Most national/global Christian networks along with many Christian radio stations, set aside a number of days, commonly biannually, to raise funding for their stations and commonly call this time "Praise-a-thon". They can range from casual pleading to almost defrauding people into giving. Often I hear ministers say that God has told them that if you give such a price that you will get a special blessing of some kind. While God could operate like this, personally, I have my doubts. I do not doubt that God blesses a cheerful giver! I wonder at times with some of the pleas I have heard, if they really had any origin from God. For me, I have to remember to leave this to God to sort out and pray for those that I doubt.
I have had a problem with offerings and the old "passing the plate" since shortly after becoming a Christian. My introduction to God and the doctrines of God came mostly from reading (or should I say consuming) the Bible and there, is where I saw what happened when God told them to ask for an offering. In Exodus, the people of Israel were to bring in an offer to build the tabernacle to begin services. The interesting part is that the people gave more than was needed and they had to tell them to "stop" giving (Exo 36:1-7). When was the last time you heard that in requests for an offering?
No, I am not against giving, as I do believe in tithing "and" offerings. I believe we are to support the different ministries regularly and faithfully. The only problem I have is with some of the means to obtain the offering.
When I was an assistant pastor many years ago, I kept talking about my ideas that a church offering should simply be a box in the back of the church building were people can place their offering without stopping a services to take an offering and passing the plate (some churches have made quite a spectacle of this ritual). I had also mentioned to the pastor how it would be cool to have a big cross lit up on the wall behind the platform. Our current church at that time had an opening for a baptismal and did not look the best.
We were looking for a different building and the pastor anxiously called me asking me to come check out the building he had found. When I got there, I was surprised to see to two small boxes on the opposite walls in the back of the church for offerings and a huge cross on the wall behind the platform that had lights behind it so that it appeared to almost float off the wall.
My pastor took this as a sign and agreed not to take a "pass the plate" offering. The church actually took in more offerings using the boxes than we received in the old building passing the plate. Another nice aspect is that worship proceeded to the message without interruption.
If a ministry is in God's will and He desires it to continue, He will bring in the funding as is needed, if we will only trust in Him. It is hard at times not to move into the flesh, when pressures come and we know if we ask for an offering or maybe put out a teaching or something, we can raise all the funding needed.
This is a hard lesson to learn and one that I pray in my own life I can overcome, but if the Body is to move on to the good things God has for us, we need to trust and depend on God and not our own will. God will supply the needs if we let Him and do not trust in our flesh. It is time to walk in Faith and not just preach it!