In honour of tomorrow’s AFP Fundraising Day in Toronto…

The Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration (SOFII) website describes Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16: 1-4) as possibly being “the first ever appeal for regular, committed donors. In the early days of the Christian church the missionary Paul asked his supporters in the city of Corinth to set aside a small portion of their income regularly, to sustain victims of a famine and then later to support good works generally.” Having written this, Ian Clark of the Church of England then goes onto say, “In his second letter (2 Corinthians 8-9) Paul provides a much lengthier theological rationale about Christian generosity and the grace of God. This time he compares the Corinthian’s initial efforts to those of the churches in Macedonia (northern Greece), even though the latter were also suffering ‘extreme poverty’.” Source: http://www.sofii.org/node/499, in an article entitled, “Paul the apostle motivates his church’s donors – c. 56 AD”