A PLAN FOR BECOMING A GENEROUS COMMUNITY
Published: Mon, 06/09/25
Updated: Mon, 06/09/25
Sessions Include:The Good and Beautiful Community, Lesson #1 Why Study Books?My church recently transitioned to using books as curriculum in our Sunday School. The reason is simple. My life has been profoundly influenced by the reading of books. I don’t think my life has ever been changed by any curriculum piece I have ever read. Ever. I have actually surveyed a number of groups I have taught over the years, asking: Has your life ever been changed by any curriculum? The most common response is for people to laugh out loud. Our first study was the Bless book by Dave and Jon Ferguson. It is a great study on relational lifestyle evangelism. About half-way through the the study, we did a survey to help determine what we would study next. No one wanted to go back to the curriculum. Not. One. Person. The #1 choice for what to study next was a tie:
We will be studying these two books over the next year and a half or so. Here is what Amazon says about Ortberg’s book: The Me I Want to Be will help you discover spiritual vitality like never before as you learn to "live in the flow of the spirit." Why does spiritual growth seem so difficult? God's vision for your life is not just that you are saved by grace, but that you also learn to live by grace, flourishing with the Spirit flowing through you. And this book will show how God's perfect vision for you starts with a powerful promise: All those who trust in God "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Pastor and best-selling author John Ortberg first helps gauge your spiritual health and measure the gap between where you are now and where God intends you to be. Then he provides detailed tasks and exercises to help you live in the flow of the Spirit, circumventing real-world barriers - pain and sorrow, temptations, self-doubt, sin - to flourish even in a dark and broken world. As you start living in the flow, you will feel:
God invites you to join him in crafting an abundant and joy-filled life. The Me I Want to Be shows you how to graciously accept his invitation. I have just completed a new, 22-week study of John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be that we will be using in my church. (I had previously done a 7-week study.) I have always thought that using books as a curriculum would be a good idea, and I have written a lot of book studies over the years. One of the things that actually using books as curriculum caused me to realize has to do with cost. By writing a study on every chapter of this book, instead of my previous study that had a lesson for every section, the cost drops to below what we were paying for curriculum. Better curriculum. Cheaper cost. Win. Win.
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A PLAN FOR BECOMING A GENEROUS COMMUNITY Learn the joy of giving. I visited a church when they were having their annual Stewardship Sunday. I overheard a man after the service saying to a friend, “I hate it when the church talks so much about money. It makes me feel like all they want me for is my checkbook.” I was so saddened to hear this. The pastor did not present his message in such a way as to make people feel like this. In fact, he repeatedly backed away from coming across this way. This man clearly did not understand the joy of giving. Somehow the narrative of the blessing of giving did not break through. I believe we need to teach and preach about the blessing of giving. One of the best sermons on stewardship I ever heard was from my mentor and friend Reverend Jerry Vogt. He stood in the pulpit without any reservations and told about the many blessings he and his wife received through the years by their giving. It was not prideful in any way. He and his wife were simply being stewards of their resources. He never once used guilt, but by the time he finished my desire to give all I could was increased. This is true not only of money but of all our resources. We need to be reminded over and over of the joys of giving, and it is best delivered by those who speak from experience. Learn the way to margin. In order to be generous, we must create margin. In order to give, we must first have something to give. “Margin” means taking in more than what goes out, thus allowing us to give. Most Americans have no margin, financial or otherwise. To say to them, “You need to give more time and money to those in need” when they are in this condition is unfair. They first have to create margin. The best way to create margin is frugality. I know that is a negative word for many, but we need to redeem it. It refers to responsible living, setting appropriate boundaries.
Do you agree that the narratives in the chapter enable you to practice frugality? Why or why not?
Frugality involves being very careful about our time and resources. Frugality is not the same as being stingy. It also does not mean being cheap. Those who practice frugality are not required to buy the cheapest version. Frugality means buying what we need, but not necessarily what we want. As Dallas Willard notes, “Practicing frugality means we stay within the bounds* of what general good judgment would designate as necessary for the kind of life to which God has led us.” Frugal spending decreases debt and moves us toward financial margin. Frugality with our time means learning to say no to some things so we can say yes to others. Until we have financial margin, generosity will be impossible. Learn ways to give. Many people have no idea where, when and how to give. We need to let people know of the many ways people can give. One church I know consistently lets people know about opportunities to serve with their time. For example, twice a month they have a “Parents’ Day Out” for parents of handicapped children. And every Saturday they sponsor meals for the homeless. They also invest time and money in a depressed area of town. During the worship service, they inform people about the need and how they can participate. James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Formatio, 2010), 53–55. If you would like to explore this new study, it is available on Amazon, as well as part of Good Questions Have Groups Talking |
