What the village chicken taught me about biblical generosity
It had been a long day. A long, glorious, hot, worshipful, day. Exhausting in all the best ways.
We were a small group of American donors and staff team members of Bible League International, visiting our ministry partners in Zambia. Our donors were seeing first-hand the life-change God was working with their gifts: Bible studies, literacy classes, new church plants – all sharing the power of God’s Word. It was heaven on earth!
The last visit of the day was to a small church plant, miles off the paved road, on the outskirts of a village that was really a collection of grass huts and maize plots. The church itself did not have walls. Just a grass roof on a structure of logs with some tarps tied up as a wind-break. The floors were dirt. The seats were a mix of old plastic chairs.
So we were caught off guard as the worship time finished and our hosts started bringing out gifts. They brought bags of nuts from the trees, a whole stem of ripe bananas, these were some of their best produce. And then they presented me with a live chicken!
You might imagine some of the thoughts racing through my mind:
- They need this more than I do.
- But this is their expression of thanks.
- To say no to this gift would be insulting.
- What are we going to do with this chicken?
I thought about Paul and the Macedonians and their generous hearts. In the opening verse of 2 Corinthians 8, he tells us about them, about what biblical generosity looks like:
“These believers have been tested by great troubles, and they are very poor. But their great joy caused them to be very generous in their giving. I can tell you that they gave as much as they were able and even more than they could afford. No one told them to do this. It was their idea. But they asked us again and again—they begged us to let them share in this service for God’s people.”
Did you catch that?
“They asked us again and again—they begged us to let them share…”
Clearly Paul had refused them again and again, before he finally relented to accept their generosity.
I used to laugh at Paul – saying “no” to people wanting to give. What fundraiser would ever do that? But experiencing the generosity of these Zambian villagers as they gave abundantly out of their poverty, Paul’s words began to make more sense.
Accepting the village chicken and the various other gifts felt to me like depriving our hosts of much-needed food. But this wasn’t about me, or my need for the food, or how we could use it. It was about God’s people wanting to live out the spirit of generosity that is such a natural expression of our joy in Christ.
Generosity is present in every culture. It is not limited to those who appear wealthy. Indeed, it seems those with fewer material possessions are often more joyful and more generous than those whose bank accounts hold the most.
My colleagues elsewhere in Africa say these “love offerings” are not uncommon. They have seen many times where people overjoyed at receiving the gift of God’s Word respond by also giving from whatever they have. It may be a bag of nuts, or some produce, or something they’ve made. It may even be a chicken.
Our Kenya team uses these gifts to further their local ministry. A bag of maize may provide a meal at the next church planter training session. Other gifts might be sold in the market to help with fuel costs. And the team tells the givers how their gifts are fueling ministry and bringing more joy to others.
That evening was indeed a time of joyful celebration with sisters and brothers in Christ. Our Zambian colleagues knew how to put the gifts of the villagers to best use, and the villagers were delighted to have shown such hospitality to their guests.
The village chicken showed me what true generosity looks like.