A Story of Sacfrice: One Family's Journey 

Tom’s family had committed $7,500 to their church’s capital stewardship program, but of late, Tom had come to believe that God wanted them to double that amount. He knew this would not sit well with the family—they already had made significant adjustments to give the $7,500, so he gathered the family to explain his desire and lay out a plan.

Each family member would pray during the week, he told them, asking God to reveal where current expenditures could be freed to increase giving. On Sundays, they would discuss each person’s ideas. As a family, they would assign a dollar amount to each suggestion and decide whether or not to pursue it. If God showed them nothing, the family would be free from the commitment of $15,000.

Four weeks later, Tom’s family had 20 wide-ranging strategies to increase their giving. As a family of five, who dined out four times a week, they were spending more than $100 a week. Dining out was cut to twice weekly, and $50 a week went to the church’s project. In the same spirit, they reevaluated their auto and home insurance premiums, cablevision and magazine subscriptions, food purchases, and auto usage.

Todd, the middle-school son, began to take his lunch to school, rather than buy it, netting $2 per week, and volunteered to cut his $10 per week allowance to $5.  Tanya, in high school, cut back on weekly outings with friends and dedicated another $30 per month to the effort. Individually, each family member made suggestions and offered personal sacrifices. Eventually their ideas totaled just over $100 per week—$15,600 over the course of three years. Tom discovered they could still give the original $7,500 and take total giving to $23,000.

“I never dreamed we could do it, but we are pleased God can use us to work through our church this way,” Tom said. “We are a stronger and better family for it.”

Not surprisingly, the family’s plan was easier to suggest than maintain. Sharon, the wife and mother, said the first three months were the most difficult they ever had as a family. After that, however, what had been difficult became easy. “We discovered that what we thought were necessities were not necessities at all,” she said. “It took us three months to discover that.”

Struggle is in the nature of a sacrifice, but this family’s story illustrates what one family, firmly committed to their faith in God, can achieve through sacrifice in giving to the cause of Christ.