A letter from Michael Ludwig serving in Niger
November 2014 - One Good Gift Deserves Another
Often our giving seems so disengaged from its meaning. We know we have so much to be thankful for (here in Niger or anywhere else), but still it doesn’t feel like there’s much excitement or spirit in the weekly offerings we give. Sometimes it’s just about putting something in the offering plate so you don’t feel embarrassed with others watching. For myself, I constantly need to refocus the way I think about giving to make sure it’s in a healthy place. I want to make sure my giving is contributing in a meaningful way! Our short time here in Niger has helped me see giving in a fuller way in church, so let me bring you along on my journey with offerings!
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A girl sharing a simple gift of braiding hair with our daughter
At first the way the church here does offerings really offended my sensibilities. Someone would stand up impromptu with the offering baskets during or after a song several times a service and seem to be asking others to come give money to show they were thankful. Some would then colorfully dance their way to the offering baskets to put something in. I was immediately bothered that they would take several offerings after I’d already given the money I’d brought to give (Rachel visited a women’s gathering that had seven offerings!), and also bothered that it was such a showy thing of asking and going up to give. I also noticed that most gifts consisted of a coin or two, which amounts to only a few cents. To me it seemed like people were not taking offering their gifts very seriously if the church has to ask so many times, cajoling people to give, and then people are making such a self-glorifying show of giving just small coins. Watching this happen weekly made me want to burst out with critiques, “Isn’t everyone missing the deeper meaning of giving our whole lives as an offering to God? Shouldn’t we be doing this out of thankfulness and not seeking to bring attention to ourselves in return?”
Those are pretty sharp questions, which God could then help me turn around on my own practices and culture.
Don’t we all miss the deeper meaning much of the time while we’re busy just going with the flow? How many times have we neglected to give something truly meaningful or neglected to watch for the Spirit’s prompting us to give at a meaningful time?
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Women dancing as they go forward to give an offering during a song
The beauty to be discovered in how Nigeriens give offerings to God is that it can easily be both personally meaningful in connection with God and meaningful in connection with others. What I didn’t fully comprehend at first is that many of the songs at church are prepared by a women’s, youth, or men’s choir or just a group of individuals who help lead the song. These songs are a way for people to share a gift or a message on their hearts, and then when that gift touches others and points them to God, each can respond by giving offerings. Likewise there’s usually an offering taken after a time for sharing stories of something about which people are thankful to God from the past week. Again these are opportunities for someone to share a gift of encouragement that God has given them and other people can give an offering to God when something made them thankful or inspired them. I didn’t even realize I was watching people offer their varied gifts from the week to God and offer them in such a way that it inspired other people to give gifts to God.
I can’t think of much better to aspire to this season than to follow this example of sharing our gifts with God in ways that help bring out the gifts others can offer too. We later learned that this repeated action of giving offerings at women’s groups, like the one Rachel visited, turns out to be very important as it is a primary way the Evangelical Church in the Republic of Niger supports its 81 evangelists. These evangelists are doing the vital work of telling people in the poorest rural areas about God’s love for them in Jesus and doing what they can to make that love tangible, a pretty huge gift for a small church to undertake!
But I also know that no amount of money is sufficient as an offering. All amounts in the end must be just a token of the internal commitment we make to offer our whole lives for God’s purposes. I come back to this giving again and again in my life. It’s not an over-simplified giving of your life to God at one emotional and memorable moment. Rather, this surrendering and offering whatever we have to God is a daily part of the relationship, a constant discipline, a regular part of the give-and-take that keeps us present to God’s presence in our lives. As I seek to do this kind of offering under the blazing sun in Niger, the reality is thrown into higher relief as we give knowing we may not get more in return. We can only trust that whatever we give God will be worth it as it’s used for shaping us along with the others with whom it’s shared.
I hope you will consider giving gifts that inspire others to offer their gifts in this season of giving. I also hope you’ll join me in letting even the small acts of giving we see be a cue to practice a meaningful giving of ourselves to God and others.
We appreciate the way you’re already part of what God is doing in Niger, and how your gifts of communication, prayer, and finances enable us to share our gifts with people in Niger as well. If you’d like to keep us in prayer in this season, please pray for solidifying our ability with the language through lots of relationships and practice opportunities (for both parents and kids). Also pray for the leadership of the EERN that has so much vision for how to strengthen the church and reach out but needs buy-in and practical resources from the whole church body to continue forward. If you’d like to give financially or have something encouraging for us you can find the appropriate contact info below. As Paul reminds the Romans, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world!
Sending our love and prayers,
Michael and Rachel Ludwig
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, Niger, p. 125
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 133
Read more about Michael and Rachel Ludwig's ministry
Contact: Michael Ludwig (michael.ludwig@pcusa.org)
Contact: Rachel Ludwig (rachel.ludwig@pcusa.org
Individuals: Give online to E200513 for Michael and Rachel Ludwig's sending and support
Congregations: Give to D507575 for Michael and Rachel Ludwig's sending and support
Churches are asked to send donations through your congregation’s normal receiving site (this is usually your presbytery).
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