LNPC Giving Practice
Each year, LNPC gives to a few core areas where we see God at work in the world, and where we feel called to remember our belonging to God and to each other.
We direct six $1,000 gifts to organizations that focus on:
In 2023 these partners included EveryMeal, TRUST, Exodus Lending, Simpson Food shelf, ClimateGen, and East Phillips Neighborhood Institute.
We direct six $1,000 gifts to organizations that focus on:
- food/housing insecurity
- financial justice
- community-based programming in South Minneapolis
- racial justice
- climate action
- Emergency response or particular need
In 2023 these partners included EveryMeal, TRUST, Exodus Lending, Simpson Food shelf, ClimateGen, and East Phillips Neighborhood Institute.
History of our Giving Practice
LNPC’s giving practice started in 2014, in a time when we were feeling financially insecure, which created anxiety about money and made us act as though money was what gave us security. By choosing to give more of it away, we were reestablishing our trust that this is God’s church and we are here to participate in God’s ministry. We chose to begin giving away 10% of contributions to expressions of God's work in the world outside our congregation. It felt scary and big and did what we hoped it would: it put us back into joy instead of fear, and it gave us a couple years of cool connections with outside groups (like Marnita’s Table). A month after we decided to do it is when the first Spanish-speaking congregation approached us about worshiping in our space (“God told me to stop here and ask you if we could worship here”), paying us roughly the same amount we were giving away. It made us remember we belong to God and each other and practice trusting that. This practice went on for many years.
Over time, however, the tithing practice stopped doing what it was meant to, and became a duty. Session had trouble keeping up, thinking of places to give each month, and communicating all this with the congregation. In recent years, session has directed six months of tithes to various local nonprofit organizations and six months of tithes toward building maintenance, in recognition of the role our space plays in supporting and connecting with our neighbors. In this time, many groups were using our space, and the money went to cover a new roof, and then toward the building project in the basement that allowed the Mandala to take up residence in our building. But as the building use paused during the pandemic, and then neighborhood use of the space changed, the practice of “tithing” to the building also started to feel out of sync with how we want to stay connected to God’s broader work in the world.
Our current giving approach:
After several months of discussion, in 2023 session voted to formally end the previous tithing practice, shifting our giving instead to a few core areas where we see God at work in the world and where we feel called to remember and rehearse our belonging to God and to each other.
LNPC’s giving practice started in 2014, in a time when we were feeling financially insecure, which created anxiety about money and made us act as though money was what gave us security. By choosing to give more of it away, we were reestablishing our trust that this is God’s church and we are here to participate in God’s ministry. We chose to begin giving away 10% of contributions to expressions of God's work in the world outside our congregation. It felt scary and big and did what we hoped it would: it put us back into joy instead of fear, and it gave us a couple years of cool connections with outside groups (like Marnita’s Table). A month after we decided to do it is when the first Spanish-speaking congregation approached us about worshiping in our space (“God told me to stop here and ask you if we could worship here”), paying us roughly the same amount we were giving away. It made us remember we belong to God and each other and practice trusting that. This practice went on for many years.
Over time, however, the tithing practice stopped doing what it was meant to, and became a duty. Session had trouble keeping up, thinking of places to give each month, and communicating all this with the congregation. In recent years, session has directed six months of tithes to various local nonprofit organizations and six months of tithes toward building maintenance, in recognition of the role our space plays in supporting and connecting with our neighbors. In this time, many groups were using our space, and the money went to cover a new roof, and then toward the building project in the basement that allowed the Mandala to take up residence in our building. But as the building use paused during the pandemic, and then neighborhood use of the space changed, the practice of “tithing” to the building also started to feel out of sync with how we want to stay connected to God’s broader work in the world.
Our current giving approach:
After several months of discussion, in 2023 session voted to formally end the previous tithing practice, shifting our giving instead to a few core areas where we see God at work in the world and where we feel called to remember and rehearse our belonging to God and to each other.
