WHY WE GIVE

Finances are a part of our discipleship as followers of Jesus.

It is undeniable and unavoidable that Jesus had a lot to say about how we as His followers handle our finances, resources, material entrustments and possessions. In fact, out of the 39 Parables that Jesus taught, 11 of them had to do with money. That means that more than 25% of His “messaging” had to do with how we handle ourselves in this area of our life and discipleship. 

Matt 5:17 | Matt 6:21 | Pro 3:9-10 | Matt 6:24-26 

A life of generosity is an evidence of the work and power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a transformed person. In Acts 2, after the Holy Spirit was poured out upon a people, and God was conforming them to a way of life by His grace and power, we are told that they were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need (Acts 2:44-45). They were together, with shared interests, resources, finances, and possessions. Later in Acts we are told that no man laid claim to his own possessions as if they were his own (Acts 4:32). 

To put it in short, we long to see God have a people as His holy possession— a transformed people who will consistently live under His love and leadership. This reality absolutely has to touch and transform our lives in the area of finances. We must look to the Lord— the word and the influence of the Holy Spirit— for our discipleship in the area of finances. We are not looking to the world for our understanding of how we are to handle ourselves. As followers of Jesus, we are looking to Him, and coming under His leadership. He must have the say in our hearts.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What does biblical giving look like?

We believe in what the Bible would consider to be tithing— it is entry level, baseline, ground-zero, in the conversation of what to do with your finances as a follower of Jesus; it is what gets you going as you look to the Lord and want to be responsible to Him with what you have been entrusted with. 

We believe that God longs to empower radical generosity— John 2:5, John 3:16, Mark 10:17-27, Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32, Acts 4:36-37, Acts 10:2, and many more examples.

How does giving connect to vision?

When you give to Habitation Church, you are helping us to fulfill the vision the Lord has given us. Our hearts are burning to see God have a Habitation for Himself in the Orlando area. We are giving our lives to see this happen.

Our vision is 4 Fold: (1) to become a church as family— a covenant people; living in covenant loyalty to the Lord and one another. (2) To become a house of prayer— a people who embody the reality of house of prayer, represented by times in our prayer room, and a variety of other expressions and efforts demonstrated in our shared way of life. (3) To become a place where we provide apprenticeship— the raising up of those from within, and then the instructing and imparting to those whom God will bring from near or far, for the purpose of planting, building, and laboring. (4) To become radically given over to mission— preaching the gospel throughout our city and the nations, and fulfilling unique calls and commissions the Lord will assign to His people and give grace for.

The vision requires provision. We believe there is provision in God’s people. Many times, God will not just send you something, but someone. He makes our lives interconnected and interdependent for the sake of His purposes. 

In what ways does your giving help?

Giving to Habitation Church helps in 3 key ways.

Personnel: Your giving helps us to financially take care of people and families that are giving of themselves, some in a full time way, to embody this vision and help to see it manifested in our city.  

Organizational: Your giving helps us to be responsible with organizational expenses. These are the variety of expenses that we incur along the way to seeing the dream of God manifested in our city. Renting gathering spaces, buildings, parks, etc. Or, just other ongoing financial things that we are confronted with as we seek to give our lives for what God is saying.

Missional: Your giving helps us to fulfill mission in our city, and to partner with other church works locally, regionally, nationally, and then other international works and ministries that are seeking to establish God’s international mission in their local context. We are a church that partners with other works and gives financially to help with what God is doing around the world.