Did you ever pull out a jacket in the fall that spent the summer in the closet, only to discover a $20.00 bill in the pocket? Even though it was yours all along, you kind of feel like it was a bonus. You weren’t expecting it, so you shout to whoever is nearest, “Hey, look! I found some money! Isn’t that cool?”

Blessings from the Lord can be like that. The moment you discover it, it can feel like something new even though it was yours all along. That’s the way I feel right now after seeing the latest tithe figures.

In case you haven’t heard, our Conference was blessed with a tithe increase in 2019. That’s always good news, but this year it is especially noteworthy because we enjoyed the highest increase in the North American Division.

Can you handle more good news? Gross tithe increase for January 2020 over January 2019 is (drum roll, please): 29 percent! Okay, one month is a small sample, and nobody expects that to hold over the course of a year, but still… that’s amazing! And it’s not like that’s due entirely to a windfall because base tithe is up 26 percent. This is a tremendous start, and I hope you join me in prayer that the rest of the year will follow through with good returns as well.

What this means is that the mission goes on. It goes on without drastic cuts to programs or personnel. Because of increasing costs there is some belt-tightening, but praise the Lord, there will be no major interruption to the mission.

While we are praising the Lord, we don’t forget your role in this. It is through our faithful people that His blessings flow. In reality, the blessing is not the increase itself. The blessing is that we have members who care about the mission. When we have that, the tithe increases take care of themselves. There is no doubt in our minds that we have such members, because the increase makes it plain.

We do the mission. We don’t hire teachers and pastors, build academies and camps, or drop an envelope in the plate so we can have a mission, because we do the mission. The people and institutions are an integral part, and it takes faithful giving to keep it going, but never think that you give so that someone else can do the mission. We all do our part in it because Jesus calls us to do the mission. I thank everyone for all that is done, and I invite you to rejoice with me that our tithe indicates that our members take the mission seriously.

Doug Inglish, RMC Director of Planned Giving and Trust Services