Maybe it shouldn’t bother me as much as it does. After all, I’ve heard the phrase from organizations I really respect. At first I heard it only once in a great while—during a financial crisis, for example.

“Be generous.”

Those words are not rare anymore. It seems those words are a required phrase for fundraising, including Christian fundraising: “Be generous,” or its strange cousin, “Be as generous as you can.”

I don’t recall any RP agencies using the term, and I’m not looking to point fingers. But I’d love to see generosity put back where it belongs—not as a command calling others to give to oneself, but as an encouragement for us to give to others, stirring each other to be generous people.

No matter how well intentioned, asking others to be generous to you is problematic. It actually turns the words “be generous” into a euphemism for “give me a lot.” And, anecdotally, it seems to be followed by more and more pleas for the same. I’d feel a lot more comfortable if those organizations simply said what they meant: “We hope you give us a lot, because we need it.” After all, they won’t really be able to tell if you’re actually being generous, will they? The $5 donor might be the generous one, and the $5 million donor might be stingy or full of works-righteousness. But whose name will they put on their next building?

I think I’m on track here. The Bible says, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:6-7). The context talks about the importance of being generous, and the blessing and bounty of it. So I will echo that and encourage you to be generous—to a ministry that I’m not involved in directly.

I believe RP Missions (overseeing short-term missions for the RPCNA) is one of the most exciting programs of the last several decades. The impact on our youth, the impact on our congregations, the growth in mission-mindedness in the RP Church around the world, has been far too great to chronicle even in the article written in this issue (p. 6).

In these poor economic times, we need to make it a priority to not let key ministries suffer. I’ve heard youth considering mission trips question whether they can afford it. That ought never to happen for a qualified, ready young person. If you receive a support letter from someone wanting to go on an RP mission trip, be generous! You won’t be lining anyone’s pockets, and you’ll be blessing many people.

—Drew Gordon