The special offering for Easter goes to support the general ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
I’m a fan of general ministries. They aren’t the most glamorous, but they get the job done.
For example: When you give to Week of Compassion for disaster relief, the gift goes for disaster relief. How can they do that? Easy: the office that handles these funds (promotion, accounting, giving it out) is a general ministry. And THIS Easter offering helps fund that.
Or how about this? A church is getting ready to celebrate its sesquicentennial. (Its 150th anniversary.) They are looking for materials from the congregation’s early days, and no one is left from that time, obviously. BUT the Disciples of Christ Historical Society does have records from those pastors plus some photos that someone gave or the collection. And this is also a general ministry. So this offering helps provide support.
Or try this. A local church is in need of a pastor. They contact the regional office, of course, to see who is available. But where does the region get its information? From the office that handles education and leadership. And that is a general ministry. There’s a lot of record keeping and communication involved. The Easter offering supports that.
Oh, and many Sundays we have video elements that we use in our worship service, both in the house and online. Much of that material comes from communications people in the Disciples of Christ. Once again, that’s a general ministry. And once again, it is supported in part by the Easter offering.
Now it is true that none of these are earth-shaking, ground breaking, drama making examples. But they make possible missions that arrive swiftly and effectively. They undergird our long memory. They support the daily and weekly existence of the body of Christ in cities and suburbs and towns all around. And they introduce us to and keep us connected with the thousands of people who ARE involved in earth-shaking ministries across the country and around the globe.
The Holy Spirit moves in many different ways. The Disciples Mission Fund and our Easter offering help us do the basic housekeeping to make the Spirit’s work welcome. It’s housekeeping with a purpose!
