Faith Promise giving was years ago looked at and presented as man asking God to give to him, and then he would give back to God. This puts God as the giver and the recipient. If God gives it, then I will give it as my faith promise. Though there are examples of such requests in the Bible, such as Hannah’s request of a man child in which she gave back to God what God gave her, this puts God as the one responsible for my giving and not me giving by faith.
Faith Promise is the part of our giving that is solely used for World Evangelism. Every child of God is commanded and required by God to tithe and give in offerings. The tithe is to go to the “storehouse” (the church). This is to supply the house of God and the servants to work. The Faith Promise is my offering given to the church for the purpose of fulfilling my individual responsibility of the Great Commission. I physically cannot go into all the world and preach the Gospel. I must be involved in reaching all peoples, nations, and tongues. I do that through praying, going, and giving. My faith-promise (my giving commitment) is part of my responsibility. We commit for a year period of time for the sake of knowing corporately as a church what we can do in helping individual missionaries seeking support. Our Faith Promise commitment is added to other church members’ commitments to give us our total Faith Promise commitment dollar amount. This now allows us to pledge our support to missionaries who have been called to go. In the Word of God, our giving is out of what we have. A person should ask the Lord what his commitment should be. My faith is increased when I see God replenish my giving by finances, provision, or protection.
Faith Promise is not to come out of one’s tithe. The tithe is for the local church needs. The Faith Promise is in direct response to reach those without the Gospel.
First Baptist Church’s Faith-Promise offering (commitment) total is somewhere in the area of $225, 000 to $260,000 a year. We also have other areas of giving to missions outside of the Faith Promise. The Faith Promise is to insure that our missionaries are supported each month as we have promised them. Other missions’ monies go to Bearing Precious Seed and other missions projects both home and abroad. Our total giving in the past years is between $425,000 and $500,000 each year. It is the desire of First Baptist Church to train mission minded servants for all levels of ministry. We are to be actively, at home and abroad, giving to accomplish the mission - the Great Commission in reaching the world with Christ.
