I was shocked. I couldn't believe such a simple act could open the doors for one of the best evangelistic opportunities we've seen in a long time.

Our church leaders have been deeply impressed lately to aggressively add Acts 4:32 to our DNA. We have been challenging our people to follow the early church's example by holding their possessions loosely:

"And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them."

Nothing could be more countercultural than releasing your rights to your possessions by giving them away. Especially during a recession, sacrificial giving can be a powerful testimony to a watching world.

Church Family First, No More Needs

The giving indicated in Acts 4:32 (and in chapters 2, 5, and 6) was focused on meeting church members' needs. While we are commanded to give to the poor outside, there is something inherently right about meeting the believers' needs. When the world sees a community loving so unselfishly that they willingly give up their bed, clothing, and food to those in their fellowship, they see a community loving with no strings attached.

This unselfishness led to an absolutely mind-boggling result in the Jerusalem church: "There was not a needy person among them" (vs. 34).

Not a needy person? Really, not even one? Church historians tell us that there could have been anywhere from twenty to fifty thousand believers in that early church, yet there was no more need.

In all of our discussion about the church's primary purposes, I think we've missed one: giving. We don't realize the awe-inspiring witness of wholesale giving--a church without need--which is recorded all over the first few chapters of Acts.

Extraordinary Giving, Extraordinary Receiving

We recently asked our people to make extraordinary commitments to give sacrificially for the upcoming year. Part of this was to develop an Acts 4:32 fund which could quickly meet the needs of those in our fellowship without jobs or with special needs.

During a service a few weeks ago, our people made commitments that, to date, should amount to a 15% increase in our budget and new strategic initiatives for the upcoming year. Amazing, really, in a time of recession.

After they laid their commitment cards on the altar, it got really fun. Our elders conducted a "reverse offering." They brought the offering baskets back out, but this time they were filled with $5,000 in small bills. We invited the people with needs to come and receive.

"God has provided for you today," we said, "and we're not taking any of this money back to the bank."

We also invited them to take money to meet the needs of those around them if God so impressed. And we invited them to add to the offering as God prompted.

It took a little prodding for the people to get over their shock, and some grace to lay aside their pride and admit their need. But soon they began to come, and they continued to come, weeping, falling on their knees at the altar, embracing others, singing.

It was incredible and life-changing. This article does not provide enough room to begin to tell the amazing God-stories of that day and the following weeks.

God's Heart Revealed, His Fame Spread

I was shocked, though, when a reporter from the state paper called the next morning. "We heard about this reverse offering," he said. "Mind if we do an article?"

The reporter was incredulous as we began to answer his questions about the day. "Did you put a limit on what they could take?" he asked.

"No," I replied.

"Weren't you afraid people would abuse this?"

"No," I answered simply. (I thought about what kind of news an "Annanias and Sapphira moment" might generate, so I decided not to include that in my interview!)

"That's a lot of money to give out."

"There was a lot of need, and that's what it's for," I gladly replied.

"Why did you do this?" he asked.

I said, "We wanted people to see God's heart."

That conversation provided a tremendous witnessing opportunity, as it has with every succeeding conversation about this topic. I also had the great privilege of sharing that this simple offering was only a revelation of God's nature. We wanted people to see HIM.

The next day the two leading radio stations in our city picked up the story. The following night the CBS affiliate station ran a special report. The following day the nation's largest Christian radio syndicate picked it up, and the story was told across the country. In fact, the Associated Press got ahold of it, and it even appeared in the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune!

I've thought a lot about this phenomenon, and I have an explanation for this story's popularity: God wanted people to see His heart. For some reason, He really wants to be known for His generosity in this moment. The church is His hands, and when we cooperate and give as He gives, it makes Him famous.

Jonathan Edwards said that our task is to "give the world a right opinion about God," and He is a giver at the core of His nature.

Lifestyle Giving, Lifetime Results

I wonder what would happen if every believer in every church in America fully released their possessions to the Lord, not for a moment on a Sunday morning, but every day.

Since this offering, our church members have looked for ways to give something away every week. "If you have a table and someone needs a table, give it to them," I've admonished them. "If you have a bed and someone in the body needs a bed, release it to them. God has plenty of beds."

He is "able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed" (2 Cor. 9:8). The Macedonian Christians gave "beyond their ability" because of the grace given to them during a time of deep poverty (2 Cor. 8:1-5), and we must do the same.

So I'm on a crusade. I challenge you, dear pastor and friend who desires to see God's name made famous again in our land: Lead your people to give as never before. Do it for God's reputation. Do whatever is necessary to help your church become an Acts 4:32 church.

Do a reverse offering to help your people see, feel, and experience God's heart. (A pastor friend of mine did a reverse offering last week in his church. "It was one of the most incredible services we've had in years," he said. "The offering lasted over 35 minutes and is bearing incredible ongoing fruit.")

It makes sense for God to take our greatest weakness and failure (our selfish materialism) and combine it with His overwhelming ability to supply, along with people's massive needs, to display His glory. It might even be a pathway to national revival--for the world to see one place where there is no recession and no worry--a community of pure, unselfish giving.

And "there was not a needy person among them."