When a Church Looks Beyond Itself in Generosity

For Rev. Bill McCutchen, Geneva’s Relief Fund is personal.

As Lead Pastor at Christ Redeemer PCA in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, Bill makes the Relief Fund an integral part of his church’s Christmas Eve service every year. But his commitment to the fund began long before he entered ministry. His father was a pastor, and Bill grew up watching his parents navigate the financial realities of a life devoted to the church.

When Bill’s father died in 1992, he left behind a widow, two children, and very little financial security. Bill’s mother had given up her career to support their family and serve alongside her husband in the church.

Rev. Bill with his mom

“Here’s a woman who was the secretary of a small church,” said Bill. “She was the children’s coordinator. She ran the mimeograph machine. She served and cared for people. But she had few marketable skills. She felt very forgotten…and kind of lost.”

Yet every year, Bill’s mom received a small gift from their denomination. It wasn’t much. But it communicated a powerful message.

“It was a kindness for her to be reminded that, ‘Hey, you and your husband served faithfully for all of those decades. And you’re not forgotten in the kingdom,’” said Bill.

“It made me realize that I want the saints to remember if I die today, I hope somebody takes care of [my wife] Lisa. We have a responsibility to not let these men and women be forgotten who serve faithfully.”

Creating an Opportunity for the Church to Give “Beyond Its Walls”

The realities of ministry can create unique financial challenges for pastors and their families—something Bill spoke candidly about. “Pastoral ministry is incredibly rewarding, but it’s not always financially rewarding,” he said. Ministry families may face unexpected illness, death, financial hardship, or the challenges of retirement with fewer resources than they might have had if they had pursued other careers.

For Bill, that reality presents an opportunity for the church. The Relief Fund provides a tangible way for the broader church to come alongside those who have devoted their lives to vocational ministry. A Relief Fund grant can help with practical needs, but it can also tell a pastor, widow, or ministry family: “You are not forgotten. Your service mattered. You are deeply loved.”

That’s part of why Bill makes it a priority to give his church an opportunity to support the Relief Fund. For more than 15 years, Christ Redeemer has taken a special offering for the Relief Fund on Christmas Eve. Bill tells his congregation why the offering matters and reminds them that their gifts go toward helping those in need.

He’s seen firsthand how the offering can connect people to a larger vision of the church. One Christmas Eve, a visitor approached him after the service and handed him $500, asking Bill to give it to his mother and let her know she wasn’t forgotten.

That experience reflects something Bill believes churches need to recover: a sense that their generosity extends beyond their own congregation.

“We want to make sure our folks understand that the church is a conduit through which their faithful stewardship of God’s gifts gets to where it needs to get,” he said. “We do not give to a church; we give as a church.”

The Relief Fund gives congregations a practical way to live out that conviction. A church may never meet the person who receives its gift. It may never hear their story or know exactly how the money was used. But that, Bill says, is part of what makes the gift so meaningful.

“It’s an opportunity to remind them that this is larger than Christ Redeemer and there are men and women who have served faithfully who you’ll never know or see, but their ministry impacted East Africa, East St. Louis, rural West Virginia, and the places where we live.”

He encourages other pastors to make that kind of giving part of their church’s rhythm, not simply because the Relief Fund meets real financial needs for ministry families, but because it teaches the church to look beyond itself.

“Always do something outside of the benefit of your own church,” he said. “And what we’ve seen in our church is people saying, ‘Thanks for giving us the opportunity to do this. I would never have thought that.’”

For Bill, this is what Geneva’s Relief Fund is all about: blessing ministry families who have faithfully served the church while giving congregations the joy of giving beyond their own walls.

Learn more and join us in caring for ministry families in need at genevabenefits.org/lookafter.