October 17, 2007
Washington DC, United States
There is an English expression that says that when
opportunity knocks we must be ready to open the door.
Recently the door of opportunity opened to the General
Conference. You see a member came to them and wanted to
return tithe to the GC from the sale of a business.
Normally all tithe is returned to the local church and
passed through the channels to the local conference,
union and division before arriving at the GC. This large
amount of tithe, over 50 million US dollars, was sent to
the GC.
As a result of this large amount of tithe, the General
Conference officers felt they should share this with the
world field and so on October 15, the GC Executive
Committee Annual Council voted for these funds to be
received, invested and used to fund mission projects.
This is crucial to provide funding now for many
initiatives that were waiting for funding to move ahead.
This allows the GC and its divisions to accelerate their
mission programs that were waiting for funding approval.
The GC will accept proposals from the unions via the
divisions for projects to fund the mission of the church
in the 10/40 window. These proposals will be submitted
to the GC Under treasurer who will collect them for
review by the GC Financial Planning and Budgeting
Committee. These funds will be the basis for a
partnership of the GC and divisions.
Now this situation could do one of two things for NSD. I
could cause people to think that if the GC has this
money I do not need to give any more. This would cause
problems because these extraordinary funds were given to
help speed up the accomplishment of projects waiting for
funds. If people stop or reduce their giving then it
will not help that to happen.
The other way to look at it is that God is speaking to
His people as we have been told He would in the last
days. The result would be that people would realize
there are things they can do without and will sacrifice
so that funds can be channeled to finish God’s work. We
hope that this sacrificial gift to the GC will set a
good example for the people of NSD and they will look at
the blessings which God has given them and make some
extraordinary gifts to God’s cause so that His work can
be advanced in our territory and His coming can be soon.
Submitted by Don Upson, NSD Treasurer
