A true story...                                  Create your very own modern day talent parable here.

by Peter Mihaere

John and Joanne have faithfully given their tithes to their local Baptist church each year since they were married nearly 25 years ago.  They have also regularly given to global mission and special projects as they were able.  When they first got married they had very little but were determined to give God what was due Him first and everything else came second.

Over the years God blessed the couple and they were able to increase their giving and contribution to the work of the kingdom in a steady but faithful way.  From time to time they were able to contribute to their church building fund, and support mission endeavours overseas.  For many years they have sponsored a World Vision child and a young boy through the tranzsend Student Sponsorship programme.  A young woman in their church did a short term mission trip and so they became part of her support team.  Recently they began supporting a ministry that teaches biblical preaching to the majority world.  They have felt blessed to be able give of their resources in growing the Kingdom of God.

Each year they dutifully applied for the donation rebate and randomly decided what to do with it.  Sometimes they used it for personal stuff and sometimes they added into a church or mission project that they felt compelled to support.  Because the amount they received back was relatively small they didn't really think much about it.

Last year, however, there was a bit more of a discussion about what to do.  You see, they were going to receive approximately $5,000 in their refund from their donations rebate. 

What could they do with that amount of money?  Initially the conversation included things like saving up for an overseas holiday, or paying a lump sum off the mortgage.

Yet the conversation drifted to the question of ‘whose money is this, really?' They both agreed that actually the money, every cent of it, belonged to God.  They reasoned that when they had given that money to the church it no longer belonged to them.  Therefore, the money they received by way of a refund from the government didn't suddenly become theirs, it was still God's.  Yet, as amazing as it sounds, God had given John and Joanne a second opportunity to give it away.

What they decided was that, as their tithe had been given to the local church for local mission, they would give this second amount to world mission.  With the same dollars they had now given to both locally and globally. John had heard about a tranzsend project called Chandpur TCDC, a development project in Bangladesh that helped restore life to villages.  This project is an approved NZAID project which means that the New Zealand Government contributes $4 for every $1 given.

This meant that the $5,000 the NZ Government had given back to John and Joanne grew to a staggering $25,000 simply by giving their $5,000 refund to BANZAid, the Aid and Development arm of tranzsend.

It was settled, that's what they did with their donation rebate.  They gave $15,000 in tithes to their local church and, without spending a cent, enabled a further $25,000 to be used to help hundreds of people in Bangladesh.

John and Joanne turned $15,000 into $40,000 by faithfully giving to their local church and strategically giving to a tranzsend project.

You can do the same.  Click here to create your own modern day talent parable.