Fast Offerings

Fast Offerings

Fast Offerings
Mormon History Related

"The concept of fast offerings appears as early as the time of Isaiah when, speaking of the true fast, he encouraged people to fast and 'to deal thy bread to the hungry, and . . . Bring the poor that are cast out to thy house' (Isaiah 58:7). The Prophet Joseph instituted the practice of collecting fast offerings for the poor in Kirtland, Ohio; and later at Nauvoo, Illinois, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles sent a general letter to the Church defining 'the principle of fasts,' stating: 'Let this be an ensample to all saints, and there will never be any lack for bread: When the poor are starving, let those who have, fast one day and give what they otherwise would have eaten to the bishops for the poor, and every one will abound for a long time; and this is one great and important principle of fasts approved of the Lord. And so long as the saints will all live to this principle with glad hearts and cheerful countenances they will always have an abundance' (History of the Church, 7:413)."
-- Thomas S. Monson, "Be Thou an Example," Ensign, Nov. 1996, 45-46