|
CAN CHURCH FINANCES BE SPIRITUAL?
You may or may not know, but I am a Certified Public Accountant, and when I’m wearing that hat, I think things should balance, we should be budgeting and doing things practically. And I spent a lot of years in church Finance meetings thinking exactly that way. How about you?
Well, as my faith grew, and I started feeling a call to dedicate what I “did” to God, I started thinking a little differently. Maybe church finances isn’t just practical, but it’s also spiritual.
An article I read recently from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership opened this way: “when it comes to money matters or budgeting, does your church split into two camps? On one side are “the green eye shades” who believe the church should think and act like a business. On the other side are “the holier-than-thous” who decry any money talk as akin to money changes in the temple and believe God will provide if the church just has enough faith. These two camps often talk past each other, preventing meaningful dialogue and decision making.”[1]
It really resonated with me because I’ve been both, and sometimes at the same time! It took me a while to understand that thinking spiritually about money doesn’t throw out the practical perspective. What if we approached money from a spiritual perspective. Jesus talks about money a lot in the Bible, more than anything else, in fact. Some of this is coming back to hit me as I’m currently leading a small group of clergy in working on their financial wellness by participating in a study based on Saving Grace: A Guide to Financial Well-Being put out by Wespath.
We talk about budgets and spending plan, reducing debt, increasing income, but it’s all from a spiritual perspective. Many of the worksheets and discussions have been held before in other secular budgeting and getting out of debt classes, but the approach here is so completely different that it’s made be think twice about things.
We have to put money in the proper perspective. Money isn’t inherently evil, but because living properly in relation to money is matter of spiritual importance. We are to use the resources entrusted to us by God in a way that demonstrates our faith and growth in discipleship.
Stewardship is an instrument of God’s abundance. We have faith in God, of course, but that faith doesn’t excuse us from being responsible stewards. If we believe God lovingly provides for our needs, we have to align ourselves with God’s purpose—both in caring for our own financial needs but also the financial needs of our church community.
Think about this!
If you wish more information on anything you’ve been reading about, please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org.
I’d be happy to help or answer any questions.
| 
