Jersey Church Hands Out $30,000 in ‘Reverse Offering’

Instead of passing the plate for parishioners to fill with greenbacks, one church is handing out over $30,000 to members in what it’s calling a “reverse offering.”

Liquid Church in New Jersey is giving away plenty of Benjamins to churchgoers this Sunday morning. Each person will receive an envelope with the words “God Trusts You!” And that envelope will be filled with $10, $20 and $50 bills. Tim Lucas, lead pastor of the 2,000-member church, is currently preaching a four-part sermon series teaching biblical principles of finance regarding debt and living on budget.

“Washington is broke, people are broke, and folks have lost faith that government can provide a lasting solution to economic issues,” says Lucas. “Every dollar in our economy is printed with the words ‘In God We Trust’ … but we want to challenge people with the idea that ‘God Trusts Them.’”

Liquid Church is also investing $60,000 of church offerings into three local recovery projects. Specifically, the monies will be used to bring relief to a Manville, N.J., neighborhood devastated by Hurricane Irene, restoring the Market Street Mission for the homeless in Morristown and boarding the New York City Relief Bus to feed the hungry in Paterson.

In all, a total of $90,000 in church collections are being sown into the lives of community members. The church has set up a web page with more ideas of how churchgoers might use the so-called divinely appointed dollars they receive.

“We believe our current economic crisis is a spiritual issue, which is why we are moving forward with God’s recovery plan,” Lucas says. “”Government isn’t the source of recovery—God is. Since God trusts His people, we do too.”