We do take up offering during the service. There is a box in each corner of the back of the church where your offering can be deposited. However, EFTs are a cheaper, safer way of transferring money. We would encourage you to make us of this method.
ABSA
Branch code: 632005
Account number: 1128980446
What do we teach on giving?
In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were commanded to bring tithes and offerings to support the priests and the work of the Tabernacle (2 Chronicles 31:5). These contributions were not optional, they were acts of obedience and worship, recognizing that everything they had ultimately belonged to God. When all tithes and offerings were combined, they could amount to around 23% of a person’s income, and sometimes even more. The purpose was always covenantal: the people gave to sustain the means by which God’s holiness was mediated and His presence was honored among them; the temple and its work.
In the New Testament, we are never commanded to tithe. Why? The sacrificial system of the Law existed because God’s holy standard demanded atonement for sin. The people of Israel were unholy, and their sacrifices were a labor to make themselves acceptable before a holy God, so that they could worship Him through the mediation of the priesthood. Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law perfectly (Matthew 5:17), offering Himself once for all as the perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10-14). Because of His work, we are no longer bound to a system of legal obligation. We are freed from giving as a labor to earn God’s favor; He has already given us acceptance through Christ. Tithing, therefore, is no longer a legal requirement, it is superseded by the grace of God.
The prophet Malachi later rebukes Israel for failing to give faithfully to the work of the temple. Malachi prophesied after the exile, when the temple had been rebuilt but the spiritual life of the people had grown cold. The priests were offering blemished sacrifices, the people were neglecting their covenant responsibilities, and worship had become careless and half-hearted. In that context God confronts them, saying, “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!” (Malachi 3:8). This passage is not about a legalistic command to tithe, but the people’s failure to live lives of wholehearted obedience and faithful worship. The result of this was that the Levites had to leave temple work for other work and the temple was left neglected.
Absolutely! Scripture calls us to give, but now our giving is transformed by grace. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:5-7:
“So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. 6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Notice the shift: giving is no longer motivated by obligation, but by worship. It is no longer a labor to be acceptable before God, but a joyful response to His grace. We give willingly, not reluctantly, and not because others pressure us. It is an act that flows from hearts transformed by the gospel.
Giving, therefore, is both an act of trust and of thankfulness. Trust, because we recognize that God is our ultimate provider; thankfulness, because He has already given His greatest gift, His Son, and all that we have is His provision. When we give, we participate in worship: our hands express the gratitude of hearts that have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. In this way, giving becomes a reflection of our union with Christ, a tangible acknowledgment that all we are and all we have belongs to the One who first gave Himself for us.