The Wages & The Gift  - Omari JA Norman

Which Offerings Cause More Impact?

SABBATH 16—APRIL 20, 2024

Proverbs 3:9, 10—“Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase”

Do you remember the day of your baptism? I am sure these memories fill your heart with emotion and the desire to fully serve God. That’s exactly what Marcos felt right after his baptism. He was baptized when he was nineteen years old, and he decided to seek God and serve Him with all his heart.

One day he heard a preacher saying that offerings given and distributed according to biblical principles produce a broader impact and more equitable growth. Desiring that his offerings would produce the biggest impact possible, he asked the pastor to clarify that statement.

The pastor told him that the act of giving regular offerings as well as its distribution should follow biblical principles. Three of these principles are:

1. Regularity. This means that if there is income, there must be the return of both tithes and offerings.

2. Proportionality. The offering must be given based on a percentage chosen by the giver.

3. Global view. Our missionary effort and, consequently, our offerings should carry the plan of salvation to the whole world, not only to the area where we live. To make this possible, the church created an offering distribution plan called the Combined Offering Plan.

When your offering is distributed according to the Combined Offering Plan, 50 to 60% of our total offering will support your local church’s mission (sponsored by the church’s budget); 20 to 30% will support the regional mission (usually sponsored by the conference/union/division); and 20% will support the international mission, which is administrated by the General Conference through the World Mission Fund.

Where the Combined Offering Plan is practiced (more than 90% of the world Adventist population), every unassigned offering is automatically distributed to provide equitable growth to local, regional, and international missionary projects and initiatives. But in regions where this plan has not yet been adopted, if someone also wants to produce an equitable global impact, they need to manually distribute their regular Promise offerings using that same pattern—covering local, regional, and international needs.

Marcos thanked the pastor and went back home with the decision that he would be faithful in returning his tithes as well as the regular offerings.

Appeal: This decision is an affirmation that our wishes come last and God and His cause come first in our lives.