How a Preacher Who Trusts God for School Fees Keeps His Integrity When He Must Make the Need Known

To keep your integrity when asking for help with school fees as a Christian, state the need exactly as it is, claim nothing more, record every gift and spend it on the child’s schooling, and thank both God and the givers plainly. Scripture asks for honesty before God and before men (2 Corinthians 8:21).

What does integrity look like when a preacher trusts God for school fees?

Integrity means that the need you describe, the money you receive and the account you give all agree with one another. A preacher who relies on God for daily provision may still have to tell a relative, a congregation member or a ministry partner that a child’s school fee is due. Telling them is not a failure of faith. The question is whether what he says is true and whether what he does afterward can be examined.

Four habits make up this kind of integrity:

• He states the need as it is, without addition or subtraction.
• He keeps his confidence in God as Provider, even when a person is the one who gives.
• He accounts for every gift and uses it for the purpose named.
• He gives thanks to God and to the giver, in proportion and without display.

A preacher’s name travels ahead of his message. The Proverbs say, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1). Honest handling of a school fee is one small place where that name is kept or lost.

Why does Scripture care how the need is made known?

Scripture cares because the way a need is made known shows what a person believes about God and about his neighbour. Paul, when arranging a collection for the saints, wrote that he was “providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men” (2 Corinthians 8:21, KJV). In the verse before it he explains the purpose: that no man should blame him in the administration of the gift.

Two audiences are named there, God and men. A preacher may be sincere before God and still give people reason to doubt him, if his words are loose or his records are absent. Paul would not allow that, even though he had nothing to hide.

The command against false witness (Exodus 20:16) and the instruction to “speak every man truth with his neighbour” (Ephesians 4:25) apply to a request for fees as much as to a sermon. An exaggerated need is a false statement, even if the cause is good. It also teaches the child, who is usually listening, that a good end permits a crooked word.

How can you state the need truthfully without exaggerating or shaming anyone?

State the need in plain, complete terms: whose schooling it is, what is required, what is already covered, and what remains. Then stop. Truthfulness here is mostly a matter of leaving out what was not asked for, such as a sadder picture, a stronger deadline or a claim that no one else will help.

Before speaking, write the need on a single page and check each line against what is actually true. The following comparison shows the difference in wording.

Exaggerated or shaming Plain and true “The child will be thrown out of school if nobody helps.” “The fees for this term are not yet paid, and the school has asked for them by the date on its notice.” “His parents have abandoned him.” “The child’s parents are not able to meet this cost at present.” “We have nothing at all.” “The pension covers some of the household’s needs, and this fee is beyond what remains.” “You must give, or you will be to blame.” “If you are able and willing to help, the need is as I have described it.”

Only the right-hand column should be used, and only where it is accurate for your household. Shaming the child, the parents or the listener to obtain help is a form of pressure, and pressure is not the way of a man who believes God supplies. The same care is needed in the matter of the gospel and the ask, which is treated in how to ask for help for sick relatives without making the gospel a bargain.

How do you keep faith in God as the Provider when people are the ones who give?

Keep faith by recognising that God supplies through people and that the supply is still His. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). He wrote this after thanking those very Philippians for the gift they had sent him. He saw their hands and he saw God’s hand, and he did not confuse them.

In practice this means three things:

1. Pray about the need before you speak of it to anyone, so that your first appeal is to God.
2. Speak to people as a man informing them of a need, not as a man who has concluded that they are his source.
3. When help arrives, say that God has provided and that He used a named person to do it.

Paul also wrote, “In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). Making a need known to God is the first and most important disclosure. Making it known to people is permitted, but it follows after and does not replace it.

How do you account for what is given for the child’s schooling?

Account for it by writing down each gift when it is received, spending it only on the purpose for which it was given, and being ready to show the record to anyone who gave. Paul would not handle the collection without that openness, and he sent trusted brethren with it so that no one could suspect him (2 Corinthians 8:19-21).

A plain method for a household is this:

1. Write the date, the giver’s name and the amount or item received on the day it arrives.
2. Note the purpose named by the giver, such as fees, uniform or books.
3. Pay the school or supplier directly where possible, and keep the receipt.
4. Keep gift money apart from the household’s other money until it is spent.
5. If a gift exceeds the need, tell the giver and ask how they wish the remainder to be used.

That last step is the one most often skipped. A gift given for fees belongs to the purpose of fees. Using the surplus for something else, however good, without the giver’s knowledge, makes the preacher a steward who has changed the terms. For wider help in keeping a household’s records in order, see how to organize household accounts on a variable income.

How do you thank those who help without making them your pulpit audience?

Thank them briefly, sincerely and in the manner you would want to be thanked, without turning the thanks into a sermon aimed at them. A giver who has helped with a child’s fees is owed gratitude. He is not owed a lecture on stewardship, nor a public announcement that makes him feel watched.

Paul’s own thanks to the Philippians is a pattern. He rejoiced in their care, said that he had learned to be content in every state (Philippians 4:11), and then added, “Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account” (Philippians 4:17). He told them that the gift was received in full and that God would reward them. He did not flatter them or press for more.

A short note or spoken word can include:

• the specific thing that was paid, such as the term’s fees;
• a statement that the child has been able to continue in school because of it;
• a word that you have given thanks to God for them by name.

Whether to tell the giver’s name to others is the giver’s choice. If the giver wishes to be unnamed, keep that, as the Lord taught that giving is best done in secret (Matthew 6:3-4). How to receive a partner’s gift with a settled conscience is covered separately in how a volunteer preacher can accept a ministry partner’s gift.

What if the help does not come when you expected it?

If help does not come when you expected it, tell the truth about that too, to the school if necessary, and keep waiting on God without blaming those who did not give. A person who was not able to help, or who was not asked, or who was asked and declined, has not wronged you. The need remains true, and so does God’s promise.

Several honest steps are open to a preacher at that point:

• Speak plainly to the school about what can be paid and when, and ask what arrangement they allow. Do not promise a date you cannot meet.
• Do not invent a worse account of the need in order to move people a second time.
• Do not resent the silence of those who might have given.
• Return to prayer and name the need again before God.

The psalmist said, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Psalm 62:5). Waiting does not mean doing nothing that is lawful. It means doing the honest things within reach and leaving the outcome to the Provider. Paul, who wrote “my God shall supply all your need,” also wrote that he knew “both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Philippians 4:12). Both conditions were within the care of God.

Which prayer and Scripture can you keep beside the school fee notice?

Keep a short prayer and three verses beside the fee notice, so that the need is always spoken to God in the same place where it is written. The notice states the amount owed. The prayer states who is able to supply it.

A prayer may be spoken in these words:

Lord, You know the need as it is: the child, the school and the fee. I will say no more of it than is true, and I will take nothing for it that is not given in honesty. Provide as You see fit, and let me be found faithful in what I receive. Let those who help be rewarded by You, and let my name be kept clean before You and before men. Amen.

The verses to keep beside it:

• “Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.” (2 Corinthians 8:21)
• “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)
• “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Read them when the notice arrives, again when a gift is received, and again when none comes. The words do not change, and they keep the preacher’s account true.

A first step for this week

Write down the school need exactly as it is, with no addition and no subtraction, and bring it to God in prayer before you speak of it to anyone. For a pattern of prayer, read Pray for the Uniform, the Fees and the Lunch by Name, and Wait on God to Supply Them.