Give
A key strength of our Millgrove Baptist Church community is the generosity and commitment of our people.
We are called in the Bible to be grateful and generous people in our response to an abundantly generous, gracious and loving God.
We believe in the Biblical principle of tithing. In Malachi 3:10 the Bible speaks of bringing the first 10% (tithe) of your income into the storehouse (local church). We do this as an act of worship and obedience, seeing that giving is a key aspect of discipleship.
We as followers of Jesus are called to open-handed, generous people. We are called to surrender control of our finances to God’s plans and purposes. The first step in this journey is a commitment to consistent and regular tithing.
At the same time, we do not over emphasize giving nor do we ever bring pressure to contribute. Your giving is between you and God alone.
Our tithes support day-to-day ministries and activities at Millgrove Baptist; as together we pursue our exciting life-transforming vision.
Beyond our tithes we have the opportunity to bring other financial gifts that the Bible calls ‘Offerings.’ These occasional financial gifts support a range of different projects at Millgove Baptist.
Our main offering is the ‘General Offering’ for ongoing Church costs including salaries, general expenses for the property and programs of the Church. This also includes a contribution to the Baptist Union of Victoria to support its programs and ten percent goes to overseas missions or local benevolent organizations in the community; specifically Benwerren Holiday Home for Women (Yarra Junction)and the Chaplaincy Fund for the Upper Yarra Secondary College.
Other opportunities to give include:
- Overseas Missions (May is missions’ month for Global Interaction, the Baptist Missions)
- Alpha – a gift of Bibles to new people attending Alpha and expenses for the Introduction Night (April to June)
- The Church Anniversary – August (An annual Thanks Offering towards a special project decided each year usually relating to the improvement of the Church facilities)
- Baptist World Aid – a Christmas Offering assisting people overseas with specific practical projects.
- From time to time welfare needs for people that we become aware of having a specific need.
- The Church also gives directly towards a Child Sponsorship in Thailand
Millgrove Baptist Church is committed to wise, God-honouring stewardship of our resources and best-practice financial accountability, management and governance practices. A printed Financial Report is distributed at Quarterly Church Meeting and an Annual Financial Report is provided at our August Annual Church Meeting.