A Stimulus Check for the Church
It's time we stop dawdling and to put our money where our faith is. Then, our job is to help others do so as well.
It's pretty obvious that since we find ourselves stuck at home and unable to go to church on Sundays that our places of worship are scrambling to find the money to pay their staff and keep the lights on.
In many cases, churches are seeing 50% decreases in giving, and some even more than 50%. Many of you have set up automatic gifts to your churches - to you, I say Thank You. It's one of the best ways to give. It's accounted for in your budgets and it's set so you can forget it. But in this time of dire need, we need to consider "What else can I do?"
Since many of us are in the United States, we are due to receive stimulus checks. I hope you have a plan for it, and I hope that your plan is to give a portion of it to your church. I decided to give away $600 of my $1,200 stimulus check to the churches I attend and volunteer at. If you recall my budget post, you'll see that I'm not a rich man and I don't know that I will ever be, but I do intentionally set aside money to give to my church.
Sure, there are options out there for some relief for religious organizations and the like, but all of that is so muddy and makes it so easy to dismiss our own responsibilities that I think we should just forget it's even there. We have to take this into our own hands and be intentional about what we're going to do with our stimulus money.
I am blessed to be in a position where I am comfortable giving away that money and know that I have my emergency fund to keep me afloat should this pandemic carry on for longer than we hope. I pray that you all are doing well in this unprecedented time. Please take care of your families first. Then look toward your communities.
My call to action to you is that you give away at least 10% of your stimulus check to the church and/or charity that you love and then help others do so too. Maybe our loved ones don't know how to do give that money via online portals - you can help! Our churches need us dearly and we need them. We're all in this together.
Intentionally yours,
Mr. K
P.S. Don't forget to wash your hands (thoroughly) often! And quit touching your face!