May 24  How To Raise The Money

On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper. 1Cor. 16:2, RSV.

Raising funds needed for the work of the Sabbatarians was a central issue in the mid-1850s. Samuel H. Rhodes of Brookfield, New York, unwittingly became the catalyst to ignite dialog on a giving plan when in December 1856 he sent $2 to the Review, telling James White that he believed 1Corinthians 16:2 defined his duty as setting aside money for the Lord's cause each Sunday.

White was excited with the possibilities of the plan. "We recommend to all Christians," he exuded, "a careful consideration of this text. It is evidently an individual work which 'everyone' should attend to in the fear of God." If every Adventist did as Rhodes, "the Lord's treasury would be full of means to advance the precious cause of truth."

Three weeks later another individual mailed money to the Review office, citing the same text. White noted that "no better plan can be devised than the one introduced by the apostle." "Take hold of it," he challenged his readers. But as my friend Brian Strayer points out, they "did not take hold." As a result, in April 1858, White wrote that "repeated discouragements are saddening and discouraging our preachers." Some "moved out expecting to be sustained by their brethren. . .but their brethren have often failed to do their duty." Thus several ministers "are sunken down under poverty, broken-down health and discouragement."

At that point the somewhat desperate James White came up with a second plan to alleviate the problem, urging believers to send an amount equal to their yearly state taxes. "But," notes Strayer, "if Adventist had proved reluctant to adopt the 1Corinthians 16 plan, they seemed even more hesitant to respond to a church tax plan." Three weeks later White noted that Satan "exults" because of the lack of a successful program to finance the church.

In the throes of a problem that wouldn't stop, the Battle Creek, Michigan, congregation formed a study group in the spring of 1858 to search the Bible for a plan to support the ministry. Under the leadership of J. N. Andrews, the group developed a concept that would be accepted in early 1859.

Sometimes we forget how forebears wrestled with issues that never trouble us. The plain fact is that we stand on their shoulders, daily benefiting from their trials and solutions. And we can learn from their sturggles.