Benevolance

Take care of him, and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend… Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:35-37

We are called to take care of our neighbors, our friends, those we many not even know. One of the ways that we do that here at Cason is through our Benevolence Fund. However, many don’t know what the Benevolence fund is, or how it is administered. Simply put, the Benevolence Fund demonstrates the love of Christ by providing comfort, support and financial assistance to members and neighbors who find themselves in temporary crisis. We do this in response to the biblical charge to “carry one another’s burdens”. As such, priority is given to members of Cason United Methodist in need, but consideration will also be given to regular attenders and members of other churches. The money comes from donations made to the church specifically for this purpose and are not pulled from the general operations budget. For many years, the money in the Benevolence Fund has been administered at the sole discretion of the Pastor. Requests made and allocation of funds flowed through the pastor’s office and were made on a case by case basis.

In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic and the rise of inflation and consumer prices, the need for assistance is greater than ever. Unfortunately, at the same time, giving to the Benevolence Fund has decreased. This is partly because there has not been an “all call” for donations, and also because there was a concern that there was no oversight into how the money was spent. In light of these issues, I will be asking leadership to establish a “Benevolence Committee” who will be charged with reviewing requests for assistance and allocating the funds necessary. In this way, there will be more transparency into the process, and not one voice making the decisions on how to spend church funds. Cason’s Nominations and Leadership Committee will be tasked with finding individuals willing to serve on this committee.

As your pastor, I am asking that you prayerfully consider making a donation to the Benevolence Fund.  We have many people within our congregation that are having trouble; from putting gas in their cars to putting food on their table. Some of our older congregants struggle to pay for their medications, while others are working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Giving to this fund gives us at Cason the ability to be a blessing unto others in their times of deepest need. We are told that what we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus. I hope you will consider giving a blessing to another as you have been blessed yourself.

And the truth is, it’s not all about money. There are opportunities to serve others regardless of your financial resources. Some need rides to appointments, some need help with grocery shopping. Maybe you could mow a lawn or help clean a house.  Perhaps you could just spend an hour sitting with someone or praying with them. Lest we forget, blessings come in all shapes and sizes. Again I call on all of us to find a way that we can help those in need, be it time, talent or treasure.

I’ll close by saying this – we must be the change we wish to see in the world.  I know that’s not Scriptural, but I dare say those words were inspired by God. It is true! If we want to make the world a better place, then we can’t wait for it to just happen, we have to be part of the change.  God put us here to be His hands and feet.  Feet need to move; hands need to help. We are the church – we must make a difference.

Pastor David