30 Aug
7 reasons churches should talk more about money
I’m really excited to see another voice join the conversation of ministry funding. Yes, Money and Mission is targeted at the general nonprofit leader, but I think church leaders can learn from this dialogue, too. In fact, I share the same passion and point-of-view of the blog’s author: Money creates margin, and margin yields more mission and greater potential impact.
Here are 7 reasons churches should talk more about money:
1. The people in your pew are already talking about it.
2. No Money. No Ministry.
3. Silence risks allowing the money God intended to fund His kingdom to go elswhere.
4. Your personal inhibitions do not justify your silence.
5. Giving is an important spiritual discipline. It is equal to prayer, fasting, Bible reading, etc.
6. Stewardship and generosity will change the culture of your church.
7. It is one of the most universal realities that can be used to build a bridge to a lost world.
Are you ready to join the conversation of money, mission, and ministry? (Hint: It’s not optional.)
I wrote a book (Good Cent$) on personal finances for Christian young people that encourages them to live on a budget. The first category in the budget is giving. While I’m not sure about tithing in the new testament, I believe 10% is a great place to start giving giving. I believe giving should grow from there.
In the new testament I believe giving should start with the family followed by the church, friends in need, strangers God brings across your path who are in need, and other ministries.
I feel churches spend too much money on buildings, excess personel, and wasteful programs that are only for the entertainment of weak believers. Church debt is a very poor testimony to the lost world and to young Christians.
Churches must run on a strict budget and never go into debt.
My church had a pastor who built a new worship center at a cost of 14 million dollars. A company came in and coaxed 6 million in pledges from our members. Our Pastor had an affair during all of this and left the church leaving us with a terrible reputation and over 8 million dollars in debt for a building that is almost never half full.
When churches get too much money it seems they stray from God’s simple truths about finances, giving, and debt, and end up wasting a fortune in money given to banks in interest.
Ed,
Thanks for visiting the blog and taking a few moments to post your thoughts. I appreciate where you are coming from, and I have no desire to get into a public debate as to whether or not a church should even incur debt. I do want to make a few observations:
1. Debt is not inherently evil. All churches who incur debt are not wrong, bad, or sinful. It’s difficult to substantiate a broad claim and expect it to apply to every situation, in every context.
2. Organizations are much more complex than individual households. No one should expect an organization to be managed like an average household. If the church is going to be sustainable, it must not just guard against needless debt and other liabilities but also focus on revenue creation in order to sustain the growth necessary to match the level of opportunity it is currently experiencing.
3. Correlation is not causation. While there may have been a correlation between the events regarding your church taking on debt and failed leadership from your pastor, that doesn’t mean the debt caused the leadership issue.
4. Money is not bad. Money is a tool that allows the church to expand its ministry capacity. If a church declares it has “too much money,” it is also a church that has stopped asking God to take them to new levels of Kingdom impact. There should never be a time when we feel like we can justify any church has enough until the Great Commission has been fulfilled.
Again, thank you for your thoughts and your commitment to the conversation on money and ministry.
Blessings, Ben.
So far, in my brief experience, church leaders avoid talking about money like they would avoid the plague. To be frank, it’s disappointing and embarrassing.
Michael, I think you’re right on!
Blessings!
The lack of or abundance of “money” isn’t really the issue, is it? The issue is stewardship – is a church helping people use their resources for the mission or not? Is the church using these shred resources for the mission or not?
“shared” not “shred”
Herb, I appreciate your thoughts. Money is not limited. Whatever God has called us to do, he has also designed how it will be funded. The rub comes when churches preach God is all knowing, powerful, present but practice as if God works off a limited budget.
Your second question is an important one. The churches who do the best at connecting the dollar to the mission are the ones who keep getting more dollars from the people in the pew.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Blessings, Ben.