Not Giving Teaches a Stewardship Lesson - Dorian Mroz 

Who made the biggest impact on my stewardship gift? It was a friend who didn't pay her pledge for several months. Let me explain.

During brunch one day, a friend told the story of how she'd forgotten to pay her church stewardship pledge for several months over the summer. One day she finally remembered and quickly wrote out her check. She then had a realization. She had been able to make a payment that was several times her normal gift amount without a second thought.

What did this say about her stewardship pledge and its priority in her life? Her gifts, which were one manifestation of her relationship to God, had been all but forgotten. She prayerfully considered her gift amount and decided to increase it to an amount that she couldn't easily forget, so that each payment connected her more closely to God.

The story made such an impression on me, that I also reconsidered my pledge. So follow a philosophy that's not "give until it hurts" but "give until it matters" to you, to the Church and to all those who benefit from your generosity, and most importantly, to your relationship with God.

God Supports My Tithing - Harry Raab

On summer in the early 1990s, Good Shepherd encountered unanticipated expenses.  Our Rector, Dave Jones, sent out a plea that members consider increasing their pledge for the year to cover those increased needs.  I was tithing and I could have decided that I was doing enough already, but I decided to increase my pledge a bit.  The following day, I received information about a salary increase which amounted to exactly ten times the increase I had just made in my pledge!  The following year, a similar thing happened.  We needed more funds; Dave asked for pledge increases; I increased my pledge again and a day or so later I received an unexpected check for exactly ten times the amount of the pledge increase!  For me that is strong proof that God wants me to tithe, and I intend to continue tithing for the rest of my life.