The Money Fear Factor

Stock market’s tumbling…mortgage crisis… foreclosures…credit crunch…hundreds of billions of dollars in federal bailouts…retirement fund scares.

These are familiar phrases heard every morning on the news, read in the newspaper, and discussed over dinner. There is a storm cloud hovering over our economy creating uncertainty across the country. How can the church respond to this uncertainty, and meet directly the challenge of overcoming the money fear factor? Like families facing the difficulty of an economy in crisis, churches must be ready to make sound faithful responses to the concerns of its membership and at the same time continue to live out the vision and ministry to which they have been called. The modern church cannot ignore the crisis, nor can it be consumed by it. The answer to the question of response may be best framed in the context of seeking solutions and alternatives, and not simply diagnosing the problems.

Searching for solutions and alternatives to fund ministry is not a new experience for churches. For many years churches have discovered ways to fund their ministry and vision through annual stewardship campaigns, capital campaigns, and establishing foundations for ministry. In the face of growing economic concerns it is time to take a deep breath and return to the basics of stewardship, and develop a plan to fund ministry now and for the future. A plan for funding ministry should include four key elements.

The first step to establishing a ministry funding plan is to reclaim the church’s identity and vision. What is your purpose?

What has God called your church to uniquely do and be? This is much more profound than a visioning process that produces a vision statement. Before a church can talk faithfully about establishing a funding plan it must know who God has called it to be. “Where there is no vision the people perish.” How often have we heard this phrase? However, the search for vision can also consume your purpose. Where there is too much vision the church can choke on confusion. In a time of uncertainty the church must return to the heart of what God has called them to do and be. Reclaim your church’s identity and purpose, and renew the vision that they Holy Spirit has given your church.

Once the church has reclaimed your purpose and vision, match your ministry and budget to the purpose for which you have been called.

This is not as easy as it sounds. The church has to ask some hard questions of its budget and its ministry. Are the ministries that we fund and carry out in our community meeting the vision and purpose to which we are called? When faced with budget crunches in our family budgets we often have to ask these hard questions. We then have to make the decision to cut back in places where we can. The church has to learn to follow this same pattern. The danger is to be reactive and find a way to cut back in broad swaths and percentages. We must learn to be proactive by assuring our congregations that we will maintain our ministry and vision, and make the difficult decisions necessary to be faithful stewards of our vision and our resources. This commitment means that ministries that do not meet the vision and purpose of the church may not be funded. The funding of the ministry of the church is directed only to those ministries which fulfill the mission and vision that God has given to the church.

A plan for funding ministry should also address the Money Fear Factor.

The money fear factor can exist at any time, not just in times of economic uncertainty. There are five factors that case this fear in the church:

• Not connecting faith and money. We separate faith and money into two separate worlds assuming that when money is mentioned in the Bible it is not referring to money that we spend every day. Mark Vincent in his book, Design for Ministry, said, “When Jesus talks about money, He is referring 95% of the time to money being spent in the marketplace and by the family.”
• A lack of Stewardship Education. The church has been timid in it’s teaching of what it means to be a faithful giver. We have taught more about patterns for giving such as percentages and estimate of giving cards, and less about how God has gifted each of us to give.
• The impression that “Stewardship” is a forbidden topic in the congregation. We are afraid that someone will say, “all we ever do is talk about money at church.” So, we don’t talk about money at church. The reality is that Jesus talked more about money possessions and things than any other topic in the Gospels.
• A lack of personal budget planning and debt. Churches are only beginning to tiptoe in the ministry of assisting their members with discovering the heart of Christian stewardship and personal finance. There are several alternatives and programs of varying investment on the part of the church and/or the participants.
• The scarcity syndrome is one of the most crippling factors. Money appears scarce and we act to protect our money from competing needs. That leads to having less money to support the congregation and its ministry, which leads to money appearing even more scarce. The alternative to this syndrome is create a positive cycle of abundance in stewardship. Begin with the recognition of the abundant gifts God has given the church. Find creative ways to share those gifts with others, and the result will be to share larger blessings in the community.

The final element to be included in a plan to fund ministry is to turn fear into ministry.

The church has long been the lighthouse of faith and hope for communities around the world. This has been true because churches have not only claimed their vision, but they have lived that vision out in hands on ministry. In the midst of uncertainty, God has given the church a great opportunity for ministry. There are three areas from which churches can begin to make a difference immediately:

• Begin or renew a commitment to teach Biblical Stewardship stressing stewardship not in terms of finances, but giftedness and spiritual growth.
• Begin money conversations with your members as a fulfillment of your pastoral role. As people face difficult decisions in their own lives and families, become comfortable with leading our members in how faithful Christians manage the resources that God has given them.
• Begin new programs and seminars on money management such as Good Sense, Money Matters, and more. There are many of these programs that are inexpensive and can be taught by members of your congregation.

It is time for the church to reclaim its position as the beacon of Christ’s light in the world. That beacon has long represented faith, hope and love. In the difficult days of economic uncertainty, we must once more reclaim our heritage of strength and stability. We must make hard choices as we face these uncertain times, and we must begin to turn the fear into ministry.

Written by Dr. Rick Owen