It's for charidee, mate!

On June 12 & June 15, Sanctus 1 ran a service designed to get us thinking about our charitable giving, driven by the Sanctus 1 value of being Missional.

We looked at several bible passages (Luke 11:42, 1 Corinthians 13:3, Matthew 6:1 and 2 Corinthians 9:7), which reminded us that:

• while we may tithe, this is not the end of our giving - we should not ignore the need for justice,

• there's no point going overboard and giving away everything we own if we don't have love,

• we shouldn't turn our charitable exploits into theatre (like Smashy and Nicey), and

• there's no point giving reluctantly or coercing someone into giving - we should contribute cheerfully

Humans are motivated by self-interest (generally speaking) and this doesn't stop with our faith. We go to church to be spiritually fed, but do we give as well? Are we giving, but doing so predominantly as a way of working our way to heaven (to secure a reward when we get there)?

Sheep and goats

Matthew 25:31-46 sorts the sheep from the goats. That said, working with your hands and contributing your skills to charity (not just giving your money) can bring you closer to God, bring you greater spiritual maturity and give you fresh insights that you wouldn't otherwise be aware of. Self-improvement and development isn't bad, just make sure you have balance between what you do for yourself and what you do for others.

In Amos, God reminded the Israelites not to be so corrupt and neglectful of those in need - don't walk past the widow on your way to the temple and do nothing (they didn't have social services in the Old Testament). The Fruit Basket analogy in Amos 8 gave the prophet Amos a clear message to relay and is a lesson we should still be mindful of today.

James Fowler in his Stages of Faith suggested that for the ultimate in faith progression, closeness to God comes when realising a huge injustice in the world and having the passion and drive to actually do something about it, regardless of impact to self. People like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, etc.

Mancunian widow

So, the challenge to Sanctus 1 is - do we use our faith to support ourselves or to challenge what we do? Are we too self-focused or can we bear to shift some of that focus outwards? Who is the Mancunian equivalent of the Old Testament widow? Can we impact the world?

The service concluded with a discussion about what Sanctus 1 does and what it can do more of. How we should be more practical in our charitable support, although recognising that being geographically spread around Manchester makes a regular activity difficult. Instead we need a volunteer to become a Charity Facilitator and inspire us to single acts we can take part in e.g. painting school rooms, making up gift boxes for the homeless at Christmas, etc. These are local, practical activities we can all contribute to.

Sanctus 1 already supports a charity with international focus, but could do more. It would be good to hear more from those we support to see what impact we have. There was a recognition of the recent hit on UK arts (something close to our hearts, residing in an arts cafe) and so there was a proposal to set up an arts award that would not only support local/national Christian artists, but also help stimulate and provide an outlet for creative expression in our faith.

Finally, we voted using monopoly money for which types of charities we would like to support (more about that soon).

If you would like to recommend a charity that Sanctus 1 should support, please email us. Also, send us your views on the arts award idea. And email us to volunteer as a Charity Facilitator.