I was recently talking with a good friend who served as a pastor for a number of years and is now working with various Christian organizations and churches on planned giving, estate planning and capital campaigns.
One of the facts that he shared with me is something that is hard to fully understand. Many estate planning experts point to a study by Boston College that estimated that more than $40 trillion will be transferred from one generation to the next generation in the coming years.
Considering that charities including churches in the United States receive just over $300 billion annually from all sources, being able to participate in some of the planned-giving piece of that transfer would be a game changer.
There are a number of organizations, both for-profit as well as not-for-profit, who provide estate planning seminars and advice. In the church however we have one great advantage and that is that we can offer those that have the opportunity to give or participate in planned-giving a Kingdom perspective.
The early church certainly had a Kingdom perspective. In the Book of Acts, we see the beginnings of the church. After Pentecost, the gospel of the Kingdom was spoken by the Apostles with much boldness. Then in Chapter 4:32-37 of Acts we read about Barnabas, originally called Joseph:
"Now the large group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. And the apostles were giving testimony with great power to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. For there was not a needy person among them, because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet. This was then distributed for each person's basic needs.
Joseph, a Levite and a Cypriot by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas, which is translated Son of Encouragement, sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
This is the first time we hear of Barnabas, he went on to be one of the great leaders of the early church. Barnabas was a partner on many of Paul’s missionary journeys and is called an Apostle later in the same book of Acts.
Barnabas sold a field he owned and gave the money to the Apostles. He took a non-liquid asset, a piece of real-estate that may not have been producing income, and turned it into a tangible gift for the ministry.
Gifts to ministry may or may have a tax benefit but they always provide a benefit to the Kingdom. In addition, we can clearly say that gifts given to the church, given to the various para-church nonprofit organizations are all given “unto the Lord”.
Just one example of the Kingdom connection in giving is in the story of the Widows mite; the story of the women that gave two small copper coins. If you recall the widow’s mite, Jesus commended the widow for giving “all that she had”, which Jesus said was more than anyone else had given, though their gifts were more substantial. Jesus commended the woman while at the same time, and as recorded in just the previous chapter of Mark, He severely criticized the temple moneychangers telling them they had turned the Temple into a “den of robbers”.
Keeping a Kingdom focus enabled a man called Joseph, also called Barnabas, the son of Encouragement, to transfer a non-liquid asset, part of his estate, into a gift for the advancement of gospel. Keeping a Kingdom focus not only benefited the early church but took a man named Joseph, also called Barnabas, the son of encouragement and enabled him to become an Apostle of the Lamb.
