Church Urges Members To Become Generous – By Gifting Them With $100 To Use Or Share With Others

To inspire "radical generosity," a church in Texas surprised its congregants by giving out $100 to every household.

Oak Hills Church (OHC) in San Antonio, where Christian author Max Lucado serves as a teaching minister, presented the monetary gifts last Sunday to 762 families during its two services. Additional 60 envelopes will be handed out this weekend as more families attended church, KSAT reported.

Travis Eades, OHC lead pastor, said that the money aims to help the church members in need or be shared to others.

"You know needs that we will never know, and you can reach people that we would never be able to reach," he added.

Eades suggested that congregants should pray first before deciding how to use the money. He then shared about a story of a church member who helped a woman in paying her license fee so she can start a new job.

Matt Moore, adult ministries pastor, told the media outlet that they are thrilled about its impact.

"We're excited to see how stories flood back in of how each person goes into the places where they live, work, learn and play and get to use that money for the benefit of others."

In the sermon, captured by The Christian Post, Eades also said that OHC will continue to invest around the world and will provide aid wherever it is needed, such as Afghanistan and Haiti. But he pointed out that, for that day, the church will be investing on its own members who really know where those needs are.

The minister went on to say that the gesture reflects the "radical generosity" of God when He gave Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the sins of mankind.

"We're really reflecting the radical generosity that has been shown to us," he said.

"God, through the giving of His one and only son, could He have given any more? He gave us the blood of Jesus - the most valuable commodity in all of the universe. So, we talk about radical generosity in those terms, that when we give, really all we're doing is stewarding what God has already placed in our hands. We want to be a people known for that, for radical generosity. We want to be a people known for putting God first in every area of our life ... including our finances," Eades further stated.

OHC was founded in 1958 with "disciple making in [its] DNA."

In an interview with the Baptist Press in 2005, Lucado disclosed that when the church changed its name from Oak Hills Church of Christ, they were criticized. But he argued that they are there to reach the city and not to please other churches or church leaders.

The author, who began serving the congregation in the late 1980s, also revealed that he declined to receive a paycheck since 1990 and insisted on living through his book sales. At the time, he has already written more than 50 books.