Give to the Max

I've been thinking about stewardship a lot lately. It's the time of year when letters arrive from churches asking for help with next year's budget. My home church is embarking on a building campaign. Not because the church wants to grow and make the facilities more awesome, but because the building needs a new roof and brick work along with other maintaining repairs. The church I work for is struggling financially and needs financial support to make sure bills are paid.

Today is “Give to the Max Day” in Minnesota. There is an organization, www.GiveMN.org, where people can donate to Minnesota non-profits. They are all officially recognized non-profits. While the Web site accepts donations every day, there is a push for a special day of giving today (as of this writing, there were over $2 million in donations today). There are special donations, matches, prizes for donations today, Nov. 16.

Giving money has been challenging for me. My husband and I are paying for school, have a mortgage, three kids and all that comes with a house and family. I’m not great at remembering my checkbook on Sunday mornings (something I’m finding more true as I work in the church). I do give a lot through in-kind donations (purchasing supplies for an event/activity and not asking for reimbursement). But I would like to be more active in my giving. God has provided for me. No, cash hasn’t magically appeared when I face a crisis (would that be great?). I have still had to face financial difficulties. But I haven’t been alone during these difficult times, ever. I have been blessed with an amazing family and community of friends who have supported me when I haven’t been able to support myself.

To start this giving, I am going to donate to GiveMN today. I haven’t decided if I will donate to Luther today (I have also received Give to the Max Day appeals from my college, my son’s high school, Como Zoo and my beloved local library system), and I won’t be donating as much as I wish I could, but I’m going to start giving back.

If you donate to Luther Seminary today (find the seminary’s Sustaining Fund GiveMN page here), all gifts made today will be matched dollar-for-dollar.