I personally believe that in every region there should be at least two persons to handle the money. The principle in the Bible is always to have two. The first time it was Barnabas and Paul. Subsequently, there were always two persons. We need two brothers to handle the money and manage the accounts. Perhaps one brother will handle decision making in particular, and one brother will mainly take care of the bookkeeping.
Question: Some churches publicly display the ledger, while other places do not. What should the principle be?
Answer: I think that the income of a local church should be displayed. Matters related to the work should be known to the co-working brothers and sisters of the region.
Question: Because many people do not know how to give an offering, should the offering boxes be separately designated for the locality and for the work?
Answer: It does not matter if the brothers and sisters do not designate them; we have to do the designating. The expenses of a local church, such as electricity, water, and rent, should always come first. The needy brothers come second. The workers should always be placed third and not first. If we are first, then something is wrong. Therefore, we need to care for the needy brothers first. This is a basic principle. The church in Jerusalem gave first to the brothers in need, not to the co-workers. Therefore, workers should not be mistaken to think that the apostles are first. On the contrary, the poor, the needy brothers, the widows, and the orphans are first. We need to help these people first, then come to the apostles. We should never first care for the apostles, then care for the poor. That would be completely backwards. The case in Jerusalem is quite clear: The offerings were distributed among all according as anyone had need. After this come the responsible brothers. We do not want to be the first.
This is also done according to the spiritual principle. First, we send money out, then money will be sent to us from outside. We should retain a small amount, whether one-third, one-fifth, or one-tenth, the less the better. The rest should always be sent out. In this way there will be no problems.
When we do have the money, divide it according to the need. Do it according to the proportions we have written down. If we personally have a particular need, then we should go before God separately and look to Him for the need. Co-workers can receive only according to their proportion. I think this closely follows the biblical principle. The matter of money is a very difficult matter, but I think that handling it this way is very much according to the Bible. Based on what I can see in Acts and the Epistles in the New Testament, there is only this principle. The method used to divide money was very good. There was no difficulty at all; it was divided in a very good way. “These hands have ministered to my needs and to those who are with me.” This is a matter of need, not gift. A church might say that since a certain brother is able to preach, they would give him more. I cannot give more to Timothy because he preaches better than Titus. The word need is very good; with it we cannot easily go wrong.
Question: If someone entrusts me with the distribution of an amount of money, how should I determine the proportions?
Answer: Before a list of proportions is produced, according to my personal view, I myself would not use anything that has been entrusted to me for distribution. As soon as I use any, there will be a problem. As soon as you use it, spontaneously you will appear to be unfaithful. No matter how clear your conscience is, you still will not be at peace. A difficulty with the conscience is different from other difficulties; you cannot reason with it. It is like a child that cries when he wants to cry and throws a tantrum when he wants to throw a tantrum. If there is a sum of money for me to distribute, even if I use one dollar, my conscience will have no peace. If it was designated for me, then I can use it as I please. If it is one thousand dollars, it would not matter if I used nine hundred ninety-nine for myself. But if I was asked to administrate and distribute it, I would still give out the whole amount. I believe that once we establish the proportions, we cannot go wrong. In the past we did not have established proportions; we needed to give away the whole amount. In your region every co-worker has a portion due him, and you also have a portion due you. In such a case we should distribute according to the proportions, and no difficulties with the conscience will arise. In the past we indeed gave out the entire amount.
Sometimes a brother or sister sent in money, and when there was no way to distribute it, I wrote a letter telling them that I did not know how to distribute it and asked them what I should do with it. One sister replied with a good answer. She said, “If you want to throw it into the Whampoa River, that is your business. You can do as you see fit.” Because she washed her hands of the affair, it became an entirely different matter.