CrossPoint Community News 06/10/2022

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

       We are nearing the end of our Sunday School on Radical and Practical Generosity. Our final class is on June 19. To give you an example of what radical and practical generosity can look like, consider the following written by Charles Edward White:

       “Most of us know that John Wesley was used of God to revive 18th-century England and to start the Methodist Church. We know him as a great preacher and a greater organizer. But few of us realize that Wesley made enormous sums from preaching–the sale of his writings made him one of England’s wealthiest men. In an age when a single man could live comfortably on 30 pounds a year, his annual income reached 1,400 [46.6x greater than a comfortable salary]. With such an income he had the opportunities to put his ideas on money into practice. What did he say about money? And what did he do with his own?
       John Wesley knew grinding poverty as a child. His father, Samuel Wesley, was the Anglican priest in one of England’s lowest-paying parishes. He had nine children to support and was rarely out of debt. Once John saw his father being marched off to debtor’s prison. So when John followed his father into the ministry, he had no illusions about financial rewards.
       While at Oxford, an incident changed his perspective on money. He had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown. He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left. Immediately the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money. He asked himself, Will thy Master say, “Well done, good and faithful steward”? Thou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold! O justice! O mercy!–Are not these pictures the blood of this poor maid?
       Perhaps as a result of this incident, in 1731 Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds.
Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. In the fourth year, he received 120 pounds. As before, his expenses were 28 pounds, so his giving rose to 92 pounds.
       Wesley felt that the Christian should not merely tithe but give away all extra income once the family and creditors were taken care of. He believed that with increasing income, what should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living but the standard of giving.
       This practice, begun at Oxford, continued throughout his life. Even when his income rose into the thousands of pounds sterling, he lived simply, and he quickly gave away his surplus money.
       One year his income was a little over 1400 pounds. He lived on 30 pounds and gave away nearly 1400 pounds. Because he had no family to care for, he had no need for savings. He was afraid of laying up treasures on earth, so the money went out in charity as quickly as it came in.”
       Read more at: http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/what-wesley-practiced-and-preached-about-money or https://www.epm.org/blog/2014/May/14/john-wesley-giving

       May God have mercy, and please continue to pray for Ukraine. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age.