More than 2 cents worth!

I subscribe to a daily devotional from Turning Point ministries that I have found encouraging and truthful. As a missionary dependent upon God's provision through his people I was especially challenged by today's edition (oct 26,07)

More than 2 cents worth.

For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.
Philippians 4:16

The apostle Paul praised God for the church in Philippi, which supported his missionary account and contributed their funds to his efforts of reaching the world for Christ.

How would he feel about today's standard of living and giving? According to recent statistics, in 2005 the average North American family enjoyed an annual income of more than $43,000. The U.S. has more radios, televisions, and personal computers per capita than any other large nation.

Yet North Americans donate only 1.12 percent of their income to charity. Giving to churches, overseas missions, seminaries, and local outreach ministries has dropped to a 36-year low. Approximately half of all churchgoers give nothing to the church.
And only two cents of every church dollar is spent on international missions (down from seven cents in the 1920s).
As our standard of living grows, our standard of giving should grow! It takes more than two cents to reach the world.

If church members were to tithe 10% of their income, churches would reap an additional $156 billion . . . . If 60% of that extra income were designated for overseas missions, that would come to $94 billion—enough to feed, medicate, and evangelize the underdeveloped world.
Gene Edward Veith in World Magazine.

For more on this read : Philippians 4 :10-20