Whoever is generous lends to the Lord

Whoever is generous lends to the Lord

UK Christians give around 3.2 per cent of their incomes, but imagine the impact if we developed bigger hearts of great generosity. In her first book, Elim minister Wendy Pawsey shows us how

Money seems to be one of the last taboos in the Christian world, but what if we were to break the silence and live lives of lavish generosity?

This is the question Elim minister Wendy Pawsey asks in her book, Generous with a Capital G. She explores how Christians can rethink their relationships with money, treat giving as a way to bless others and how God can move miraculously as a result.

Wendy didn’t plan to write the book, she admits. The idea came via a prompt from God eight years ago at River Camp.

“From our caravan I heard one of the speakers say, ‘God is telling someone listening here that you need to move creatively.’ It was one of those lightning moments where I knew it was a word for me.”

The confirmations came thick and fast after that: there was the lady who said God had told her to give Wendy a notebook to help her to write her book. Then, on a trip to Kenya, Wendy felt God guiding her through a worship song to write a non-fiction book that would teach.

Wendy felt God moving her to write about finances. It’s a world she knows well, having worked as a financial adviser to wealthy clients and in fundraising for charities such as Worldwide Cancer Research, Compassion UK and, currently, as Head of Giving at the Evangelical Alliance.

These roles birthed her passion for financial generosity, having shown the incredible impact it can have. “At the Evangelical Alliance we’re massively involved in public policy, evangelism through outreaches and raising up young leaders in areas of influence,” she says.

“On a daily basis I see people giving, and I see how financial generosity impacts individual lives, strengthens the church and makes Jesus known.

“It doesn’t matter whet her someone is giving £5 or £50,000. It’s all part of the body of Christ, and from that one pot money goes out and influences the UK.”

Her experience co-pastoring Elim Church Risborough with her husband Marcus fuelled this enthusiasm still further. Again, it has shown how God moves when we give.

“We had a lot of people move away during Covid which left us with a deficit in our annual income of more than £15,000. We prayed into this and before we’d even shared it with the church two people came forward separately and gave an amount that covered our shortfall for the last financial year.

“Last Christmas, someone gave me and my husband £400 to distribute to people in need within the church.

“Things like that happen on a regular basis. We’ve fostered a culture of generosity and people are good at giving.”

As Wendy set out to write her book, she began by surveying 50 Christians about financial giving. She found that about 80 per cent of her sample agreed with tithing and they all considered generosity to be part of our discipleship journeys. She also unearthed fascinating stories of provision, evangelism and significant moves of God.

At the same time, a much larger survey was being conducted by Christian charity Stewardship.

How generous are Christians in the UK?

As Wendy was writing her book, Christian charity Stewardship was conducting a large survey into the gap between current and potential levels of generosity in the arena of UK Christian giving.

The Stewardship Generosity Report 2024, conducted by Whitestone Insight surveyed 4,056 Christian adults in November 2023 and found:

• UK Christians give an average £73 a month (£876 a year) to Christian and secular good causes – equating to 3.2 per cent of income after tax
• This is £8 more than the £65 given by people in general to UK charities (CAF UK Giving Report 2023)
• Regular church attendance more than doubles the propensity to give (71 per cent of practising and church-going Christians give monthly to Christian causes compared to 28 per cent of those who attend less than once a month)
• Practising Christians (who attend church and read the Bible at least once a month) give an average £167 a month, or 6.3 per cent
• If Christians adopted the biblical principal of tithing – defined in this survey as giving 10 per cent of income after tax – this would rise to an average £232 per month
• The two main barriers to tithing cited are feeling unable to afford to give, and a lack of trust that charities will use donations well.

The Stewardship Generosity Report 2024’s findings were another major catalyst for Wendy’s book. They revealed the big gap between actual and potential giving in the UK and the need to encourage conversations about generosity.

A standout stat, for example, is that UK Christians give an average 3.2 per cent of their income after tax.

“What if we could raise that 3.2 per cent to the biblical standard of 10 per cent or any other amount?” asks Wendy. “UK churches already do fantastic things but the potential to do more is huge! I see the impact of people’s generosity on a daily basis, so I know how amazing it can be.

“That really pushed me to write the book – knowing that if we could increase giving, if there were more teaching about generosity, if we spoke about it more in our churches, the impact we could make would be immense.”

Generous with a Capital G, therefore, aims to offer an accessible take on how to live lives of generosity.

“There are many good books already on giving, but many have been written from an American perspective and can seem out of touch to UK Christians,” says Wendy. Robert Morris’s The Blessed Life talks about him giving away nine cars in 18 months for example.

“That’s amazing, but it’s not realistic for everyday Christians.

“My book is meant to be relatable, encouraging and share real-life stories.

“My prayer is that it will sweep away social embarrassment and normalise the topic of money by exploring the theology of giving and sharing others’ experiences.”

God is so incredibly generous, she says. That’s why our own generosity matters.

“Look around at the world we live in; the amazing sunsets, the diversity of each individual human, the array of nature.

“God models what he wants us to mimic, so I’d encourage every Christian to be as generous as they’re able to be, to dive into Scripture, to really get to the heart of God when it comes to generosity and to practise it on an ongoing basis. The more you practise it, the easier it becomes. And it is so enjoyable to see the difference you’re making in individual lives in God’s name.”

Favourite stories show generosity

Wendy conducted her own generosity survey among 50 Christians while writing her book. They shared their favourite stories of giving, receiving and God’s amazing provision. Here are some highlights:

• When we worked in London we knew an elderly lady… who had a dreadful life story, having been sold into sex slavery as a child by her father to fund his gambling debts. Somehow, she had survived and lived on a basic state pension in a miserable little … flat. Yet, she had a jar on the mantelpiece where she put any loose change she had. She used it to buy cake ingredients.
• When anyone in our community was having a tough time, she would appear on the doorstep with a cake just to tell them they were loved and that she was praying for them. She had nothing, really, but from what she had she gave something that impacted a whole community.
• I’m most moved when I see people be generous out of their poverty. Recently a single mum on benefits, with two young kids, was one of the few who came forward in a meeting to sponsor a child in Africa.
• In the early days of our marriage we wanted to get on the housing ladder but had no deposit. One day I met an old lady in need and gave the money in my pocket, £20, which I really needed. That night there came a knock on the door and some friends came in and gave us £3K towards a deposit. The next day someone else offered a £3K interest free loan. £6K was what we needed, and we were able to secure a mortgage!
• I chose to live by faith in my first ministry post. We prayed and sought God for provision, and individuals started to bless us. We chose to tithe 10 per cent on everything – even a £10 gift. The generosity then came to me even more so.
We were blessed with the rent on a flat, were given two cars, and even had a gift of £1,000. We tithed on every monetary gift we received, which led us to believe God could provide anything.
A few years later, we were blessed with the full deposit on a house (even after tithing on the gift), and were given a 300-seater chapel for our church debt free and at no cost!
• Planning for our daughter’s wedding we were £400 short to make the final payment to the music group doing the reception. We had to pay the band in cash. As the week leading up to the wedding went on, we still didn’t have any funds. We didn’t tell anyone, just kept praying. On the day before the wedding, I came home at lunchtime and found an envelope pushed through the door – in it was £400... in cash! If it had been a cheque, we couldn’t have banked it in time to get the cash out – so God provided in cash.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.