I get paid once a month, and as a family, we give a certain percentage to our local church as our way of investing in what God is doing in, among, around, and through us in Edinburgh. Though I don’t believe that tithing is a command in the New Covenant (I agree with Wayne Grudem, Sam Storms, and several other evangelical theologians on this matter), I do believe in giving significantly, even sacrificially, to the local church, and find it hard to believe that anyone who claims to wholeheartedly love Jesus can choose to not give. After all, how does one love Jesus but not care for his future bride?
Anyway, I have had the following thought lately: if we are not intentional in our online giving to the church, then our kids will grow up never knowing that we are actually giving on a consistent basis. So, for all of us that are using online giving or paying at kiosks in local churches, we need to find creative ways to involve our children. It would be a shame to give as a family on a consistent basis but do so in a way that our kids never see it. As adults, we are called not just to obey Christ in our giving, but to also make disciples. When Jesus talks about giving in hiding in Matthew 6, I seriously doubt that he was talking about our kids, yet if we are not careful, that is exactly what we will do. They will never see us supporting the local church with our hard-earned money.
So give, but be in intentional, and allow your kids to see every dime!
BJ Condrey, Ph.D. 