When I share my
ministry with my potential partners, I make a four-point commitment to them
when I ask them to be a part of my team.
1. I commit to work
diligently to touch the lives of people for Jesus Christ
2. I commit to
regularly let you know how God is blessing the ministry
3. I commit to be
financially faithful with the funds given for my ministry.
4. I commit to share
prayer concerns, and praises, with one another.
Looking over the past
10 years of living paycheck to paycheck, I did not think that it was a responsible
way of being financially faithful to my ministry partners, to my students, or
to myself. I wanted to learn how to spend, save, give, and use my money
in a way pleasing to the Lord. After all, it is His money to begin with. My
commitment to be financially faithful, led me to take Financial Peace
University. I have been learning how to manage my money in a biblical way that I was never taught before.
Taking this class, I
learned a lot about my spending. I typically spend a lot of my money on food. By learning about this
behavior, I have discipline myself to only eating out if it is work related or a social
meal with others. By doing this, I now have extra money to save for my
emergency fund, or to upgrade my jeans that have holes! I also have considered
a cheaper way of buying and storing groceries, without cutting healthy meals.
This works for my ministry as well, since most of ministry and fellowship happens
over a meal.
The class was taught
by Dave Ramsey. When he talked about saving, he spent time telling the class
about the differences between men's and women's view of
savings. He said that men view it as cash that "is just sitting
there" and women view it as more of a security blanket. I do not know if it is true for every person, but, now that I have my
emergency fund in place, I feel more secure if something were to happen. More importantly, I now know how to save, and why it is important.
When I was a little
girl, I thought that giving money is only something grown-ups with high paying jobs do. Until I started raising support, no one I knew talked about giving money or tithing. Throughout college and raising support, I learned
that everyone is called to tithe and give. In fact, my financial givers are some of my best teachers for me in this area by giving generously and joyfully.
My nine-week class
just ended last Sunday, and I feel much more equipped to budget. I have a
solid plan in place to be proactive about spending, saving, and giving. With
this plan, I will keep my commitment of being
financially faithful with the funds given for my ministry.
