Is Faith Promise biblical?

[Soulman]

We just had a Faith Promise convention at our church where I feel the scriptures were molded to fit the message of missions giving. I do believe we should give to missions and do believe that the bible teaches this principle.

However! Faith Promise giving is a fairly new concept where the church member fills out a pledge card indicating how much they PROMISE to give .

The bible says:Nu 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

Jas 5:12 ¶ But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

First of all missions giving should be an act of faith as taught in the church. But filling out a pledge card I believe is wrong. One thing scripture teaches about giving is that 1Co 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

This is a verse that is used as a foundation in N.T. giving. Paul was a missionary was he not? Churches are well within their rights to take offerings and designate a portion to missions. But to have people fill out promise cards is wrong.

Leadership will say that they do it to see how much they will have for missions giving. It is actually an unbiblical way of locking you into an amount and making you accountable if they fall short.

I believe the church should step out on faith and designate a specific percentage to missions and not badger people into promises (oaths).

What sa you??

 

[Darrenss1]

Leadership will say that they do it to see how much they will have for missions giving. It is actually an unbiblical way of locking you into an amount and making you accountable if they fall short.

I believe the church should step out on faith and designate a specific percentage to missions and not badger people into promises (oaths).

What sa you??

Its the same in my church, I don't participate in it but many good brothers in Christ do. The whole idea is to promise a certain amount that God would give to you as you exercise your faith, this amount you promise is said to come to you out of God's pocket, thus why you need that faith that God would give you the money to meet your said promise, this amount is also above the tithe but before the freewill offering...

The way it is taught from scripture is simply the gathering of proof texts to build a case for it. Bottom line, I can't see it was taught in the NT but than again, I don't believe the NT teaches the tithe either, so.....

Darren

 

[pinoybaptist]

It's another aberration of missionism.
Missionism has come up with a lot of techniques and teachings to keep the missions going, and many of them are extra-Scriptural, from going the rounds of churches to elicit promised supports to already established "mission churches" abroad, to faith promises such as the one you are describing, to outright obligating churches and members to support missions they have not sent out but are those of churches they "fellowship" with.
These unscriptural and extra scriptural practices have even affected many Primitive Baptist churches, and I quit pastoring sometime ago over differences in these fields.
The scriptural way is if a man feels he has been called of and by God to preach in a certain geographical area, then he is to leave immediately, trusting God to provide and prepare everything he needs for that call, and not dilly dally waiting for pledges or education.
If the church he is from is burdened by the Lord to send him financial or material support, then it is that church and only that church that is under obligation, not other churches, and the Lord will provide the ways and means even for that church to support its missionary.
If other churches wish to help then they are to send their aid directly to the recipient, and not through some mission board, or website, or anyone else, or they can send their help through the church from which the Lord separated His man.
And the only scriptural means of raising funds is through cheerfully given offerings, given as the Lord prospered the giver, not because of some "faith" promise.
Sure, there are a lot of those on these forums that have different ideas and will probably take me to task on these things, but that's what I believe Scripture teaches both in letter and in principle.

 

[AresMan]

I see nothing Biblical about making promises about the future to give of what one does not yet possess ownership. To me, this is a form of "tempting God" which God forbids.

I do not see anything resembling "Faith Promise" in the Bible. What I see is people giving generously, abundantly, and cheerfully out of their poverty and of their own sustenance. I do not see people giving out of debt or on "lay away."

One could try to give a recurring amount, but I do not think it is wise or Biblical to make a vow to God to give of a claim against the future of which one does not control.

 

[Rubato 1]

I see nothing Biblical about making promises about the future to give of what one does not yet possess ownership. To me, this is a form of "tempting God" which God forbids.

I do not see anything resembling "Faith Promise" in the Bible. What I see is people giving generously, abundantly, and cheerfully out of their poverty and of their own sustenance. I do not see people giving out of debt or on "lay away."

One could try to give a recurring amount, but I do not think it is wise or Biblical to make a vow to God to give of a claim against the future of which one does not control.

I believe most of the reason for a 'faith promise commitment is that the pastor may have some idea of how much he can commit to the missionaries you support.

 

[Tom Bryant]

I believe most of the reason for a 'faith promise commitment is that the pastor may have some idea of how much he can commit to the missionaries you support.

I think this is much of the reason. We don't do faith promise, but when I was part of churches that did, that was much of the reasoning. If people didn't want to do it, they didn't.

 

[Soulman]

Its the same in my church, I don't participate in it but many good brothers in Christ do. The whole idea is to promise a certain amount that God would give to you as you exercise your faith, this amount you promise is said to come to you out of God's pocket, thus why you need that faith that God would give you the money to meet your said promise, this amount is also above the tithe but before the freewill offering...

The way it is taught from scripture is simply the gathering of proof texts to build a case for it. Bottom line, I can't see it was taught in the NT but than again, I don't believe the NT teaches the tithe either, so.....

Darren

Amen! I see nothing wrong with a chuech designating a percentage to missions but I do not see any other way in scripture where a church is to raise funds other than free will giving. I think Faith promise is simply an invention to raise extra cash for missions with out it affecting their so called tithe. Seems they want everyone to give sacricially except the church

 

[Salty]

In the SBC we are currently preparing for the Lottie Moon offering for International Missions

Our church has set a goal of $50. ( we are extremely small)
If we collect that much, fine, if not, so be it. I have been in IFB churches in the past, and I never felt comfortable filing out a pledge card. ( If I did, I would probably put a add-on phrase of "....I pledge (to try ) to give X $ for missions.
And of course, I would NOT sign it.

At our SBC church we do not ask for pledges.


Salty

 

[Darrenss1]

Amen! I see nothing wrong with a chuech designating a percentage to missions but I do not see any other way in scripture where a church is to raise funds other than free will giving. I think Faith promise is simply an invention to raise extra cash for missions with out it affecting their so called tithe. Seems they want everyone to give sacricially except the church

All giving in the NT church was freewill simple as that. I have heard hour long tithing sermons and hour long faith promise sermons, in both cases there is an attempt to distingish these biblically from an "offering" but still pass them off as the same class as freewill giving. I'm sceptical as to the methods used in trying to preach them from the bible and still have "offerings" above both. Bear in mind that these are supposed to be given before one pays their own expenses as well.

Anyway, I just can't see that anything other than 1 freewill offering can be preached for christians today. Sure you could make a case for them, its just not a very good one.

Darren