Why would a 95-year-old person plant an acorn? To make a difference in the lives that follow.
It is a simple principle. Parents try to make the lives of their children a little better than their own. Each generation tries to make the world a little better than it found it.
We plant acorns, not so much for ourselves but for others.
Alabamians have an enviable record of “planting acorns.” In 2005, according to the Catalogue for Philanthropy, Alabama ranked in the top 10 states in the nation in percentage of income given to charitable causes, including churches.
That good news is tempered by a study of variations in charitable giving by regions that found that participation in charitable giving as a percentage of the population for Alabama was below the national average.
There are two reasons that explain these seemingly contradictory findings. One is that Alabama ranks 15th in the nation for the percentage of its wealthiest families ($200,000 or more annual income) who do charitable giving.
An October 2006 article in Forbes magazine — “America’s Most Generous States” — said 24 percent of the 24,020 families reporting that level of income made significant donations to charities during a five-year period covered by the study.
Largest transfer of wealth in history
The second reason is the biblical practice of tithing. Alabama Baptists and other Christians teach that one should give a minimum of 10 percent of one’s income to the church. While not all Christians practice tithing, enough do in this strongly religious state to impact the average percentage of income given to charities including churches.
That explanation is substantiated when one realizes that in Alabama and the Southeast, more money is given to religious causes than to secular causes. That is not true in the Northeast.
Speaking to the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions recently, Barry Bledsoe, president of The Baptist Foundation of Alabama (TBFA), observed that 96 percent of gifts given to evangelical churches come from the cash assets of individuals.
However, cash assets make up only 9 percent of the average person’s total worth.
Noncash assets, Bledsoe said, make up 91 percent of a person’s total worth. Noncash assets include such things as home equity, life insurance, an IRA or a retirement program. Some individuals may also have an investment portfolio, a business or other property.
Bledsoe asked members of the state board to imagine what could happen in the Lord’s work if Christians could “get their minds around being stewards of the 91 percent of their assets as well as the 9 percent.”
Imagine. The boomer generation in the United States enjoyed the biggest increase in material wealth in history. Now that generation is approaching retirement. A Boston College study estimated that $41 trillion will be transferred from one generation to another during the first half of this century. That is the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history, and we are part of it.
Being Christian stewards of noncash assets is only a continuation of the lifelong faithfulness one has demonstrated in bringing tithes and offerings to the Lord’s house. It is a way of “planting acorns” to make a difference in the Lord’s work for generations to come.
Revolutionizing Christian ministry
The needs are self-evident. Christian causes from local churches to missions to educational institutions to state convention entities like the state Baptist paper limp along doing the best they can with the resources God provides. There are no extravagant salaries or scandals like those of a couple major secular charities that made headlines a few years ago.
The works these groups do are important — all of them. Alabama Baptists started these ministries and continue to support them through their cash assets. They are of God. Accountability to God’s people is built in at every point.
If Alabama Baptists and other evangelical Christians “could get their minds around being stewards of their noncash assets,” it could revolutionize Christian ministry.
Churches could be strengthened. New churches could be started. Resources for ministry could be provided. Training opportunities for ministers and other Christian workers could be expanded. More missionaries could be sent out.
Even The Alabama Baptist, like all other ministries, has a list of urgent needs that go unmet because of insufficient financial resources.
Giving to Christian causes through wills, trusts and other such means does not have to be a choice between providing for one’s family and continuing a lifelong commitment to God’s work. TBFA and other state Baptist entities can help one find ways to do both.
Giving a blessing for generations
The real question is whether one wants to “plant acorns” that will bless the lives of those who come after him or her.
Let me urge you to prayerfully consider giving to the Lord’s work through your noncash assets as well as through your regular tithes and offerings.
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