Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings!  Can you believe that we are over half way through our Percentage Living program at Christ's Community Church?  Below is a summary of the forth service in our Percentage living series, "Glorify God in What I Earn:  Percentage Savings & Spending."  These weekly emails summarize our worship and outline the opportunities during the week. 

The service was opened with the congregation reviewing together the March 27th Scripture from Brad Carlson's handout, "I am part of the true vine, joined to Christ and able to produce lots of fruit." John 15: 1, 5

Kristin Johnson was our guest speaker for our Percentage Living Moment.  She spoke about her engagement to Noel in 2003 and how her parents took that opportunity to sit the couple down with a packet called Finance 101.  The packet included:  Money & the Bible and Managing Money from a Christian Perspective.  The advice was sound!  She continued with stating that Rev. Gary Marsh mentions that people don't like to talk about money at church, but it is a great opportunity to teach.  The 10 - 10 - 80 plan includes the two pieces we will talk about today . . . saving 10%, spending 80%.  The couple developed a budget in an Excel spreadsheet (Noel loves Excel!).  Early on, they entered all their receipts, etc.  Soon, they grew to trust each other and relaxed a little.  Their recording has evolved and usually includes a year end trip to Starbucks to review and plan for the next year.  They have also found working with a professional financial planner for retirement goals valuable.  She also stated that all are blessed by God and it is God's money.  The couple works diligently to use the budget as a tool.  When worry tries to creep in, they push any fear or anxiousness about money out of their thoughts.

During the celebration time, we sang:  "I Will Call Upon the Lord," "I Will Lift My Eyes to the Maker," and "The Wonderful Cross."  During the offering the choir sang "Wayfarin' Stranger."

Janet Ohrt and I delivered the children's chat.  We told a story about three little pigs.  There were 3 big piggy banks that we used as a visual for the story.  The first little pig was Joe.  He saved for the next toy, but didn't give any money away to help others.  The second little pig was Princess, a beautiful pig with pink feathers and a tiara on her head.  Princess spent everything she had on the next "bling" that came along.  She had lots of jewelry and over 31 tiaras!.  However, after she bought something, she felt bad and had a sad filling in the pit of her stomach, but she didn't know why.  The third little pig was Baby.  Baby had no spending record as she was so bright and shiny new . . . why, you could even say she glowed neon pink!  With ten pennies provided by us, the children helped Baby learn how to save 10%, give away 10% and spend the 80% on food and other necessities.  At the end of the story, the children were provided with little piggy banks of their own and were given 10 pennies to reinforce the message.  The children were given baskets of paper coin wrappers with the inscription:  "Glorify God in what I earn!  Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord."  They handed these out to the congregation as a reminder of the message of savings and spending.

Marian Mortenson offered prayers of the church. Bob McIlveen read scripture: Deuteronomy 8:10-18; Philippians 4:11-13; Luke 18:18-25.

The message of the day for Week #4 - "Glorify God in What I Earn" was titled, "Are we God's?"  I recapped the previous weeks' messages:  giving God a percent of my day in devotional prayer, giving God a percent of my Sabbath through worship and learning, and giving God a percent of my time by serving, witnessing and inviting.  To introduce this Sunday's topic, she spoke of a recent conversation with her seven year old.  He asked, "Mom, are we rich?"  How do you explain to a seven year old that the IRS doesn't think we are rich, but we are blessed with adequate funds?  Maybe the question that we really need to ask is, "Are we God's?" or "Do we belong to God?"  Then, the answer could be a resounding, "Yes!" 

Scripture tells of a man asked to sell all he had and give the money to the poor.  He couldn't do it and walked away sad.  Money had too much power over him.  How can we be free from the control and power of money?  Remember we belong to God (Deuteronomy 8: 17-18).  Everything is given to us by God.  100% of our money is God's.  How we think about our money can be guided by the first question from Moravian Catechism, "Why were we created?"  (The answer was provided by a guest, Pastor Darryl Bell: "To glorify God and enjoy him forever!")  From Proverbs 21:20 we learn that God thinks that saving money is a good idea.  The other 80% is talked about in Ecclesiastes 5:18-19, which tells us we can find satisfaction in what we eat and drink, in taking care of family and our health.

I also pointed out that a budget is a great tool and an important resource.  It should be reconsidered every year and possibly every few months to make sure we are glorifying God in our spending.  Living in "want" is NOT what God wants for us.  He will supply what we need to move through any tough times that we may have.  We put the main points of today's sermon on a slide:  1) All we have is God's, 2) Saving %,  3) Spending majority of our income on needs and loved ones, and 4) Remember to whom you belong!  (Deuteronomy 8:10-18).  I concluded with the challenge to ask ourselves the question, "Are we God's?"  The answer should be a resounding. "Yes!"

Kristin offered the Percentage Living Challenge.  She called attention to the handouts in the bulletin:  a personal financial assessment (questions to help guide your discovery), a penny pie chart (providing budget and spending plan suggestions), and a budget format (to track where our money is actually going).  During this week, try to use one or more of these tools to think about your spending and savings.  This will help us glorify God in what he has given us.  We've attached those handouts to this email.

The closing hymn was "God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending."  After the service many members joined together in the activity room for a pancake breakfast.
 
Next week the guest speaker is Karen O'Rourke.  She will be presenting, "Giving God a Percentage of My Income:  Generosity."

I hope you can join us this Sunday as we continue the Percentage Living program! Our activity of the week will be a potluck on April 3rd after the service. 

Many blessings,
Pastor Jenny