by Dale Cresap Does your church take an offering or receive an offering? In semantics the difference between these is whether the initiative is on the part of the one giving or the one getting. It may be customary to refer to taking an offering, but it is, or should be, the case that any offerings are freely given. Perhaps you have had the experience of an appeal for an offering made with pressure or guilt or manipulation. In this case the terminology of taking an offering is indeed correct, but this is not my approach. My word says that I love a cheerful giver, and this can only happen when those giving do not feel exploited. (I’m leaving town for a week for a family visit and will resume messages when I get back.) | 
