A Heart of Generosity

Written by Pierce Finley

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

Heart behind generosity:

As I’ve continued to walk with Jesus, it has become clear how important a life of generosity is. It is far more than fulfilling an obligation - it is joining with God in one of his core characteristics. Our God is an abundantly generous God, and he invites us to live like him in our own acts of generosity. Giving our money, time, and attention to those in need is a great honor because it is a chief way for us to bear God’s image to the world around us. It is rooted in a deep trust that God will provide for us, as Jesus describes so well in the Sermon on the Mount. He provides for all of his creation (look at the flowers and the birds), and he will provide for us too. We don’t need to guard our possessions and build up a wall of wealth to protect ourselves. I think many Christians understand this heart for generosity, which is rooted in our Savior’s generosity, but I also think many of us (myself included) lack a vision for how expansive our generosity can be. We often hide behind the words “wisdom” and “stewardship” (which by themselves are great things to practice,) only to follow the cultural norms of amassing wealth, placing our security in our money instead of the one who gives it to us. I am mostly writing this to myself, as I have to repent of the idolatry of wealth and its perceived security with great frequency. If any of you can relate, here are a few practices that I have found help take money off the throne in my heart.

Practices of generosity:

Tithing is one simple practice that our brothers and sisters have practiced throughout the history of the church across many cultural lines. Put simply, this is the practice of giving 10% of your income to the local church. There is nothing magical about 10%, but there is something deeply valuable in just starting somewhere - so why not align that starting point with the historical and global church? If you aren’t giving at least 10% of your income away to the advancement of God’s kingdom locally and abroad, I would highly encourage you to set that goal. If you feel like you can’t, then I recommend two steps:

1. Genuinely reflect on why not. I know that there are many valid hesitations here, but it is important to reflect and make sure your reasons truly are rooted in godly wisdom and not fear, selfishness, or abiding by our worldly cultural standards. Consider reaching out to a trusted brother or sister to discuss what your barriers are.

2. After reflection, if you still find that 10% is too high right now, set a different goal. As I said, 10% is not a magical number, but having a specific goal to grow in generosity will work wonders. Once you hit that goal, increase it again! 10% is just a way to get started, not the final destination.

Some of you may have a different response to tithing. Maybe you already give 10%, and maybe you even find it easy. If you’re like me, you also have automatic withdrawals set up to give without even thinking about it - and that severely limits the opportunity for generosity to transform our hearts! For many people, giving 10% does not actually impact their livelihood at all, so a great next step is setting a personal “finish line” (even if giving 10% is hard right now, this is a good practice to start now). Setting a finish line means seriously considering how much money you/your family needs right now, and giving away everything beyond that. You can look at using a median family income as a starting point, or even consider what it would look like to limit your spending to the poverty line. If that sounds extreme, then good! In full transparency, our current finish line is not the poverty line - but it is worth considering what that would look like for your life. Setting a finish line is meant to do a few things:

1. Increase solidarity with the poor - by intentionally limiting how much money we can spend/save for ourselves, we will have to make sacrifices in our lifestyle that many people around the world are already forced to make due to lack of resources.

2. Combat lifestyle creep if income increases - you’ve already set a finish line to determine what you need, and any income increase means we get to give more away!

3. Limit the impact of consumerism, materialism, and wealth accumulation on our souls. This should combat both current spending and lavish saving that our society pushes so heavily. Evaluate how much you actually need to save for things like retirement, considering that some giving needs could be better met now rather than once you have amassed “enough” to feel secure in your giving (I personally wrestle a lot with what Luke 12:16-21 has to teach about the American model of retirement savings).

There is no “right” finish line, and it is very likely to change with life circumstances. The important thing is to combat our cultural norm that every dollar we make is for us - or the similar lie that 10% is for God, and everything else is for us. It is all a gift from God, and as 2 Corinthians 9:8-11 teaches, he gives us abundance so that we can abound all the more in giving! And finally, as you create more opportunities to give, remember that giving most powerfully transforms us and others when it is personal rather than transactional. Seek to actually connect with those you are supporting, learn their stories, and share some life together.

Next steps:

There is a lot more to consider here than what can fit in a succinct blog post (although this one really isn’t succinct). As such, I want to encourage a few next steps to better reflect and pursue generosity as a community of God’s children:

1. Pursue more financial transparency with a couple of trusted brothers/sisters. Talk through what is a good finish line, how well you are keeping to your goals, how you decide where to give and when, etc. Satan has done a great job in our culture of making the topic of money taboo, and it is a lot harder to grow without communal support and accountability! Important caveat - everyone involved has to be in sync that this is purely to help encourage each other, and not to impress each other with acts of generosity. Equally dangerous is the trap of giving to impress men rather than glorify God.

2. For those who have never thought with intentionality about your finances, we encourage you to join an 8 week group study that is designed to equip you to think more deeply about your finances and God's promises and create a financial plan.

3. Consider attending a Journey of Generosity (JOG) mini-retreat. This is a time set aside to do what we are often told not to do - talk about money and how to grow in generosity, and it is in a shame-free atmosphere. There are no asks for money at a JOG, but there are a lot of great stories about how other brothers and sisters have tried to grow in the discipline of generosity. The stories are great ways to expand our vision for what generosity can look like, and then discuss practical applications with other believers. If you would consider attending one, please reach out to myself or the church staff. I enjoy hosting them, and there are several other opportunities to attend in the Triangle area if you’d like another option.

If you would like to learn more about the 8-week study, the JOG mini-retreat, or if you don’t have anyone you feel is in a similar place to pursue accountability with, please reach out to a staff member and we will help connect you. 

Why College Faith Needs the Church

Written by Jordan Vinh

If I had to pinpoint a period of my life that was most transformative for my faith, it would be college. I was blessed to be raised in a Christian household, but when you grow up in the church, it can be challenging to delineate between your parents’ faith and your own. I believed in God, went to church every Sunday, and engaged with Scripture and prayer, but it was also easy to do so – if life was a river, being Christian was like swimming with the current.

I think for most people who grow up in a Christian household, college is the first true test of faith. Suddenly, being a Christian is like fighting against the current, because most people aren’t like you. Going to parties and getting drunk is no longer something that just the popular kids do – it’s something that everyone does, and not participating means that you’re missing out on the “college experience”. In certain programs, test scores, extracurriculars, and internships become the measure of one’s worth, and spending time in Scripture and prayer can easily become an afterthought amidst the endless slew of obligations. Every single person who comes into college as a Christian will inevitably be forced to consider whether their faith is worth fighting for. And the sad reality is that about half of the Christians I met in my freshman year are now either Christian only in name or have rejected their faith altogether. 

There is a bright side, though. Those who choose to fight for their faith will find that it grows tremendously. For me, college was where I began to think critically about my faith, engage in discipleship, and serve in a Christian community. If it weren’t for the people I met and the experiences I had in college, I think Christianity would still be something I do and feel instead of something that I am. 

Perhaps the most unique part of being a Christian in college is the chance to join a college fellowship. At different points in my college journey, I was part of Cru, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), and Asian InterVarsity (AIV). Each shaped and challenged my faith in a different way, and I wouldn’t be who I am today without them. The transformative power of engaging with a campus ministry cannot be understated.

But college ministries have their shortcomings as well. The fact that everyone is experiencing the same pressures from school can make fellowships a bit of an echo chamber, leading to the normalization of things like skipping church or small group to study. A bit of perspective is usually enough to combat this, but the problem is that when all the Christians you know are fellow college students, there’s nobody to give you that perspective. As a result, most people know that they should resist the pressures of college, but don’t know why or how.

I also think that college ministries unintentionally teach students that a strong Christian community means finding people who are similar to you, whether that be cultural background, life stage, or even professional interests. But I think that’s the complete opposite of the Bible’s vision for the Church:

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-24, NIV)

I think the reason that we tend to gravitate towards people like us is because we view differences as a source of awkwardness and conflict. It’s hard to relate to those who have different backgrounds or are in different stages of life, and differences can lead to misunderstanding and conflict. But to Paul, they’re absolutely crucial to the effectiveness and growth of the Church and the individuals within it. Differences are a strength, not a weakness.

For me in college, church was a place, not a people. It was where I went with everyone else in my college ministry to worship and listen to a sermon, but meeting people outside my bubble was never a priority. As such, the prospect of making a church my primary community after graduation was foreign and daunting to me. Yet here at Waypoint, some of my closest friends are twice my age, are from overseas, or working in completely different fields than I am. And precisely because they’re so different from me, they’re able to offer me wisdom, support, and perspective far beyond anything I had in college. 

To any college students reading this, I implore you to not only attend a church, but to become part of one. Yes, it’s much easier to just stick with other college students. But God often works best when we step outside of our comfort zones. 

As I step into my new role as a college ministry intern at Waypoint, I am striving towards a future where college students find not only a church, but also a home at Waypoint. To everyone who is reading this, I hope you’ll join me in that mission by engaging with students who visit and take active steps to integrate them into our community.

What’s the Point of Prayer?

Written by Daniel Manilla

Have you ever wondered why we even bother to pray? I grew up deeply believing that God miraculously answers prayer. Every day I would read in the Bible about God’s work through Moses, Jesus healing seemingly everyone he touched, and Paul’s prayer bringing a young man back to life. My family worked as missionaries in Central Asia, and our sending organization had a strong charismatic bent; our friends would constantly tell amazing stories of the Spirit freeing people from demons, causing lame people to walk, and healing every sort of sickness and disease.

And I saw none of it. Not from lack of trying—I would pray frequently for miraculous healing and truly expected it to happen. I’d ask God to speak clearly through supernatural circumstances. But despite both my desire to see God’s direct hand and the lack of dramatic intervention my life (though like many of you, in hindsight I can certainly see God’s work), I remain deeply committed to a life and attitude of prayer. In this blog post, I hope to both explain why and invite you to join me in that commitment. That said, if you’re hoping that I’ll explain why God answers prayers in some places and times and seemingly not in others, I’m sorry to disappoint you. Why the all-knowing and ever-present God wants us to actually speak our requests has provoked nearly endless debate, and frankly I’m not qualified to fully address the question, but I can share why I continue to pray without the answers to those questions.

If you’ve attended Waypoint, or hopefully any church, for even one Sunday, you’ll have encountered the concept of prayer. The dictionary defines “pray” as a synonym of “entreat” or “implore”. Asking God to work forms one important aspect of our prayer life. As one psalmist says, “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3). In prayer, I reflect my belief that God works in the world today. The Spirit speaks to and through us, and we can see God change situations and transform lives. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of The Persistent Widow, who day after day pesters an unrighteous judge into giving her justice—how much more will the Father give justice to his children who call out to him. By asking God to work, I reflect and implement my belief that he loves and engages with his creation to this day.

Yet the modern Christian vernacular uses “prayer” to refer to more than mere requests to God. Prayer means to converse with God. In Psalm 27:4, the psalmist writes: 

“One thing I ask from the Lord,    

this only do I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

    all the days of my life,

to gaze on the beauty of the Lord

    and to seek him in his temple.”

In my own life, I have benefited deeply from listening prayer: sitting silently in God’s presence, meditating on scripture or God’s character, and listening for his voice in the Spirit. Even when I hear nothing it gives God a space to speak.

But prayer does more than just connect me to God (though that would be more than enough). Our community group ends most meetings with a time of prayer. That thirty minutes often forms the highlight of my week. By asking the others in my community group to pray for my needs, and in praying for theirs, I get to see God’s work and connect with God’s family.

Prayer serves as a fundamental aspect of our faith and walk with the Lord, not least because it affirms the resurrection and God’s desire for reconciliation. I’ll never forget one small group session from my high school years: a friend new to the faith asked us a simple question: “If this Jesus guy died, why do you all keep talking to him?”. I pray to affirm that Jesus lives, and that he has the power to save all of us.

Come join your brothers and sisters in Waypoint in prayer! Scripture calls us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), and so much of our life and community centers around it. As a simple suggestion, every Sunday morning, a group of us practice this at Waypoint. We pray for the church service, the pastors and staff, the workers Waypoint has sent out, and whatever else God lays on our hearts. Listening to their requests has drawn me closer to them, and allows me to put into practice my belief that Jesus lives and his Spirit still works. Come join us, at around 10:20 in the corner office near the back entrance to the building. But more importantly, let your conversation with our Lord draw you to love him in new and deeper ways.