“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit we just don’t want to do [...]
If a Harvard prof thinks trustees are a good idea . . .
September 26, 2012 By 2 Comments
It’s six weeks into the eight-week online course I’m teaching in Messiah College’s master’s in higher education program and I’ve yet to convince all 17 of my students that governing boards are a smart idea. That volunteers with limited involvement in the day-to-day are calling the shots for America’s colleges and universities doesn’t sit any [...]
Generosity in quotes
September 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
“In following Jesus, we begin by letting go of all those things that place a prior hold on our affections. Relationships, possessions, privilege and position and ease give way to God’s call. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once famously wrote, ‘Christ never calls a man, but he bids him come and die.’ And so we struggle in our [...]
Sows’ ears, apples of gold, and the importance of choosing our words well
September 19, 2012 By 2 Comments
Regular readers of Generous Matters know I’m a sucker for a playful turn on a word. Pithy phrases. Meaty metaphors. Clever puns. I collect them. Use them. Savor them. I believe that in the hands of a skillful writer, a sow’s ear can become a silk purse. “A word aptly spoken is like apples of [...]
Damned if you tithe and damned if you don’t
September 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Lost in the kerfuffle over Mitt Romney’s tax returns is a sorry story about how Americans’ (including good church folks) have come to think about charitable giving. When a family of limited means is faithful in tithing a full 10 percent, we cheer. Nothing beats a good widow and her mite story for warming hearts. [...]
Generosity in quotes
September 14, 2012 By 2 Comments
“We are neither isolated individuals, as Ayn Rand suggests, nor cogs in a collective machine as Marxists insist. Rather, we are free, responsible individuals who can become what the Creator intended only in community. Scripture is clear in its call to love our neighbors as ourselves and to carry a special concern for the poor [...]
Tips for fall (or any time) fundraising success
September 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
With just 109 giving days remaining in 2012 (maybe less, depending upon when you’re reading this), development staff in offices large and small are scrambling to make the most of every last minute. Unfortunately, some, like the silly old grasshopper of Aesop’s lore, fiddled away the summer and failed to gather new ideas while they [...]
Generosity in quotes
September 7, 2012 By 1 Comment
“It is not enough to confess Jesus as Messiah. We must be ready to embrace this Messiah, the one who will question our deepest allegiances and demand absolute discipleship, the one who requires us to move from selfishness to generosity, from fear to love, from hatred to compassion, from narrowness of self-righteousness to the wideness [...]
Recognizing the abundance in my abundance of years
September 5, 2012 By 2 Comments
The experience of teaching an online course consisting mainly of students who are younger than my youngest child has me feeling my years. It’s a tough pill to swallow recognizing that it’s not just that I could be my students’ mother. I could be their grandmother (granted, a VERY young Nana). Just as I’m about [...]
