Speaking of money and the local church

It seems to be a theme today. Alan posted a quick look at examples of the New Testament church pooling its resources: Pooling Resources for General Church Purposes? . There is precedence for doing so but not to pay mortgages on church buildings or salaries for staff members. Here is what Alan wrote after looking at two examples of the church pooling resources:

In each of these cases, believers were pooling their money together. But, they were doing so for a particular reason: to help those in need.

They did not store the money and decide later how to spend it. And, more importantly, they did not spend it on themselves – even for “ministry” purposes. The money was give to people who were in need.

This is quite different than the way that money is used in the church today.

Quite different indeed and not for the better.