Money and Ministry

One of the ministries that I have the opportunity to work with is “The Good $ense Ministry”. Yes, that is a dollar sign instead of an “S” in case you didn’t know that we are not bashful about what we talk about in the ministry. Good $ense is one of those ministries that takes seriously the numerous verses and instruction about money in the Bible.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Randy Alcorn. Randy Alcorn is one of this countries top Christian authors. I just counted ten of his books presently available on our website at (http://www.lifelinesbooks.org/). It was his book, The Treasure Principle, that I had just finished reading when I met him and we had a great, albeit brief, conversation about financial stewardship. Randy teaches very clearly that while there are over 2,300 verses concerning money, we should not assume that means that Jesus is talking solely about money in these verses.

The Scripture is very clear that there is a fundamental connection between our spiritual growth and our ability to handle our money. While it’s often considered more “spiritual” to be above any concern for financial stewardship, the Bible actually teaches the exact opposite and makes our stewardship of our money and finances a prerequisite to handling true spiritual riches.

In Matthew 16, Jesus tells a very unusual parable of the unjust steward. In the conclusion of the parable Jesus says, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (money), who will commit to your trust the true riches?"

While I’ve written a few times on the importance of individuals to be good stewards, I want to talk a little about how important it is for Christian ministries to be good stewards as well.

What is a good steward? Well, from the biblical perspective, we understand that a steward is a manager of the household of another. The Bible teaches very clearly that everything we have belongs to God. Further, we are entrusted with the care of what he temporarily allows us to manage; and we need to manage it for His glory. Ministries, unfortunately often avoid the very necessary requirements of budgeting, saving, planning and forecasting as if these financial skills were somehow contrary to having faith. Nothing could be further from the truth as we can site numerous instructions in the Bible to plan for the future.

Here are two good examples: The first is from Matthew 6:31. Jesus said, "Do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat? or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?” The late Larry Burkett of Crown Financial Ministry said, “God does not want us to worry, but He does want us to plan.” One of the verses he often quoted was Luke 14:28. "For which of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?"

Christian Ministries should understand that just as they need to follow a budget and a financial plan for their own family, their ministries need to carefully budget and plan as well in order to successfully prepare for the financial needs of the future. God often calls us to step out in faith and I believe that those ministries that are in good financial health are much more likely to be able to commit additional financial resources to new opportunities that the Lord brings their way.

One of the essential elements of a financial plan that ministries need is a detailed spending plan. A ministry that doesn’t control its spending will never have enough money regardless of how much is received through offerings, gifts and tithes.

I’m somewhat amused when I hear a ministry leader tell me, “Ministry is not like a business; there are too many unforeseen events in a ministry”. Actually, from my observation, the opposite is true. Many businesses often have much more severe financial cycles than the average church. “Boom or bust” is a characteristic of many businesses and it’s not unusual for businesses to have to cut fifteen to twenty percent of their expenses in order to maintain a healthy bottom line.

Churches on the other hand are typically slow but steady. Revenues, while totally dependent on giving, are often very predictable. Capital campaigns for extensive building expansion plans are often based on pledges, which are predictably and faithfully fulfilled over a two or three-year timeline. Spending is typically predictable and can be forecasted if the ministry leadership is willing to look at historical spending patterns and identify likely needs.

What most ministries don’t want is financial accountability. Accountability is often embraced when it comes to moral, sexual, ethically, doctrinal and other questionable practices, but money and financial stewardship is usually not covered in ministry handbooks.

Proverbs 27:17 says, "iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” and many ministries have taken the first step and paid lip service to financial stewardship. They may have even hired or otherwise been fortunate to have found very gifted business professionals that are willing to give advice and council on financial matters. All too often however, these financially gifted individuals are relegated to “a voice, crying in the wilderness” and given about as much respect as John the Baptist had with the Pharisees and Sanhedrin.

Leaders of ministry should be very careful to pay attention to wise council and should be willing to submit a spending plan to an accountable third party. Church and ministry boards need to support the leadership of the ministry and one of the best ways that they can support the leadership is to insist on financial integrity.