church. They provided enough money to fill envelopes to pass out to a little over 200 people with either $10, $20, or $30 in each envelope.
Julio told the congregation that they were being given God’s money which is a great responsibility. They could do whatever they wanted with the money except for spending it on themselves and giving it back to the church. We have heard wonderful stories about how people were so surprised to receive this gift and how they chose to duplicate the amount that they received in order to help others more abundantly.
In conjunction with “Be Rich”, our church adopted an area of town called La Carpio. We are partnering with Hope Partners International and Seth and Andrea Sears by hosting a food drive and a toy drive to help about 120 people of the poor families there in one of the poorest slums in Central America.
As church staff, our desire is that our congregation will realize how rich they are when Jesus is a part of their lives and that we have so much to give. We hope that people will recognize that God wants us to give every part of ourselves to Him including what we hold so dear – our purse strings. Of course God doesn't need any money – he wants for us to understand that we are just stewards of His blessings.
