A steward is a person who has been entrusted with another’s resources and who seeks to manage those resources according to the owner’s vision and values. The gospel calls us to recognize that everything we have is a gift from God, and that those gifts are to be used for his glory and to further his kingdom. Thus, our money is not our money; it is God’s. We are merely stewards of the resources he has given us. 

Generosity is the natural, consistent, and occasionally spontaneous giving of our material possessions to God’s service and to our communities because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. As God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all (Romans 8:32), so our posture toward God and others in response to his love should be one of cheerful sacrifice and generosity.

The Israelites were required to consistently give a tenth (i.e. tithe) of their income to support the ministry and the needs of the poor. (Lev 27:30ff; Num 18:26; Deut 12:17; 14:23ff; 26:12; 2 Chr 31:5f; Neh 10:37; Mal 3:10)2

Additionally, God’s people were commanded to leave some of their crops unharvested so that the poor in the community could come and glean (i.e. harvest) the leftovers. (Deut. 24:19-22; The Book of Ruth, a story about King David’s great grandparents who met when Ruth was gleaning.) The practice of gleaning allowed for spontaneous giving on top of the regular tithe.

Also, the Israelites were instructed to bring their first fruits as an offering, which meant that people were giving their offering before they even knew what the whole harvest – their whole income – would be. It was an act of trust. (Deut. 26:1-11)

So, people were called to give consistently (tithe), spontaneously (gleaning), and out of a deep trust in the Lord’s provision (first fruits). We are called to embrace the same outlook on our finances today. The New Testament teaches that we should give as we are able and even beyond our ability (2 Corinthians 8:3).

For some people, 10% is too low a starting point. For others, giving even 5% is a sacrifice. There are seasons in our financial life, but the goal is to give something and increase one’s commitment up to and above 10%.

Your gift is an act of personal worship in response to God’s grace and the gift of his Son, and the allocation of your money should be a byproduct of prayer. However, if you consider Real Hope to be your home church, you should allocate a significant portion of your tithe and offering to the community where you invest most of your time and where others are investing in you.

It is true that we are called to be good stewards of all that God has given us: money, time, skills, influence and position. Therefore, generosity and stewardship are about much more, but not less, than our financial resources.

Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). Our heart’s inclination is to worship anything other than God, and it’s a zero sum game. As Jesus said, You cannot serve both God and Money (Matthew 6:24). Giving generously to God’s purposes is an investment in keeping our hearts and allegiances in the right place. Our culture defines financial freedom as autonomy gained through material wealth. From a biblical standpoint, the road to financial freedom is paved with trust and generosity.

We desire for Real Hope to be a church with a generous heart. For that to be true, we must be generous as individuals and as an organization. To that end, we give away at least 10% of our annual operating budget to help people locally and globally, praying that our organizational heart follows our treasure.

We have a number of policies and procedures in place that ensure we are stewarding the financial resources God entrusts to us with wisdom and transparency. For example, our non-staff Elders have the responsibility of overseeing the finances of the church. The pastoral staff proposes an annual budget, but it must be approved by the Elders, who then monitor giving and spending on a monthly basis in partnership with an outside accounting firm. The pastors are not permitted to make long-term financial commitments or borrow money without the permission of the Elders. Also, the pastoral staff must submit weekly spending reports with receipts so that we are accurately tracking and documenting our spending in real time. The Lead Pastor's pay is determined by a compensation committee comprised of two non-staff Elders and one of our external Overseers (a pastor of another church who provides encouragement and accountability for our Lead Pastor).