We were in Cubulco this past weekend and we were able to witness how the Lord is continuing His work in the churches. Several years ago we made a decision as mission and churches to enter a stage in the relationship where the mission would reduce its financial support each year. While this was a hard decision to make, it was a necessary one for the further maturity and independence of the Cubulco churches. It was important for the churches to realize that they needed to take on more responsibility especially in the area of finances. In previous years we spent considerable time teaching on giving, but since there was no plan in place to reduce funding the many of the people in the churches did not feel the need to give. Thankfully now most of the churches understand that giving is a vital part of worship, although there is still a lot of work to be done on teaching people what the Biblical concept of giving is.
Several days after the service I was able to ask several members of the church about how they felt after the service and their response was "liberating". This is exactly was giving does. Giving brings freedom. Freedom from holding on to what belongs to God. Freedom from trying to do it on your own. I hope and pray that little by little the people of our churches in Cubulco will fully grasp the Biblical concept of giving. Many churches in Guatemala do not teach on giving according to what the Bible says. The oblige people to give by embarrassing them if the do not give. Many churches will announce who has tithed and who has not. While this is something we want to avoid in our churches, it is important that the churches understand that giving is important in worship!
Some of you might be wondering what the church did with the offerings. Well, that is a good question and that was also the question the people had for me. What do we do with these chickens, ducks, and produce? I told them that they had several options. The first was to sell it all and give the money to the church. The second was to give part to the lay pastor and the rest to needy people in the church or the community. The third was to do some sort of combination. The fourth was to take the corn and fatten the chickens and ducks and then sell them or help the needy. In the end they apparently sold everything right then and there and the money was given to the church. The church collected over Q900 or $120 that evening, something that would normally take them months to collect.