Ladies' Retreat was October 17, 2009! We had such a lovely day! The Lord's presence was real, and many hearts were touched. Mrs. Sheila Wolf from Cincinnati, OH was our featured speaker. Mrs. Marsha Potteiger from Marion, OH was our featured soloist and also spoke in one of the afternoon sessions. Mrs. Wolf spoke very practically about our relationship with God, bringing our "to do list" to the Lord each day and about how we could reach out to touch others with the love of God. Marsha, who was also my best friend from college days, sang beautifully. I was privileged to accompany her again as I had done many years ago! She gave her personal testimony of how God has done marvelous things for her, her husband and their marriage. She spoke openly of her husbands' struggle with Pornography and best of all, his complete deliverance from this sin by the power of God! It was very moving. We enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Gloria Meyers, and desserts made by various ladies. There was a great craft time where we could make a notebook which could be used for many different things including a sermon notebook, recipe book, etc. There were 8 tables set up by various ones for shopping and browsing. All in all, it was a very worthwhile day! All the glory goes to Jesus who died that we might have fullness of joy in Him!
I've been thinking about a subject that is probably somewhat controversial, but most people are not really talking about it. The subject I propose to discuss in this blog post is this; should churches and Christian organizations charge for events such as conferences, Ladies' Retreats, Vacation Bible Schools, youth camps, etc.? The next question would be; what does the Bible say about it? How does the Bible teach us to fund God's work?
In Matthew 14:14-21 we read
14And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”
16But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
18He said, “Bring them here to Me.”19Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
What was Jesus' solution to the problem of food? Did He ask them to pay money to be fed? Did He ask them to pay money for hearing Him preach and for healing them? The answers to all of these questions is a clear "no." An interesting note in this passage is that when the disciples suggested that the people go into a neighboring village and buy food, Jesus, instead, instructed them to feed the people! Surely, Jesus was hoping against hope that the disciples would have faith in Him! After all, He was God! He must've been thinking, "C'mon, guys! Can't you see that I'm God! I can supply any need!"
How many times do we begin a new ministry, only to expect people to pay to partake of the gospel! How can we do this? The gospel was given to us freely. Can't we trust God to supply the funds for ministry? Of course, that is assuming that He is behind the ministry in the first place. I believe that God will supply the need for any ministry if it is His will for that ministry to exist. If the funds are not available after praying and trusting the Lord to provide, we need to ask ourselves if that particular ministry is His will.
But, back to our passage in Matthew. The disciples had a desire to do something good. They saw that the hour was late, and the people were certainly tired and hungry. Why not dismiss them and have them go and buy some refreshment. Sounds reasonable, right? William Burkitt addressed this quite well. "The motion which the disciples make on behalf of the multitude, Send them away that they may buy victuals. Here was a strong charity, but a weak faith. A strong charity in that they desire the people's relief: but a weak faith, in that they suppose that they could not be otherwise relieved, but by sending them away to buy victuals; forgetting that Christ, who had healed the multitude miraculously, could as easily feed them miraculously, if he pleased: all things being equally easy to omnipotency."
The disciples would've missed this wonderful opportunity for a miracle except that the Lord stepped in and saved the day! How many times have we been of such little faith that we didn't trust God to provide in a wonderful and miraculous way? We just assume that this is a day of small things and so, in order to fund God's work, we must rely on admission charges, courting secular corporations, bake sales and garage sales. This is a sad commentary on our faith! We serve the Creator of the universe, people! He can provide any need we have!
Malachi 3:10-12 "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house..." If we would give as God has asked us to, there will be plenty to fund His work!
I Timothy 6:17-10 "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." We should trust in the living God to supply all funds to cause His work to go forward. We should be willing to share as we are able so those who cannot give or share will still be able to participate in various events and endeavors.
