Is it simply meant to share the needs of the church with the members?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nTo be honest, I don\u2019t think many churches know whether they should or should not include the offering amount in the bulletin.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been to small churches that do and large churches that don\u2019t; but I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s necessarily a matter of size for a church to show or hide the offering amount.<\/p>\n
A Peer Pressure Giving Tactic?<\/h2>\n
This thought came to mind as I was thinking through the psychological reasons a church might put the offering in a bulletin.\u00a0 Some might look at it as a way to spur generosity through peer pressure.\u00a0 This, however, is clearly unscriptural.\u00a0 In 2 Corinthians 9:7, Paul writes, \u201cYou must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don\u2019t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. \u201cFor God loves a person who gives cheerfully.\u201d(NLT)<\/em>\u00a0 I don\u2019t think churches (in general) would show the offering amount to pressure people to give.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never felt a pressure to give more or less because of looking at the previous week\u2019s offering, because my giving is a personal matter.<\/p>\n\u00a0A Responsible Way to Stay Accountable<\/h2>\n
I know some people absolutely do not like to hear this, but financially speaking, a church needs to manage its offerings and expenses much like a business would handle income and expenses.\u00a0 As a member of a church, you are financially supporting the church with your offerings and should take interest in how the church is doing financially.\u00a0 We can do this by attending business meetings and doing our part to help the church run more efficiently.\u00a0 One way that we can look at the bulletin\u2019s \u2018offering given \/ offering needed\u2019 section is to think of it as a brief snapshot of the financial picture.\u00a0 If we want to continue supporting the ministries in the church, we need to understand that each one has costs!\u00a0 It makes sense then to see why a church might show the offering given\/needed each week if you look at it this way.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think I can make a blanket statement on whether a church should or shouldn\u2019t show the offering given\/needed in each bulletin.\u00a0 There are good things in knowing that the church is being supported but there are also some negative thoughts that can come from knowing how much is being given (i.e. there will always be people who think offerings should be used in a different way.)<\/p>\n
So what are your thoughts?\u00a0 Should a church show or not show the offering given\/needed in the bulletins?\u00a0 Does your church show the offering amount in each week\u2019s bulletin?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I remember growing up in the same church for almost 20 years and getting a bulletin every week.\u00a0 It\u2019d show the sermon notes from the previous week along with this week\u2019s notes and a few other things to put on your calendar.\u00a0 But there was one thing that always caught my attention \u2013 the offering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2551,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-and-money"],"yoast_head":"\n
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