Giving money to a church or towards any charitable organization is an important part of our Christian responsibility, but it is also a very personal act. We recognize this at Ark and Dove, but in these days of growing skepticism towards giving financial contributions to churches, it is important to review the basic, Christian stewardship tenets outlined by the PCUSA statement above. All that we are, all that we have, all that we will be, is of God. We can give nothing that we have not first received from God. Christians are commanded to be the caretakers of all the gifts from God. We are the stewards of our life, talents, time, relationships, gospel and property.
God asks not only for the gift of our money! Money cannot be a substitute for the sharing of the other personal, non-material wealth that God has given us. The principle of giving applies to these treasures as much as to one's bank account. Giving of our time, talents and money towards this goal then becomes a normal expression of grateful faith.
What I spent I had,
What I kept I lost,
What I gave I have.
(Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1877)