When Asked For Money

[bobinfaith]

Hello brothers and sisters;

In all the stages of my life and personal growth in Christ, a sensitive issue always came up in the Church. Strangers or families that cross our path that needed money.

Christians asking other Christians, non-profit organizations asking for donations, and the occasional person in the street asking you for change or a few bucks.

Acts 2:44-47, 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. - KJV

This is a familiar passage in Acts 2. After the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church, the application of the sermon and events at Pentecost, explaining the Resurrection of Christ, the response and life of the new believers led them to share the things in common and dividing them among anyone who had need.

Aside from Paul's ministry he earned his wages in a manual labor job of tentmaking. There were times when my wife and I needed money for expenses. There have been times the pastor or someone in ministry needed money and there have been many times where people in the streets have asked us for change or a few bucks.

At times we gave, at times we received, other times we didn't give and times we didn't receive. There were times my former pastor asked me for money.

I'll share later how we responded and the times we didn't because we were not prepared.

Of giving money, what are your principles, did you follow a Biblical teaching, do you still have an accounts receivable? What were / are your experiences of giving to others?

God bless you all and thank you.

 

[BibleLover]

Hello brothers and sisters;

In all the stages of my life and personal growth in Christ, a sensitive issue always came up in the Church. Strangers or families that cross our path that needed money.

Christians asking other Christians, non-profit organizations asking for donations, and the occasional person in the street asking you for change or a few bucks.

Acts 2:44-47, 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. - KJV

This is a familiar passage in Acts 2. After the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church, the application of the sermon and events at Pentecost, explaining the Resurrection of Christ, the response and life of the new believers led them to share the things in common and dividing them among anyone who had need.

Aside from Paul's ministry he earned his wages in a manual labor job of tentmaking. There were times when my wife and I needed money for expenses. There have been times the pastor or someone in ministry needed money and there have been many times where people in the streets have asked us for change or a few bucks.

At times we gave, at times we received, other times we didn't give and times we didn't receive. There were times my former pastor asked me for money.

I'll share later how we responded and the times we didn't because we were not prepared.

Of giving money, what are your principles, did you follow a Biblical teaching, do you still have an accounts receivable? What were / are your experiences of giving to others?

God bless you all and thank you.

In Chattanooga we have a number of homeless persons who panhandle on strategic corners with traffic lights. In the past I often was annoyed by this activity, but the Lord gave me an idea of how to bless these folks while spreading the gospel.

I bought a number of various gospel tracts, and I keep a supply of $5.00 bills in my wallet.

Before I leave my house now, I place a five dollar bill inside a gospel tract and take it with me on the trip.

Now, when I encounter one of these people, instead of ignoring them, I call them over and give them the money and tract along with a blessing.

Also, before I start my trip, I pray over the tract for God's blessing on it and it's recipient.

 

[Siloam]

When I moved into my first apartment, working as a night janitor (they called it a 'porter') while I was going to school, I purposely kept a portion of my wages to give to those in need. I felt that placing it all in the offering plate was too easy, in effect saying take this and go show that I am a Christian when I should be involved with helping people personally. I used this to do things like help a young married man pay his rent, or pay for a church member attend a Christian training (at the time it was called Campus Crusade for Christ, now it is called CRU. I kept this up until I joined the military.

The Air Force placed me in Washington DC (actually at the Pentagon, which is in Virginia). There are lots of pan handlers in DC. Sometimes I was moved to contribute, sometimes not.

My last job had me working in DC supporting the FAA, and I used to walk past the same person each day between the subway station and my office. While I did give to him on occasion, I also sat and talked with him for a few minutes a couple of times a week. He peppered his conversation with what he thought I wanted to hear (lots of "the Lord told me thus and so"), but it became clear that it was not from his heart), but I hope I showed him a little more of what a Christian is, I know I told him about why Christ came, died and rose.

 

[Lanolin]

I give when I can though I often don't carry much cash anymore or go round carrying cash. Things are now so expensive that I find I don't really have much to spare especially when out shopping.
If they say what they need the money for I am happy to give. But if they just want money for no reason or to pay off a debt I'm a bit more circumspect.

I give goods to charity organisations/op shops because they ask for donations and when people buy from them it goes towards the charity.

I think begging or panhandling as they call it in the US has now become a problem in NZ too with many homeless when there never used to be. Even people with homes may be having a hard time.
We do things like pyjama drives and community meals to help out --to have clothes and food is more important than money, which often doesn't go very far. The poor do pawn goods to get cash and you can even sell your gold jewellery. It's probably better than getting a loan from a shark.

When Jesus sent his disciples out they carried no cash. "Gold and silver have I none" They'd walk past beggars and heal them if they needed or told them to get up and walk.
Sometimes they just needed a word of encouragement. When Jesus needed to pay tribute to Caesar he got money from a fish.

 

[rtm3039]

A large number of these panhandlers have emotional issues that prevent them from taking care of themselves. Some do not, but it is often times practically impossible to know. Unfortunately, unless there is violence involved, there is little that can be done. You just can't pick them up and take them to a hospital.

I make it a habit of keeping a bunch of $1.00 bills in my glove compartment.

I have two regulars. One always works the interaction just off where I get off on the turnpike. He is an older while man that never wears a shirt. He acts "normal" and does not give anyone issues. He always ways "God bless you," when you give him money. The second is a couple of blocks away. He is a young black male and does not act "normal." He is always talking to himself, while pointing to the sky. I speak to both of them, but the young black guy says things that I just don't understand. There used to be a young Hispanic female on the same corner that was also not "normal." If someone did not give her money, she would lean on the hood of their car and just roll around.

It is sad, but it is what it is. I always wonder how they got to this position, if they have family, and where they go at nights. I have no idea.

 

[Siloam]

It is sad, but it is what it is. I always wonder how they got to this position, if they have family, and where they go at nights. I have no idea.

I know that the man I used to talk to between the subway and my office was scared of the shelters (too many emotionally challenged people in too small a space). If the shelters were better served by police, etc, the homeless did not like that ether. He said his most common nightly place was behind some dumpsters.

 

[rtm3039]

A large number of these panhandlers have emotional issues that prevent them from taking care of themselves. Some do not, but it is often times practically impossible to know. Unfortunately, unless there is violence involved, there is little that can be done. You just can't pick them up and take them to a hospital.

I make it a habit of keeping a bunch of $1.00 bills in my glove compartment.

I have two regulars. One always works the interaction just off where I get off on the turnpike. He is an older while man that never wears a shirt. He acts "normal" and does not give anyone issues. He always ways "God bless you," when you give him money. The second is a couple of blocks away. He is a young black male and does not act "normal." He is always talking to himself, while pointing to the sky. I speak to both of them, but the young black guy says things that I just don't understand. There used to be a young Hispanic female on the same corner that was also not "normal." If someone did not give her money, she would lean on the hood of their car and just roll around.

It is sad, but it is what it is. I always wonder how they got to this position, if they have family, and where they go at nights. I have no idea.

I know that the man I used to talk to between the subway and my office was scared of the shelters (too many emotionally challenged people in too small a space). If the shelters were better served by police, etc, the homeless did not like that ether. He said his most common nightly place was behind some dumpsters.

When UI use to work "downtown," I would take the metro into the city and walk a couple of blocks to the office. I used to get to work around 6:45 AM. The sidewalk behind the parking garage was always full of people sleeping on it. They had their plastic bags with their personal belongings, and some had sleeping bags. Some included families. They would just get up, change in public and go off to do whatever they did during the day. They left their plastic bags in place. A couple of times, I would see the city drive by the area, pick up the bags, and throw them into garbage trucks. That always made me so angry.

At one point, back in 2015, the county actually used tax money to create what they called a "poop map" to show where the majority of the homeless stayed at night: https://money.cnn.com/2015/05/15/news/miami-poop-map/

 

[blueskies]

There are many reasons for homeless in Seattle.

Four common reasons are:
1) The mentally distressed or drug dependent. These people simply can’t, or have deliberately chosen, not to fit into the system.
2) Those who have consciously chosen to drop off the grid for a variety of reasons, but primarily, “to not be found or held accountable” or sometimes, to pursue a predatory lifestyle.
4) The unemployed. Unemployment and homelessness are always going to be linked together. No job, no money, equals no home eventually.
4) The working homeless.

This last group is larger than many realize. Here, average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in Seattle is $2,015. With first, last months, and damage deposit, it can easily top $5,000 up front.

This was once brought into focus at my workplace. There was a man I recognized who worked in a high end restaurant in my building. He was washing and changing clothes in the men’s restroom. When I gently inquired, he explained that he lived in a tent with his family while he worked full time for a Fortune 500 company as a server in a fancy company restaurant. He was hoping to save enough eventually to get his family off the streets and into housing, but it was going to take a year at best.

When you stop and talk to people on the street, you find there seem to be as many reasons for homeless as there are people.

 

[Lanolin]

Street kids also who've run away from 'home' because of violence/broken homes. Often parents are divorced or at each others throats or they may have been kicked out.

We had a guy who always came to the library with his shopping trolley, he never asked for money but just wanted to have somewhere warm to be. I would see a lot of homeless and they never asked anyone for money in the library as people don't buy things in the library. The only thing we'd sell was maybe withdrawn books but even those would be given away if you didn't have $1.

We only ever trespassed or kicked anyone out if they were - out of it, on drugs, or causing a huge disturbance. Yes you could sleep in the library if you wanted but not overnight.

Librarians didn't have money but one time the glass was smashed round the photocopy machine for spare change, even though we left it open at the end of the day to show we actually didn't have any money!

If you didn't reside anywhere or show proof of address you couldn't have a library card and borrow books (to take home) but you could always read the books IN the library nobody would stop you from doing that.

 

[Lanolin]

Also all library books were stamped, barcoded and tagged so nobody would ever get rich for SELLING a library book if they tried to steal one. I would not buy a ex-library book these would be withdrawn and shared, never sold. And if we did find a library book that wasn't withdrawn outside the library, everyone would know to return it to that library.

 

[Via dolarossa]

Of giving money, what are your principles, did you follow a Biblical teaching, do you still have an accounts receivable? What were / are your experiencesof giving to others?

There are no homeless people where i live but if i travel i tend buy them food and drink and never give money. They are usually grateful.

But one time in london a girl was following us and begging and crying for money and she looked incredibly stressed, i think everyone sensed she was after drug money. We didnt give. I felt bad for her but i also didnt know what else to do, she didnt want food. i couldnt even point her in any direction because i dont live in London or know the nearest shelter.

I really dont mind giving donations, but if i give, i like to know where the money goes, or that i can trust the ones who are in charge of it. i have donated monthly to charities in the past for this and that... but there are so many cases of insider fraud that i am now no longer giving.

‘Take action on fraud’, regulator warns charities, as new figures show over £8 million reported lost to crime last year

The Charity Commission is today warning charity leaders to protect their organisations against fraud and cybercrime, after new figures show charities reported almost £8.6 million of lost funds in the last financial year.

www.gov.uk

 

[bobinfaith]

I used this to do things like help a young married man pay his rent, or pay for a church member attend a Christian training (at the time it was called Campus Crusade for Christ, now it is called CRU. I kept this up until I joined the military.

There are many reasons for homeless in Seattle. Four common reasons are:
1) The mentally distressed or drug dependent. These people simply can’t, or have deliberately chosen, not to fit into the system.
2) Those who have consciously chosen to drop off the grid for a variety of reasons, but primarily, “to not be found or held accountable” or sometimes, to pursue a predatory lifestyle.
3) The unemployed. Unemployment and homelessness are always going to be linked together. No job, no money, equals no home eventually.
4) The working homeless.

Hello Siloam;

We supported CRU at my last Church. In 2018 CRU had a convention in SF and while there a large group from San Diego State, UCSD and SD colleges was assigned to our Church and knocked on 1600 doors in the community.

Hello blueskies;

It's sad that homelessness now have category stages like Seattle and other major cities. It may not seem like a progression but perhaps it is, as the city keeps a better census and how to tackle it.

When my mother in law was alive she didn't have a lot of money to give but passed out "day old" cookies from a cookie shop. One man who she gave cookies to came back to her years later to thank her. He told her he got off the streets, became a born again Christian and fireman with the SFFD.

This really touched my wife who was the daughter. Silver or gold her Mom did not have, but what she did have she gave cookies to the hungry.

Anyone else?

 

[Lanolin]

Why are there so many homeless in the US? Let's address the REAL issue. WHY aren't there any jobs?

Too expensive to live there? Their homes were destroyed? They got divorced? How can they be homeless if they never lived on 'the grid' is everyone supposed to live on the grid?

What about the people who own MORE than one home. Isn't that being greedy?

Remember the Israelites, who were living in Egypt being labourers for Pharoah. They crossed the Red Sea. Then they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. It can't be said they had a home. They would have lived in tents. Abraham was originally told to get out from his home to a land God had promised and his descendants would inherit this land. Well they crossed the river and possessed the land, and they worshipped God, but when they turned to idolatry they got exiled. The land was never meant to be sold, it was their home. God had secured it for them. There was nothing they could do to buy it back when God left the temple the Israelites had built for him.

Till Jesus came (and Israel was occupied) they were sold out to the Romans. The temple had been rebuilt far bigger than before but it had now turned into a mall. There were fights and a divided kingdom, one in Jerusalem, and a rival temple in Samaria. So what happened was Jesus was payment for that land that everyone had sinned on. So it was going to be redeemed and a new heaven and earth given to them. This happened to be Jerusalem where God's house was. But Gods house/temple wasn't going to be a big fancy place anymore, the temple would be inside the people with Jesus.

I just think money isn't going to help homelessness. You could have the richest house but it could be squandered in an instant, and become a money pit and den of thieves like the temple turned out to be, a monument to Mammon. Jesus knew how costly it was. He gave his life to redeem the people from it.

Anyway that's just some of my understanding. We think of homelessness today as no shelter, but some of the shelters people had been building became toxic.

 

[bobinfaith]

Why are there so many homeless in the US? Let's address the REAL issue. WHY aren't there any jobs?Too expensive to live there? Their homes were destroyed? They got divorced? How can they be homeless if they never lived on 'the grid' is everyone supposed to live on the grid? What about the people who own MORE than one home. Isn't that being greedy? I just think money isn't going to help homelessness. You could have the richest house but it could be squandered in an instant, and become a money pit and den of thieves like the temple turned out to be, a monument to Mammon. Jesus knew how costly it was. He gave his life to redeem the people from it.

Hello Lanolin;

The answer to your question would take another detailed conversation. The reasons you stated for high homeless is partly the reason. Other reasons are internal conflict, natural disasters, government breakdown, greed and perhaps the worst reason is homeless hopelessness enabling handouts like money, food, temporary shelter.

The United States and other countries that enjoy more than one home ownership is because of it's respective country's opportunity and efforts of resources, wealth, gainful jobs and other means.

In 2023 the top 20 countries with the highest population have a high percentage of homelessness;

Italy's population is approximately a little over 59 million and have a high percentage of 49% homelessness

Spain's population is approximately a little over 48 million and have a high percentage of 42% homelessness.

France's population is approximately a little over 65 million and have a high percentage of 37% homelessness.

The United States is approximately a little over 334 million and have a high percentage of 25% homelessness.

Nigeria's population is approximately a little over 224 million and have a high percentage of 24% homelessness.

New Zealand's population is approximately a little over 5 million and have a percentage of 1% homelessness.

On a side note, if New Zealand ever got invaded it has allies Australia being closest, England, Canada, the United States, this alone makes a pretty strong defense.

This is a simple outline and others may have additional facts on homelessness but this should give you an idea.

God bless you, Lanolin.

 

[Lanolin]

Interesting that Italy has highest percent of homelessness.

Homelessness - The People's Project

Homelessness includes rough sleeping or living in cars, being in temporary or emergency accommodation, living in an over-crowded home and couch-surfing.

www.thepeoplesproject.org.nz

Here the main issue is affordable housing or cost of living.
Not all people who ask for money are homeless just want to avoid that stereotype. Some just don't have any cash on them or spent it all. Some shops do overcharge for things. Also here, we pay GST on goods, its all included in the price. We don't get any tax rebate on that unless we keep track of all our receipts and accounts for tax purposes.

If you donate a large sum to charity, apparently you get a tax rebate or something.
I think with charities that ask to give or you are fundraising, you do need to trust where it's going and it will be spent on what its said to be spent on and not admin or the workers salaries. You don't want to rob Peter to pay Paul.

I think if you going to ask for money then you promise to do something to earn that money like sing a song, or auction something, or provide a service. Do a proper fundraiser.
Otherwise if its just you'd like donations then have a box (we call it koha in NZ) where people can place however amount they want to go toward whatever it is you raising money for.

Churches do operate as registered charities but I notice some still pass around a collection or offering bag and people put their change in, or they have offering envelopes or whatever. I often wondered why they don't just say here's the subscription for this year and people pay it annually on a set date rather than ask everyone for money every week. A lot of people just don't have secure jobs to tithe regularly, or have an income even. If you don't know where the money will go or what it will be used for then? They just say it will be used for the Kingdom.

But maybe I'm just not used to church. I remember going to visit a few and they would just ask you to give so much and if you didn't have a high earning job then people pretty much ignored you. One church member said she used to belong to a church that told its members to give till it hurts, and they'd have envelopes where you had to put all your credit card details on it. Or they have payroll giving.

It was probably different back in the day when people didn't give money, they tithed their produce (what they grew/harvested) to the storehouse. They just collected alms on some days. I don't understand how the whole tithing thing came to be about money in some churches. Some go too far that it comes across as extortion. Or taxation! Pay up or else.

 

[Lanolin]

Acts 2 and 5 say the believers didn't think any of their house and lands were their own so they sold them and laid the money at the apostles feet. I just wondered who they sold them to or did they just redistribute them amongst members in need. It seems Anais and Saphirra made a profit/gain of what they sold by keeping it back instead of giving the full price to the apostles.

I don't quite understand why everyone was selling their houses and land where they not going to live somewhere or need that land? Though I note they had houseS and landS so they must have had plenty. I don't know, maybe they were wealthy believers that could afford to sell their houses to people that needed them or were rich enough to buy them out?

If someone could explain this passage. What were the apostles doing with the money at their feet? Am a bit confused. Was this like a missionary fund. I know that only wealthy people that already have a house could have sold it, because if you renting you can't sell your landlords house.

 

[Lanolin]

I know some churches have an annual missionary fundraising dinner (you pay for a meal)
And they also have a month of prayer and fasting and any money you save from not buying extra food goes toward missionaries. People also give stamp collections to missionaries. Some churches have car boot sales or car washes. Lots of ways to raise funds. But if you do happen to have an extra house or land you don't need I suppose you could sell it.
That way you don't need to ask (poor) people for money and the people buying will get a house/land out of the transaction.

Nowadays here people tend to go through real estate agents or put their houses up for auction to the highest bidder. Most houses for sale often give a reason saying the vendor is going overseas/moving and need a quick sale, OR they are downsizing.

 

[rtm3039]

Why are there so many homeless in the US? Let's address the REAL issue. WHY aren't there any jobs?

Too expensive to live there? Their homes were destroyed? They got divorced? How can they be homeless if they never lived on 'the grid' is everyone supposed to live on the grid?

What about the people who own MORE than one home. Isn't that being greedy?

Remember the Israelites, who were living in Egypt being labourers for Pharoah. They crossed the Red Sea. Then they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. It can't be said they had a home. They would have lived in tents. Abraham was originally told to get out from his home to a land God had promised and his descendants would inherit this land. Well they crossed the river and possessed the land, and they worshipped God, but when they turned to idolatry they got exiled. The land was never meant to be sold, it was their home. God had secured it for them. There was nothing they could do to buy it back when God left the temple the Israelites had built for him.

Till Jesus came (and Israel was occupied) they were sold out to the Romans. The temple had been rebuilt far bigger than before but it had now turned into a mall. There were fights and a divided kingdom, one in Jerusalem, and a rival temple in Samaria. So what happened was Jesus was payment for that land that everyone had sinned on. So it was going to be redeemed and a new heaven and earth given to them. This happened to be Jerusalem where God's house was. But Gods house/temple wasn't going to be a big fancy place anymore, the temple would be inside the people with Jesus.

I just think money isn't going to help homelessness. You could have the richest house but it could be squandered in an instant, and become a money pit and den of thieves like the temple turned out to be, a monument to Mammon. Jesus knew how costly it was. He gave his life to redeem the people from it.

Anyway that's just some of my understanding. We think of homelessness today as no shelter, but some of the shelters people had been building became toxic.

According to the US Department of Commerce, as of this month, we have 5.9 million unemployed workers, and 9.8 million unfilled pobs. The issue is not jobs, but affordability.

 

[bobinfaith]

Acts 2 and 5 say the believers didn't think any of their house and lands were their own so they sold them and laid the money at the apostles feet. I just wondered who they sold them to or did they just redistribute them amongst members in need. It seems Anais and Saphirra made a profit/gain of what they sold by keeping it back instead of giving the full price to the apostles. I don't quite understand why everyone was selling their houses and land where they not going to live somewhere or need that land? Though I note they had houseS and landS so they must have had plenty. I don't know, maybe they were wealthy believers that could afford to sell their houses to people that needed them or were rich enough to buy them out? If someone could explain this passage. What were the apostles doing with the money at their feet? Am a bit confused. Was this like a missionary fund. I know that only wealthy people that already have a house could have sold it, because if you renting you can't sell your landlords house.

Hello Lanolin;

You're asking a great question. Back in Acts 1 and 2 was considered the first Church gathering of about 120 believers. At the same time 3000 new believers came to Christ and didn't have homes or jobs and needed to eat.

In Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira sold their possessions but decided to keep a portion for themselves. Problem was they lied giving "all" their possessions to Peter. Both husband and wife were deceptive and had ulterior motives to reap the respect that was given to Barnabas. I don't know why their death was merited but I know this was an act of God.

The first Church gathering had hearts and common ground for Christ. You can call it a missionary fund, benevolence, or giving, as anyone had need. The Church in Acts 2 was very much generous and different than it is today.

My wife and I during my early days at Christian Forum Site owned two homes. We prayerfully sold the second home in 2019 and asked God to bless the family who would buy it and give them a fair price. We sold our first and primary home just last September 2022 to our family and gave them a fair price. God was faithful in our prayer request, both homes sold quickly, both families were blessed and we paid down both homes. We believe it was God who answered our prayers.

God bless you, sister.

 

[Tery]

To some it may sound callous, but we give through our church and trust that the money is used appropriately and reach those who truly need it. Through our church and prayers, we humbly trust that God will help those in need.

The problem is rather sad in this country, unfortunately. Children get used, and even 'rented out' to street corner beggars to evoke sympathy. For that reason, there's a law here that forbids you from giving money to minors for this very reason. It is just too difficult to know who on a street corner needs it and who's just running a scam and with the amount of homeless and jobless in this country ... if I'm not mistaken unemployment has reached over 30% ... you can't help every person on a street corner.
Add to that, you may find that you get spat on for handing one food instead of money as you can't buy drugs or alcohol with food and you are only perpetuating their sin. Even if you could find them a job, in most cases they will be right back at the street corner the following week as they get more standing at the street corner for less effort.

Ironically enough, it's been said that you may find that those who truly need it, are not the ones who are standing on the street corner, as their pride prevent them from doing so. The don't want to be handed help, they want to work for what they receive.