Last week, I confessed my own tendency to throw money at anything that pulls at my heartstrings. (If you missed it, give it a read). Generosity without wisdom can, at minimum, do little good. Often, it can do real damage to those we meant to help (Sidenote: if you haven’t read When Helping Hurts you’re missing out). The remedy, though, is not to stop giving, but to give more wisely.

I Googled “How to give wisely” and found lots of sound advice from a financial, organizational accountability, and return-on-investment viewpoint. That’s good. But for those of us who are followers of Christ, it’s not quite enough. So I’m going to try, in the next 600 words or so, to add another filter for Christian giving: a biblical truth-based perspective.

How do we, as Christians, make wise giving decisions?

  • Build God’s kingdom

There are many organizations (literally thousands) providing all sorts of physical assistance to vulnerable people around the world. Billions of dollars in aid are spent to bring water, food, education, medical care, and so on to those who need it. Even if they were 100% effective (which, sadly, they are not) in raising people out of physical poverty, Jesus tells us, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” That’s why I am convinced that we need to focus our giving on organizations that acknowledge Christ as the source of abundant life, depend on God, and seek to glorify Him in all they do.

  • Look for evidence of wholistic transformation

Some of us have been taught to believe that evangelism—teaching people that Christ died for our sins so individuals can have eternal life—is the only thing that really matters in light of eternity. That’s certainly what I grew up believing. But that’s not the story I see in the Bible. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” He said disciples, not converts. A disciple is someone who brings every aspect of their life into alignment with the will of their master. Jesus said, “Seek first God’s kingdom…” Well, God’s kingdom, by definition, is anywhere that God is king and His will is done. Poverty, disease, hunger, child mortality, oppression, injustice, and violence are not God’s will. If we are not dealing with the full complexity of our humanness—physical, social, mental, and spiritual—in a way that brings all these things under the authority of their Creator, we are not truly “seeking God’s kingdom.”

  • Commit to partnership, not paternalism

As I talked about in my last post, the wrong kind of giving only reinforces the lies that hold people in poverty. This kind of giving has a name: paternalism. It roughly translates to, “acting like the dad.” We all have a Father, and He doesn’t need us to step in for Him. So how do we avoid paternalism? We seek partnership.

Partner with local churches. They are invested in their community. They best know the needs and what God is already doing there. They will stay long after any outside organization is gone. And most of all, the local church is Christ’s body; it embodies Him in the community. Beware of false “partnerships,” though. Partnership does not mean we tell the church what to do or simply use it as a passthrough for money or resources. A true partnership means the local church is making the plans, using its resources, and receiving the credit when all is said and done. Our role as outsiders should be to strengthen, support, encourage, pray for, and also to learn from the church (because partnership is a two-way relationship). For more thoughts on this, I recommend a couple of Anna’s blogs from our archives, one focused locally and one internationally 

  • Focus on the most vulnerable.

There are many good not-for-profit organizations focusing on a million things—from the environment to politics to zoos and museums. If you want to give to those things, I say, “good on ya.” But I don’t think that type of giving should be included in what Scripture calls our “tithes and offerings.” It’s abundantly clear in scripture that God has a special concern for people experiencing vulnerability and hardship. God calls His people specifically to love and serve widows and orphans, those who are sick or in prison, the hungry, the marginalized, and refugees and immigrants (James 1:27, Matthew 25, Isaiah 58, Leviticus 19:33-34). When we give to care for these groups, we are giving to Jesus Himself.

  • Be generous and joyful.

It is possible to give out of fear, anxiety, guilt, or because of a high-pressure giving pitch. I’ve fallen into all of these at one time or another. But it’s not what God wants for His people. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). He wants us to give out of love for Him, knowing that He owns it all anyway and trusting that He is providing for us as well as for those we seek to serve. In fact, the very act of giving reinforces those truths for us in tangible ways; maybe that’s why the Bible commands us to give time and again. Giving that comes from love results in joy.

Let me end by pointing out one final pothole that I’ve let knock my wheels off more than once. Wanting to give well (and probably feeling bad about some random donation I made without engaging my brain), I research the cause into the ground and analyse it to death. I don’t want to be all heart, so I swing completely to intellect. And when I finally give (if I haven’t pondered it until it’s forgotten altogether), it is a joyless, clinical exercise.

We need to go to God in prayer, asking Him to guide our giving. God’s foolishness is better than human wisdom. All of our best practices, online research, and giving tips articles can’t take the place of the wisdom He gives through the Holy Spirit, if we simply ask. Giving in response to and in partnership with God produces a huge amount of joy. I mean, come on—He allows us to be part of His transforming work in the world! How cool is that?!