* Updated: November 15, 2022. Congregation approval received on November 13. Praying for the sale of our current facility and praying for the Lord to provide all funding necessary. Full update below.
Background
“What they meant for evil, God meant for good” (Genesis 50:20).
In June 2021, after mounting pressure related to COVID mandates and restrictions, AHS and Calgary Police locked us out of our building and imprisoned me. I spent 3 weeks in jail and our church building was seized for the month of June. Undeterred, the gathering flourished. Two important lessons were illustrated: (1) the church is not the pastor, and (2) the church is not the building. Taking away one, or both, will not stop the church from gathering and the truth from advancing. In fact, through tests and trials the church strengthens and grows.
Through the summer of 2021, as more continued to join us, we rented different facilities until restrictions returned in the fall. With no rentals available, we returned to our current facility with multiple services, oftentimes squishing in or spilling over into the overflow space in the basement. We prayed and searched in earnest for a larger place to accommodate the growing church, support discipleship and fellowship, and be an embassy of God’s kingdom in the city. After exhausting every lead, we continued to wait upon the Lord to provide in his timing. In late October a suitable church building became available and our offer to purchase was accepted!
On the evening of Sunday, November 13th, 2022, the church gathered at the new facility (3311 Centre Street N) to sing and then vote as a congregation to approve the purchase. We tested the acoustics and opened the evening by singing “Rejoice, the Lord Is King.” (You can listen to the last stanza of that hymn here.) Eighty-one percent of our members were in attendance with ninety percent voting in favor of purchasing the new facility. With the clear support of the members we’re ready to move to the next phase. First, we’ll list our current facility for sale and pray that God would direct the right buyer to us. Second, we’ve created a building fund to help pay for the new facility. We’re asking the Lord to provide $1.25 million so that we can move in without any debt.
A Call to the Lord’s People to Give Generously
As we pray for the Lord’s continued provision—and we must pray—we must also be prepared to be used of the Lord to answer those prayers. In Exodus 35 when the Lord commanded the construction of the tabernacle, Moses said, “Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution” (v. 5). That is, when we ask for the Lord to provide, he doesn’t create money out of thin air or drop it down from the clouds. He stirs the hearts of his people to give—and they give generously and abundantly until the need is met. (In Exodus 36 Moses had to restrain the people from giving further because they had already brought more than enough.)
While a church building is far different than the tabernacle, there are parallels. A church “facility” facilitates worship, teaching, evangelism, fellowship, prayer, discipleship, and many other God-honoring ministries. It serves as a hub, connects to many spokes, gets rubber to the ground, and moves forward the kingdom of Christ. So what can we learn from Exodus 35 and the “building fund” there?
1. It is the Lord’s contribution. Six times it is mentioned that the contribution of funds and gifts were a contribution to the Lord (vv. 5, 21, 22, 24, 29).
These funds are to do the Lord’s work and not to build a monument to ourselves. Does the Lord really need our contribution? Yes and no. No, he doesn’t need anything, but he chooses to give to us so that we might give to him with thanks and participate in what he is doing in the world. First Corinthians 3:7 reminds us, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” Yet it is through those who plant and water that God produces a full harvest so that “we are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor 3:9). Let’s be planting and watering where God is giving growth so that we might be partakers in his harvest!
2. It is a free will offering. Exodus 35 speaks of those with a “generous heart” (v. 5), “everyone whose heart stirred him” (v. 20), “everyone whose spirit moved him” (v. 20), “a willing heart” (v. 22), “whose hearts stirred them” (v. 26), “whose heart moved them” (v. 29), and “a freewill offering” (v. 29).
The Lord doesn’t need to exact from his people. Rather, our hearts are moved to give to the Lord freely and use what has been entrusted to us for his service. The Lord doesn’t need 50/50 draws, catered dinners, pressure tactics, guilt trips, or other contrived schemes to bring his provision. The Lord puts it into the heart of his people to give, and they freely give to the Lord.
3. Those who could, gave. In Exodus 35:24 it says, “Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution.” It also says, “every one who possessed blue…” (v. 23); “every one who possessed acacia wood…” (v. 24); “every skillful woman spun…” (v. 25); “the leaders brought onyx stones…” (v. 27); “all the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work…”
Everyone who could make a contribution made a contribution. This is not a call to rely on the rich (the proverbial 1% which many believe should pay for everything). This is a call for everyone to consider what they have to give and to put it into the Lord’s service. You can’t give what you don’t have, but that didn’t stop everyone from bringing something to give. For some of you, the Lord has provided for you in this season so that you can give a greater contribution to the Lord.
4. It is a joy to give and see God receive thanksgiving. The Apostle Paul doesn’t hesitate to draw on the themes already seen in Exodus 35. Paul took up a collection from the churches in Galatia, Ephesus, Corinth, and Macedonia to provide for the needy saints in Jerusalem suffering due to a famine. As he asks for generosity among the saints, he writes, “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:6–7).
What does he mean by reaping here? Is this prosperity theology? He explains and says, “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God” (2 Cor 9:10–12). He affirms that it is God who gives and we return a portion of what he has given to us. And what we return to him is used of him to help the saints and bring thanksgiving to him! That is, as God’s people give generously through the Lord’s provision, God’s people are moved to joy and God receives the thanks for taking our meager gifts and producing a harvest of righteousness.
When the disciples were told to feed the five thousand, they stumbled in unbelief. In the end, it was a few loaves and fish that fed a multitude. In the hands of Christ, our few loaves and fish redound to a great provision where the saints are fed and he receives all glory and thanksgiving. I know we’re tempted be like the disciples and think, “The need is too great!” But are we forgetting whom we serve? A few loaves and fish in the hands of Jesus can feed a multitude. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). Let’s bring our loaves and fish and see what the Master does among us. Rather than depending on a loan, let’s depend on the Lord by bringing what we have and trusting him to provide. So let’s pray and trust that the Lord will stir the hearts of his people to give freely and generously.
Oh, may we see the Lord provide in such a way that there is an overflowing in many thanksgivings to him!
—Tim Stephens
P.S. I can’t recall a time when I’ve made an appeal to the church to give like this. In part, that is because we’ve been blessed by the generous giving of previous generations. We had the ability to meet these past two years because we owned our own property. This was not our own doing but was due to the generosity of those who went before us. It is our time to give such that this generation and future generations might have the same blessing we’ve enjoyed. To God be the glory!
Click here to learn more about giving to the church. A special designation can be made for the building.
“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.
I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, ‘Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.’” (2 Corinthians 8:1–15).
