Now we want to talk about what kind of arrangements we should have in our midst in the matter of finances. On the one hand, how should we distribute the income of the church? On the other hand, what should the relationship be among the co-workers?
Regarding the question of money, I think it will be clearer if I speak in this way: The income of the local church is first, of course, for local expenses. A locality should not be in debt. In the local church there are many expenditures. First, there are the normal expenses of the church, such as the wine, the bread, electricity, water, and in some places, rent.
Second, there are certain matters that the local churches need to devote more effort to. In the church God especially stresses that His children should take care of the needy, especially the needy brothers. Therefore, in the local church there is a major need of taking care of the needy brothers.
But when we take care of the needy brothers, we should do it very carefully. We cannot say that because they are needy brothers, we can be discourteous to them. When brothers send money to them, we should not cause them to feel ashamed just because they are needy. If we have an elderly mother and father at home, the way we send money to them is the way I hope that we would take care of the poor. It should be just as if we were sending money to our elderly parents. We certainly cannot let our parents feel that their son is having pity on them or that their son is giving them charity to relieve them of their difficulties. We cannot do it this way. In the church when we are managing money to care for the needy, we should be very skillful. In every church the brothers and sisters who pass on money must be people with keen feelings; we cannot send insensitive persons. Needy ones cannot help but receive our money, but they also could not help but be hurt. Therefore, there is a need for people with keen feelings. We should never allow anyone to hurt them.
For example, suppose a brother fell and was injured and we needed to carry him to his bed. We would never send clumsy, insensitive persons to do it. Maybe a bone was not broken, but because they are clumsy, they can break a bone. I feel in many places that the brothers who manage money are too insensitive in their feeling. I am not happy about this situation at all. Sooner or later those people may fall into a condition of great poverty before God; definitely God will place some discipline on them. How could they be without any feeling at all? When a brother or sister is in difficulty, we need to be very tender in helping this one. In every locality, regarding the question of money, one part is for the expenses of the church, and one part is for taking care of the needs of the brothers. We need to select a brother who is especially gentle, whose feeling is especially keen, one who can sense the situation from just one word. Such a one should be asked to handle these affairs. If it is not so, problems will arise. We need to be very tender, very fine, very careful. We should not allow these brothers to feel that they are giving charity.
Let me relate one incident to you. Here in Kuling there are a few terms which are quite peculiar. For example, when they want to say “intend” or “plan,” they use the term continue. Similarly, to help someone is “to favor them.” No matter what they use to help people with, they say that it is “to favor them.” More than a month ago, when I was going down the mountain, a few of the sedan-chair bearers told me, “Mr. Nee, I really favor you; I really favor you.” I said, “What do you mean?” They said, “Every time that you call us to bear the sedan-chair, we always respond very quickly because we really favor you.” I hope that in helping the needy ones, we do not do it in the way of favoring them. This is ugly. When you go to help them, never give the appearance that you are doing them a favor. When a believer is in a time of difficulty, you need to preserve his self-respect and his dignity. You do not know when you will be in the same situation. Never do anything to hurt him. This needs to be handled very delicately.
Third, there is another thing that the local church can do. If a local responsible brother spends all of his time in the affairs of the church and it causes his own job or business to suffer, the church should give him financial help in a very careful way. You are aware that there are many brothers in the local church, especially responsible brothers, who, because of being busy with many church affairs, were unable to continue on with their business and lost their source of income. Due to being occupied with the church, they laid aside their work. This is the situation mentioned in the book of Timothy, where some are worthy of double honor. You should not just send money to the brothers who are workers and neglect the responsible brothers. For a responsible brother to spend all of his time in a church in his locality and suffer is not right. The local church should learn to take care of the needs of the responsible brothers.