Ports Town launches benevolent fund

To commemorate its chapel anniversary day the Portuguese Town Methodist Church last Sunday launched its tithe and benevolent fund to further enhance the financial capability of the church.
Launching the fund, the senior society steward, Archie Ayo-Davies said that, “today is another epoch making and momentous day in the annals of the church as the stewardship of property we bring nothing into this world and we take nothing out of it”.
He went on to dilate that, “everything we have while we are here comes as a gift from God,” emphasizing further that, “in appreciation we choose to share a portion of these gifts,”
Explaining on, he told the congregation that giving money to the church was a symbolic act-the offering of ourselves in service and devotion to God, while indicting that giving was a practical matter too, because the offering made it possible for the church to pay its bills and carry out its mission in Christ’s name.
The senior society steward recapping the bible noted that it states that we should set aside our first fruits- that our offering to God should be the first portion we set aside not with remains.
Ayo-Davies reminded his audience that the Old Testament’s guidance for giving was the tithe usually one-tenth and posed the question: “how close do you come to the giving expected of the early Christians”.
On the issue of stewardship, he stressed, “we seek no reward for our stewardship and Christianity,” as we do it with the joy of serving God, emphasizing further that, “yet we know that God does reward Christians by filling their needs in life by giving new opportunities to care, to share, to participate in the wholeness of life”.
Stewardship, he opined, was “the responsibility of the Christian life, making our prayers, worship, study of the scriptures, thus Christian action duly sincere”. The worshipers were told that, “our whole life is a partnership with God, we cannot give anything to God but we can fulfill God by using our gifts wisely and sharing with others”. The service was under the theme ‘come as living stones and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple.”