Why We Give

At the heart of our faith is a generous and giving God who loved so much that God created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them. Out of that same abundance of love, human beings are gifted with life, breath, and provision. God has been giving ever since. The world was created out of divine abundance, not out of scarcity. That insight alone shapes the way we think about our lives, our resources, our talents, our time, and our money.

Giving is a part of who we are called to be as followers of Jesus Christ. SUMC is committed to cultivating a spirit of generosity with all our individual and collective resources: time, talents, gifts, and money. Financial giving is both a spiritual discipline and a true source of joy. When a person joins our fellowship, they make a commitment to “faithfully participate in the ministries of the church by our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness.” Giving ourselves to a life of prayer means striving to pray daily for the world, our community, the church, and our families. Giving of our time and presence means being faithful with attendance at both worship and participation in a small group or Sunday School class where a person can develop spiritual friendships. A commitment to faithfully participate by our “gifts” also includes financial gifts. For us, that includes a commitment to move toward the biblical tithe in one’s giving.

Our finance team and church council are committed to being good stewards of every dollar we receive. That means we strive to be transparent, accountable, faithful, and missional with all the gifts with which we have been entrusted. We are committed to embodying our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. One of the concrete ways we do that is by empowering and equipping disciples to worship, connect, serve, and give.