In their chapter called “kultcha-schmultcha” they have a series of things in the culture that need to be addressed when it comes to discipleship. This is a great section because they touch on a bunch of things that are deeply embedded in our culture that are in need of some critical thinking about how they influence and shape our faith, our lives and our discipleship.

Their little section on money is spot on. My only complaint is that it isn’t longer, but I know that’s not what they were trying to do – that is, write a long treatise on money. In this section they talk about how money has become a major problem in our culture. They notes that Luther said

“three conversions are necessary when a person decides to follow Christ: the conversion of the heart, the conversion of the mind, and the conversion of the purse.” (112)

Well said Mr. Luther!

They go on to note how money has become our master and has become that of a god in our lives. And personally, I think they are spot on. Heck, I speak from experience here. It tends to be true for me and I also think its true of a lot of people I know inside and outside of the church. They argue that money can often be in direct opposition to our discipleship,

“If we read Jesus and New Testament teaching correctly, we can only understand money if we interpret it in light of the teachings of the principalities and powers against which we must do battle. Money is not a neutral force, but is animated and energized by the powers.”

I think this is an important point. We tend to think of money as neutral and just our use of it as the bad thing. We say “it’s the love of money that is the root of all evil. Money itself isn’t evil.” Sure I guess that’s true, but I think they might have a good point here.

Later they say that,

“once we are rescued (from the power of money) we can be free to be generous, and when we are generous we are agents of Jesus’ remarkable grace. We cannot overestimate the power of generosity in human relations. Not only does it destroy the power of money, but it introduces the ones who receives the gift into the world of grace.”

Also, well said. I think that it is only when we are released from the control money, we are freed to be generous.

This is just a glimpse at their discussion. I don’t get the idea that they are saying we shouldn’t have money. But, rather they are saying that we need to constantly be aware of the role it is playing in our lives. We should constantly be checking out who is the “Lord” of our lives, Jesus or money.  Are we serving it or is it serving us.

This isn’t an easy road to walk. But the point is, This is a major issue of discipleship.

This is the very reason why at The Well, we take a very intentional offering every Sunday a part of our liturgy. I understand the idea that churches have to not want to offend people with asking for money so they just put a box in the back and let people give as they are led. I really do. But, I fear that what we are really saying when we don’t have the offering as a distinct, visible part of our worship gatherings is this: “Your money is between you and God, we have no right to ask you about it and is not really a big part of your discipleship, do whatever you want with it.”   To me, this is nothing less than giving into the cultural views of money in some very serious ways.

So every Sunday we take a few minutes to remind ourselves that our God has not given us money and our other resources to just be blessed, but to be a blessing. We pray that God would make us generous people in all aspects of our lives (time, money, friendships, etc).  In doing so we say that how you handle the resources God has given you, especially your money, is a very, very big deal. And, so it doesn’t seem like we’re just “trying to guilt people into giving money” like “all churches do” we make it very clear that the call in that moment is to be generous. Sure, they are invited to join us in our mission with their finances – if we neglected to do that it would look like we didn’t really believe in what we were doing – but the invitation isn’t just to give to The Well.  By the way, in the 4 years since we have started taking an offering, I have only heard one person complain about it.  In fact, I have heard quite a few people say they are thankful and refreshed that we are willing to talk about money in such a hopeful way.

It’s to be generous with the whole of our lives. I think, in light of consumerism of our day, this is a pretty countercultural act.

How is your church being countercultural in the area of finances?

Note: One of the best resources I have ever read that talks about how to talk about money in the church is from this book.  It’s good, goods stuff.

“To me, the lack of credibility of the Christian church in America is that we are not professional lovers of God and people.  We’ve got this carrying of the Bibles, saying “Praise Jesus!” and we don’t love one another.  We don’t reach out and extend ourselves. Tell me the amount of money in your local church that is devoted to, first, the quality of faith of the people and, second, the assistance of the poor.  Tell me those two things and I will tell you what I think of your church”

Preach in Brennan!

Our leadership team is in the midst of asking some important questions around these very two important issues.  It’s my guess that most churches do okay with the first one.  That’s where most of our staff is allocated.  Our staff make up a significant portion of most of our budgets so one could say that we are putting a good amount of money into the quality of the faith of the people. This is a good thing.  I am a fan of staff because I think this is an important part of our mission.

But what about the poor?  What about those less fortunate? What about those people on the other side of the tracks?

What’ the best way to use money so that the poor are actually helped?

Where are we unnecessarily putting money?

Where do we need to be putting money that we are not?

All good questions. Sometimes I think its too easy to get caught up in asking questions taht are hard to answer and we never actually act on anything because we are so busy asking questions and critiquing.

By the way this quote from Brennan Manning comes from some dialogue that takes places in the book The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church by Dave Gibbons.

But as those who profess faith and resurrection, we can’t succumb to fear. We can’t ignore the problems of the world, but we can’t let fear be our master.

We are not people of fear.
We are not people of despair.
We are not a people of obligation.

Fear leads to selfishness.
Despair leads to self-preservation.
Obligation leads to legalism.

We are people of hope.

Hope that comes from grace.
Hope that comes from resurrection.

Hope leads to freedom.
Freedom leads to Generosity.

Let us be a people of freedom.
Let us be a people of grace,
overflowing in generosity.

“Most Americans have put themselves on a budget this holiday season and are sticking to it,” said Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategic initiatives at research firm BIGresearch, in a statement. “Retailers are finding that consumers who pay with cash or a debit card may be less likely to make impulse purchases, but recognize that these shoppers are also trying to put themselves in a better financial situation to spend in the future.”

I don’t get the feeling that the article is pointing out the problems of this approach, but its funny that this is possibly conceived as bad news. At least, I’ve seen this logic used in the past few weeks other places asa a means of saying how we are in trouble. I’ve always said, that we have an economy that is dependent on the people spending money they don’t have is a rather significant problem.

So, stop using plastic and start spending cash. My wife and I are in the midst of transitioning to a cash system and I’m kinda excited to see how much of a difference it makes in the way we spend our money.

Here is the section of Chapter 8 that we have been looking at:

8:1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they went beyond our expectations; having given themselves first of all to the Lord, they gave themselves by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you1 —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

2Co 8:8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

2Co 8:10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

2Co 8:13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

We’re taking a look at a verse/thought a week and taking it in slowly.

Last week we looked at verse 1: And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

We basically spent some time together thinking about the amazing gifts that we have been given as individuals and as a community. If you think long, the list goes on and on. I remember one night in youth group during an all-nighter we were given the assignment of taking an hour and writing down all we were thankful for. This seemed like an monstrously impossible task.

But i wrote for about an hour and a half.

This isn’t an exercise to make guilt you into giving.

No, giving flows from a grateful heart.

It’s this kind of exercise and thought process that can make giving a joyous and exciting moment.

Of course, we aren’t only talking about giving money. We’re talking about holistic generosity. Gererosity that flows from thankfulness into all aspects of our lives. With our kids. With our friends. With our neighbors. In our workplaces. Yes, even with our enemies…

My good friend Tom Ward writes a good post about generosity here.

The average households under 35 are saving -16% of their income.

Financial freedom has nothing to do with our income. 

The law of guaranteed wealth: Spend less than you make for a long period of time.

Man, these powerpoint slides are from around 1980 or something.  Someone needs to read Presentation Zen! :)

Comparison to others destroys your contentment.

• You will always be able to find somebody else that has something better than you. 
• In the comparison game we will never be content.
• “Most people are motivated to success by the envy of our neighbors” – Ecclesiastes

What happens if we buy into the philosophy of the culture?

• Distorted view of what brings happiness
• As “stuff” increases… Happiness decreases
• Money and possessions quickly take control of your life
• The desire to acquire blinds us to what’s really valuable.
• Materialism undermines healthy self-worth

People living on plastic spend 26% more than with cash.

How can I get out of debt?

• Make a solid commitment to be debt free
• Add no more debt.
• Live on Cash – do “plastic surgery”
• Construct a debt deduction plan
• Apply all “windfall money” to debt payment.

It’s actually 180 degrees the opposite.  A budget produces freedom. A budget is like a freedom fence. 

Budgeting:

• Reduces waste and allows for saving money
• Brings freedom by eliminating surprises
• Can take corrective action to head off disasters.
• Increases positive communication about money.

There is a constant battle between giving, saving and debt because they are usually the last things that we put in our monthly spending.  We think that these three things are making us take on more debt.  But really, the problem is our lifestyle.  

We need to start with Saving and Giving and saving and then create a lifestyle that works from there.  Save 10% and give 10% and live on 80% of our income.

What are the three major things that keep seeking to subtly or blatantly expand your lifestyle? Figure out what they are and attack them.

The “redefining of the Normal”:  

• Average size of american home in 1940: 750 sq. feet. -> Today: 2300 sq feet.
• The problem here is that we have redefined normal to where we can no longer afford normal anymore.  And the only way to be normal is to be in debt.
• In 1960 the self-storage industry was non-existent and today it is one of the fastest growing industries. 
• We can get caught up in being “normal” without even realizing. 
• This has come from the difficulty to borrow money to today where there are people who are trying to force people to borrow money that they don’t even want.  There used to be a gut fear in borrowing money. Today we view borrowing as a vehicle to prosperity. 

These slides might be getting worse.

**Budgeting with a variable income.

• Set up a payroll account and only live off of a conservative estimate of your monthly needs.
• This way you put yourself on a consistent paycheck.
• Initially use some of your emergency fun to fund this payroll account.
• This assumes that you will make what you said you are going to make.
• If you realize you going to make less money over the year, give yourself a pay cut. 

It takes about 9 months to get a budget to actually balance. Have patience. 

Savings:

Without savings its impossible to become debt free.

There is a difference between hoarding and savings.

Personal Savings rate is negative for three years in a row for the first time since the great depression.

• In 1985 there was a major change in our attitude.  The 12% savings rate dropped like a rock since then.
• Around this time that Credit cards became relied upon as backup for savings.
• We went from an attitude of savers to an attitude of spenders.
• In one generation we went from being a nation of savers to a nation of spenders.
• Personal note, this is a stunning trend and a dramatically important statistic. 

Make minor changes in your life style that last over a long period of time and this will make a major difference.  Its not only about putting $400 away at a time. 

The key is you save before you spend.

Generosity:

• “I am not sure I have met someone that is financially free who was not also generous”
• You cannot separate generosity from financial freedom
• Giving is not about raising funds, is about a relationship with God.
• Giving: Generosity and gratefulness in action.
• Giving is at the very heart of our relationship with God. To be more like God, we need to become givers.

Study of II Corinthians 8 & 9

• There is no connection to generosity and the amount of money than they had.
• “Gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will…”
• Giving is the evidence of the reality of our love for God. 
• It allows God to provide the very gift for us to give.  ”You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous.”
• Our generosity has the power to influence the relationship between others and God.

Been a great day.  I’ve got a lot to work on.

“I’m just beginning to try to help my established congregation turn itself into a missional focus.

I really like the notes and presentation, but where I struggle is where your presentation leaves off…what does this look like practically…what are the practices your community is a part of…in what ways is your community different in appearance, look and action than what I see going on in my established non-missional congregation?

just looking for some practical, concrete things I can point to as I think about helping my congregation move in another direction.”

This is really a great question!  I began to make a comment but realized it was really long and figured it may as well be a new post. So here are my thoughts…

I was going to write in the last post that i felt like the weakest part of the class was the end. That’s mostly because I had less time than I wanted to have to prepare this part.

I also stayed away from the concrete things so as to hopefully ignite the imaginations of those in the class without giving them the answers. that would have been too easy :). That said, if I were to teach the class again, I’d probably have some more concrete examples to work though.

I would say this, the ways it has looked at the well is by beginning in small, small ways. Its been a four year process for us and its clear we have a lot more work to do.

Some examples:

• Getting face to face with poverty in your own town or city will do more for mission than anything else. find a way to regularly get a few of your people interacting with the poor. They won’t put up with the status quo anymore. Some of the most effective ministry we do has come from small pockets of our congregation having regular experiences with those in need.
• Find a few people who have realized that the way we are living economically in our culture is terrible and encourage them to find ways to begin living differently.
• Invite your small groups to be more than bible studies, encourage them to serve in the community.
• When you talk about budget and money, make sure its all connected to mission. if you can’t, then reorganize your community a bit to actually be about mission. if people don’t see how your church is affecting others, giving will be down. which means, if your church isn’t giving outward… your giving will be down. the problem is either that the church isn’t giving or that the congregation doesn’t see the connection between their giving and the mission.

These are just some examples off the top of my head. Basically, creating change within a church (especially one with a lot of history) is a long and trying process. I believe the biggest thing leaders can do is to start with small “mustard seed” experiments and see where the Spirit leads.

A good book would be The Missional Leader by Alan Roxburgh. In his book, Alan has some great thoughts on cultivating conversations in your church that call forth the mission God has for the congregation.

Anybody else have anything to add?

Here’s the question that came to us. In 200 years, what will be the great sin that our culture has been blind to? The more we talked, the more it seems likely that it will be our inability to see how quickly and unquestionably we have accepted the cultures view of materialism and consumerism.

Will people look back at the church in America in the early 2000′s and wonder, “How could they so easily and unconsciously have so much stuff when there were so many people in desperate poverty all over the world?.”

Now, we’re really good at rationalizing and justifying all of this. Sure, there might be some truth to these rationalizations. But, last time I checked, just because you can rationalize it doesn’t make it okay. The church in the Southern United States found ways to rationalize their segregation. That didn’t make it right…

Listen, I don’t have all the answers here. I don’t know what God is calling us to exactly. All I know is that He’s begun the process of showing me how I have been “conforming to the patterns of this world” and how I am in desperate need of a “renewing of my mind.”

We’ll see where this leads…

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading Tom Sine’s new book, The New Conspirators and it has been a great companion these last two weeks. He does a great job of deconstructing with solid data and statistics how our way of life just does not work for 95% of the world. Sure, it works great for the rich and the really rich, but it doesn’t work too well for the vulnerable middle class and the poor. He also presents in scary fashion how much we in the West buy into the world’s view of “the good life.” He argues that we need a new (Kingdom) way forward and he does a great job of pulling the wool off our eyes to show the real world that we life in.

On page 201 he writes,

“The only way poverty will become history is for those of us whom God has entrusted with God’s generous resources to critically evaluate our own lives and priorities. It is estimated that today over 200 million Christians live in dire poverty. Isn’t there something terribly wrong, in the international body of Christ, when some of us live palatially and other Christians can’t keep their kids fed? Isn’t it past time to recognize that we live in an interconnected global village in which there is no longer such a thing as a ‘private’ lifestyle choice?”

He also writes on page 227:

“Bruce Bradshaw in his book Change Across Cultures suggests that the Scripture calls us to a much greater conversion – much more than the forgiveness of sins and receiving God into our lives. It also involves the very radical step of inviting the Spirit of God to “transform the narratives that govern our lives,” so that we are empowered to “live a very different story.”

Preach it Tom. You can check out Tom’s ministry at The Mustard Seed Associates.

I think this is a big difference that is also very subtle. I think this is seen in my previous post on the stimulus checks and the church that asked for them. The issue here is that this church’s main goal is not to merely increase generosity. Their main goal is to meet their budget and get out of their deficit. It’s not that meeting their budget is contrary to growing generosity. I just don’t think the best way to grow the generosity in a community is to focus on the budget. I think the best way to grow the generosity of a community is to focus on generosity. When you do this, if your mission and your community is worth investing in, you will meet your budget. When a church focuses on its budget, it merely reminds people of how their own budgets are messed up and it merely reminds people of their own debt.

I’m a big believer that the goal of weekly giving is to help encourage and cultivate generous people. I want to celebrate and get excited when someone in my church gives to another organization. Why shouldn’t I? That organization is likely part of the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God is part of our mission. So, essentially, they are investing in our mission are they not?!

When we focus on cultivating the generosity of our people, the budget will come. That’s surely been our experience at The Well.

I think a big part of this is operating in a mentality of abundance and not in a mentality of scarcity. God has been so generous to us and we have no reason to live in fear. Far too often we look at our church budgets and we live in fear.

I think the key here is the potency of the mission of the community. Some of our church budgets live in fear, not because we don’t have generous people, but because we don’t have a generous mission. Focus on a solid mission and cultivating generosity in your congregation and your giving will come. Focus on the budget with a neutered mission and you’re going to have problems.

Here’s an idea! Whether you normally tithe or regularly put a check in the offering plate or just put in whatever cash you can from your wallet when you are at church, why don’t you trying tithing on this unexpected gift from the government? If you give the first 10% to God, you will find that the rest of what you have to spend goes even further than you had hoped. You can’t out give God! We could clear our budget deficit if each one of us would tithe on our economic stimulus checks! And … there are those tax rebate checks, too!!!

I would love your thoughts…