Timething Commitment Letter
At the request of numerous parties, I am providing this Sample Pastor Letter below. This “sample letter” is located near the end of the article I authored entitled “From Tithing to Timething – The Journey From Dollars to Uncommon Sense” You won’t have a clue what the letter below is about unless you read the article first. Read the article first.
This article is not about “how to get the laity involved in the ministry of the church, but how to get the church involved in the ministry of the laity.” How’s that going to happen? Notice that the only difference between the spelling of tithing and timething is ‘me.’ If we continue to give our churches our money as our tithe, the Church in the West will continue to be destinations where church is done. If we change our first fruits to our time, only heaven knows what God might do with a groundswell of willing hearts.
As we approach September, the month that is typically regarded as the beginning of the ministry year, after you have prayerfully considered the elements of this article, your first step is to make your Pastor aware of your decision. Keep a copy of this letter for yourself. Refer to it every week. It’s your commitment to Christ this year. Keep a journal of your journey during the next twelve months. Be prepared to share the blessings of your adventures with others. Perhaps the following example that my wife and I have developed will work for you:
Re: Timething Commitment Letter
Dear Pastor______:
I have been prayerfully considering my walk with Christ and the plight of this, His Church. I have come to understand that Jesus wants more of me, not just my money. I want more of Him too. Instead of tithing dollars to our church beginning now, I am going to tithe my time. Don’t get me wrong. I am fully prepared to share my financial resources with those who I will encounter on this journey, Jesus will let me know when that’s appropriate, I’m quite confident of that.
Effective immediately, I am going to spend more time in prayer, read more of God’s word, ask God to lead me to a place in our community where I can help others who are helpless, homeless, hungry, lonely, disabled, oppressed, convalescing, shut-ins and marginalized. Yes, I want to make sure that my time is spent outside of our existing church programs. For every dollar I gave to our church in last year, I’m going to match that in this yearwith one hour of my time. The way God works, I’ll probably end up spending a lot more time than that. That’s O.K. I’m prepared to do whatever is necessary. I’ll still attend worship services at our church, that’s important. I’m not going to do this alone. I am convinced that there are millions of Christians out there who are waiting for permission to do the same. I’m going to bring my gifts to the party. I fully expect to be joined/join kindred spirits who God will provide. I am going to be deliberate about seeking these opportunities. I am going to do the footwork.
You, as my Pastor, can be immensely helpful in this process. Perhaps you have heard of others in our congregation who are presently led as I am. Please provide us with our respective contact information so we can get together, get to know one another and move out into our community. We’re going to need resources from the Church. Expect me to call upon you to assist us with the resources we require. It will be great if you could communicate these needs to the entire church so that others have the opportunity to get involved.
I will provide you with a quarterly update on my journey. I expect that it’s going to be uncomfortable, inconvenient and new for me. It might be for you as well. I’m sure God will teach us how to move through this important transition together. I’d like to get together with you on a specific day next year to discuss how God has changed me. Please pray for me, and those who I will encounter on this journey. I’m excited about this. I hope you are too. Jesus needs me…out there. I’m confident you understand that too.
Yours in Christ,
John/Sally
P.S. It’s not about you Pastor. It’s a timething. It may be a key on our journey from dollars to uncommon sense. To Him be the glory!
Bibliography & Notes
1 Slocum, Robert Maximize Your Ministry, Navpress, Colorado Springs, CO ? Copyright 1990 by Robert Slocum, p. 170.
