Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail FROM THE BISHOP From Gateway Today The e-magazine of Gateway Church WINTER 2003 / 2004 A Christian culture of money It's not just about dollars and cents Bishop Davis Other columns by Bishop Davis The start of a new year is a good time to re-examine our thinking about Christian stewardship Stewardship of our financial resources is never a "money" issue. It is a spiritual issue. It is fundamentally a confidence -- or anxiety -- about God's activity in our world today. A mature Christian understands that everything we have belongs to God, and sees a direct connection between his/her lifestyle and God's mission in our world. On the other hand, an immature Christian believes his or her needs and desires are distinct from what God is doing in our world. A mature Christian understands that God expects us to be cheerful, generous givers. An immature Christian thinks of giving as a painful thing, done out of a sense of guilt, duty or obligation. Not just an individual thing Churches, too, must trust God for finances. Churches without a godly vision for the future are ones that: never dare to attempt something big; fall back on a few faithful members or an endowment; expect committees not to spend their budgets as a way of balancing their account at the end of the year; are places where the pastor, staff and lay leaders do not tithe as an example; view mission giving as a zero-sum game (if we give to missions, it means less for our needs); do not teach the biblical principles of giving. Fostering a spiritually mature culture of giving in our churches will breathe new life into our witness within this area and the impact will be felt around the world. I pray that we will walk with Jesus into ministry in this coming year. The best is yet to come! Bishop G. Lindsey Davis North Georgia Conference The United Methodist Church • • • The financial area of life is a struggle for many of us. That's why Gateway teaches the Crown Financial Ministries small-group study, a ten-week course on biblical concepts and practical methods of money management. The next Crown group will be starting in January. To participate, see Joseph Slife or Susan Phillips. To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us