Friday, December 05, 2008

A call for a new Reformation in the church: Money changes everything

Stewardship: The most misused term in the church!

I came across a statement on Thabiti Anyabwile’s blog that sort of stuck in my craw a bit. It was regarding the expected drop in giving at church in light of the generally poor economic conditions.

We're just about to wrap up some budget planning at FBC. I know a number of other churches are in the same activity as we. And it's been interesting to hear and consider how Christians are connecting the economic woes dot with the giving dot.

Given the data, one can only conclude that many treasure this world and its coffers more than they treasure Christ. That they have not sold all and purchased this One Pearl of Great Price.


Or, as my friend James succinctly points out, maybe they are just broke? Over the last year I have had a steady stream of people come in my office who have lost their jobs, their house is about to be foreclosed on, cars about to be repossessed. Many of them spent foolishly. But that doesn’t change the fact that when times are tough, people have less discretionary income and the mortgage payment doesn’t go down and food for the table doesn’t become cheaper.

I have the utmost respect for Thabiti Anyabwile. He is a marvelous speaker, a bright writer and a man clearly passionate about Christ. But his comment illustrates the prevailing idea in the church that giving to the local church is part and parcel with the Gospel. How in the world do we connect the man who finds that precious pearl of great price with giving in the local church?

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.(Matthew 13:45-46)

The precious pearl, that great treasure is the Kingdom of Heaven and I thought that the Kingdom was not for sale. If you sold everything you owned, you couldn’t buy God’s favor. At least that was my understanding. If giving is going down, what good does it do to chastise the sheep? When giving goes down, spending must also go down. Maybe the staff at First Baptist Church Grand Cayman might have to be shrunk down. According to the webpage, there are 23 staff members at FBC-GC and I assume a number of them are paid staff. That is what for-profit entities have to do when times get tough (unless they are auto manufacturers...)

Giving and finances are always a sore spot in churches. There are few things more painful than a sermon on giving, because typically the man giving the sermon is directly benefiting from the offering and can hardly help but sound self-serving. It is not necessarily the intent, but how often have you heard a skeptic comment that all preachers ever talk about is getting money? There is an inherent perception of a conflict of interest when preachers are preaching giving on the one hand and getting a cut from the plate in the form of their salary, benefits and housing on the other.

The result of this in many churches is a series of guilt trips and anecdotes about how this person or that has always faithfully given in the offering plate and how God has fulfilled their material needs. Aunt Bessie gave her ten percent every week and God made sure she always had plenty! Or worse the tales of the pastor himself giving faithfully designed to guilt you into giving. I can speak from experience here when I say that it is a whole lot easier to preach about giving when you are not dependent on the offering to pay your mortgage (in fact I would contend that is easier to preach about nearly anything when you can do so without fear of financial retribution!) With all of the stories of how God has faithfully taken care of people who tithe, it in essence becomes a watered down health, wealth and prosperity Gospel. Go ahead and put money in the plate because if you do, God will take care of your financial needs. Maybe He will but maybe He won’t. God is not obligated to shower you with financial freedom if you put money in the plate when it comes by.

If you give groceries to a hungry neighbor in need, or contribute to a brother who is in danger of foreclosure or help pay the heating bill for a widow is that less noble than putting money in the plate? If you give no money at all in a given week at church, but are generous with those around you, is that a case of bad “stewardship”? Think about it this way…

Really, what does the offering at the local church do that builds the Kingdom? A decent chunk goes to missionaries, although typically not a huge percentage. A bunch goes to maintain the church building, and many churches spend on the physical plant far more than is reasonable. Sometimes we can make do with what we have and I have been in a number of churches for conferences that are obscenely opulent with multi-million dollar AV systems. Many churches, and I know this from being a banker, sit on an enormous amount of money for future building projects. Some money is spent on materials for Sunday school. A small percentage of churches, and growing smaller, spend a substantial portion of their offering on charitable work (i.e. food pantries, etc.) Then of course there are the staff salaries. I would hazard a guess that staff salary is the second biggest line item or the biggest line item in the budget of most churches, including in that housing allowance and other reimbursements given the pastor. Getting back to my previous post Pay The Man! I would argue that the reason we constantly worry about the offering is because we pay people to do what can and probably should be done for free.

What was that about the love of money… serving two masters...etc.?

Money can cause divisions among believers. Money leads to churches welcoming the unregenerate because the put money in the plate. Money can lead to watering down messages to avoid offense.

All of these things ultimately are sin driven, but why make it easier for sin to infect the church? Money is not evil, but it can lead to people doing evil things. Money is one of the most divisive issues in the world. Eliminating it's grip on the church would go a long way towards alleviating many of the problems we have, and it would help take away something that sucks the life and power out of the local body.

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:6-11)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

These are my thoughts on the issue.

If the church is paying its "staff" than the congregation should be set up as the employer.
However, for a church that does not have paid positions, and allows the whole Body of Believers to give of their time and talents as the Lord leads, God will give the increase. Anytime we try to dictate "how much", we are taking the glory for ourselves, and presenting it as God's glory.
What is the Body of Christ worth?
Christ's death!

If a peron is compelled to give, because "giving is down" than shame on them!
That is never what God intended!

Anonymous said...

"With all of the stories of how God has faithfully taken care of people who tithe, it in essence becomes a watered down health, wealth and prosperity Gospel."

Or it's just a testimony to what God has done, and how He is faithful to keep His promises: "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and offerings.... Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows." Malachi 3:8,10

Rejoicing in God's faithfulness and provision is quite different from a prosperity gospel. Be careful not to confuse the two!

Blessings,
Debbie

Arthur Sido said...

Hey Debbie

Not suggesting we be stingy in giving at all, just that our generosity need not be run through the offering plate to honor God. Interestingly, the only time the tithe is mentioned in the New Testament, it is mentioned negatively:

"But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. (Luke 11:42)

It can be easy to confuse putting money in the plate with showing love and mercy. the work you do at the food pantry has no direct monetary value but is of immense value to those in the community who need that food. My overarching point is that when money gets entangled with the Gospel, it is almost universally a negative.