Last month I spoke with my church about generosity and giving. Many pastors don’t enjoy talking about giving but I do. I believe that our faith is about giving. We have a giving God (“for God so loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son) and we have a giving Savior (“the Son of Man … came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”).
I had the opportunity to share one of my favorites stories about a woman I knew when I served a church on the west side of Houston. Her name was Mi-sun. She had married an American GI when he served in Korea. They moved to the United States and had two sons. Over time Mi-sun’s American husband grew tired of his “little Asian bride.” Her English pronunciation wasn’t the best and there were several others traits he found unpleasing and embarrassing. So he divorced her and left her to raise their sons.
Mi-sun loved Jesus. She literally glowed when she spoke of him—which was often.
Mi-sun came to church, attended Sunday school and sang in the choir on Sunday mornings. During the week she attended Bible study. On Sunday evenings, she attended a wonderful church for their praise and worship service (we didn’t have a service on Sunday nights.) And one afternoon every week she taught English to other Koreans in her apartment complex, partially because she wanted to help them do well in a new culture. But using the Bible as her textbook also gave her an opportunity to talk to them about the Savior she knew and loved.
And Mi-sun tithed. She made $24,000 a year and she pledged $2400 each year. In the city of Houston, raising two teen-age sons as a single mother, $24,000 isn’t a huge amount of money — not by a long shot. And giving $2400 away every year, well, for many that would be quite a sacrifice.
One afternoon Mi-sun came to see me. She had received some extra money at work and she wanted to tithe it. “You know someone in church who lost job or have hard time and need money?” she asked. I told her I was sure we had someone like that, but no names came to mind. “Let me ask at our staff meeting next week,” I said, “and I bet one of the other pastors will know of someone.”
The next Tuesday, I told our staff, “One of our members (I didn’t reveal who) received some additional money at work and wanted to know if there’s someone in the church who’s going through a hard time and could use a little help.” One of our associate pastors responded, “I know somebody. Last week Mi-sun was laid off. They gave her a small severance, but she’s looking for a job. I bet $500 would mean the world to her.”
I said, “I’m sure it does.”
Renfroe
Rob Renfroe has been the President and Publisher of Good News since 2009. He has been involved in United Methodist renewal and reform for many years, having served as the President of the Board of Directors of The Confessing Movement before taking the leadership role at Good News. Rob is also the pastor of adult discipleship at The Woodlands United Methodist Church in The Woodlands, Texas.