During the summer, I was blessed to take part in the Emerging Influencers course, run by We Are Tearfund. As part of this course, we were asked to come up with a fundraiser. Despite my usual love of fundraising, and my heart for Tearfund’s mission, I was entirely unenthusiastic about this task. Having just finished a month of fundraising with my university Just Love group, I was convinced my friends and family were tired of seeing me share fundraising pages and sick of me asking for their money.
Within the course, we spoke about the ‘spirituality of fundraising’ – a concept that had never crossed my mind before. This is the idea that fundraising can be an act of worship and service to God. I’d always known it as a wonderful way to support causes I cared about and knew the impact it could have on the communities being supported. However I had never before considered it as worship.
For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.
Romans 11:36 NLT
Fundraising is using the resources we have been given by God in order to advance His Kingdom. We use our money, time, energy, talents, relationships and our circumstances to do so. And in using these to support something of God’s own heart, we are glorifying Him. When we view such things not as our own, but acknowledge them as coming from God and existing by His power, then we see how we can, and should, be utilising these things for God’s glory.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:10 NIV
We are stewards of the gifts God has granted us and are called to use them to serve others and glorify Him. In the same way, we also steward the resources, talents and skills God has given us. Romans 12:1 urges us to make every part of our life worship to God – to view our own bodies as a living sacrifice. We are all ministers, granted the responsibility to steward our gifts and resources in a way that honours God.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18 NIV
Fundraising is an act of service. We are serving the communities who benefit from the money raised. We are serving those who donate by facilitating their giving. Most importantly, we are serving God by loving His people and His creation. By doing so we are therefore loving Him with actions and in truth.
The fundraising I did as part of Emerging Influencers was not underwhelming or exhausting as I had feared. It was a blessing to partner with some friends and together partner with God and with Tearfund to serve and worship. All while supporting causes we are so passionate about.
When we view fundraising as a way of honouring God, it changes the whole process. It becomes less about begging people to give money, and more about inviting people to serve and love with us. By partnering with God, we are able to work from His strength and provision and not our own. Giving up our time and money becomes less sacrificial, because we are simply using our gifts and resources in the way God intended us to.
Fundraising offers such a wonderful way to worship God. It allows us to partner with passionate people and see our resources used to bless others in such tangible ways.