Church Culture Oral Presentation

Hello,

My name is Shawn Decker and today we are going to be talking about money. Specifically, we are going to be talking about why a biblical understanding about money is essential to building an effective church.

The way we are going to discuss this is by examining:

1. The history of money and the church

2. Common myths about money and the church

3. 4 Advantages of proper money handling within the church.

History of Money and the Church

The history of money and the church is rife with controversy and conspiracy. That I believe is in part due to people’s relationship with money and that it isn’t always a well explained topic. It is my hope today to shed some light on it.

Historically we must understand what money is.

Money or currency is a medium of bringing someone’s will into reality.

Money is nothing in and of itself rather it is something society has agreed upon that has value and can be used to trade/barter for this or that whether it be work, provision or desire. Money can be used to get them all. As such it represents all these things…all at the same time and it can mean more of one or the other to someone at any given time. Therefore, giving an entity money can represent the sacrifice of work, provision and desire…all at the same time as the giver will sacrifice their ability to get those and that has profound implications.

Now in the Torah we encounter the first acts of giving that I want to look at because I believe that from this instance we can learn all we need to know about giving and therefore our attitude concerning money.

Genesis 4:3-5 (ESV)

Genesis 4:3–5 LEB

And in the course of time Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground to Yahweh, and Abel also brought an offering from the choicest firstlings of his flock. And Yahweh looked with favor to Abel and to his offering, but to Cain and to his offering he did not look with favor. And Cain became very angry, and his face fell.

In the narrative of Abel, we see that at the very beginning of it all, bringing a sacrifice to God has always been a thing. It is no change today. Adam would have likely been the priest of the family and mediated these offerings to God. In this second generation we can see the open acknowledgement that God ought to be acknowledged for His work in our lives that brings about the fruit. Now from the original language we can see that likely God would have accepted Abels offering with fire and did not do so for Cain’s.

Why?

The heart.

From the passage we can see that God had regard first for Abel, then his offering. We can see the gift was not separated from the giver. Abel brought the best of his flock and not only the best, but the firstborn and the fat, the abundance.

We also see that from this that Abel was fulfilling God’s directive for him and his family by being fruitful and multiplying. This blessing was not solely connected to children but rather fruitfulness in all things.

Much of what Abel brought to God would later become law/instruction for later Israel to instruct them in how to bring offering and then furthermore into the New Testament church with the writings of the Apostles. We can see that:

God is honoured when we recognise His divine hand and blessing in our lives by bringing back to Him the first of the fruit from that blessing and we can compound that now as the church by using that offering to further expand God’s providential hand in this world.

Every offering is a window into the heart of the giver and every offering is an opportunity to be used in mission by the Church. Every scripture on money is going to connect to one or the other side of that statement, either the giving end or the using end.

Now that we have discussed the history of the topic of money/giving. I want to discuss common myths about the topic of Money and the Church.

Common Myths about money and the Church

1. The church only wants your money or wants to control you…so that you give your money.

a. I think we need to understand that people are protective about their money and this area is often the biggest struggle of most people’s lives. So, the nonfaith way to look at money is, I need ALL of it to be used for me and my purposes. (Not all purposes are bad but the emphasis here is that the purposes are yours).

Faith says God is the better answer to your needs and a heart turned towards God understanding what He provides with less, will ultimately be more for you in every way. That takes trust/faith.

This myth also does not consider what the church does with the money. As with most misconceptions. they are only that way because the full picture is not seen. They will likely only sight megachurches and therefore mega pastors and see wealth and connect that to some form of evil. Which leads me to the next myth.

2. Pastors should be paupers.

a. 1 Timothy 5:18 (ESV)

1 Timothy 5:18 LEB

For the scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox while it is threshing,” and “The worker is worthy of his wages.”

Here Paul is referencing the Torah again in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

I think it would be helpful to see what Job titles fall under Pastor.

Counsellor

CEO of Non-Profit

Writer

Speaker

to name a few

All these professionals would normally incur a wage…people just have an issue when the title is Pastor. It is more prejudicial than founded in reason.

To address many mega church pastors…most of them are independently wealthy, usually due to prolific writing/speaking careers. Many of whom take no salary from their church and most give away the majority of their salary anyways. That is the whole picture. There is no law against being wealthy, but even in todays culture whether you are a religious or not, being wealthy is looked at as a crime. So, there may be no winning in that one.

4 advantages to handling money/giving well in the church.

1. Learning to give well is a foundational part of being a Christian and nothing will build discipleship faster than learning how to give.

a. True love is self giving for the benefit of others, if we are to be known by our love…we must learn to give.

2. Giving is intrinsically tied to blessing.

a. Because giving demonstrates an active faith in the character and actions of God, blessing is the natural fruit of faith lived out.

3. What applies to the individual applies to the whole, When the church sows the blessings, communities will receive blessing.

a. Proverbs 11:10 (ESV)

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices…

4. When the city sees the church as the city on a hill, people will come to know Jesus.

a. This is what it is all about. Being the hands and feet of the good news, that Jesus is King and what that means for all of creation.

In Summation, we have discussed the understanding of what money is, the history of giving, common myths surrounding the church and money and finally we have discussed 4 advantages of handling giving/money well in the church.