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There are 3 different kinds of people who will read this article. The first group is church leaders who unashamedly preach about money. The second group is church leaders who don’t want to preach about money because they are concerned about turning away seekers that are visiting. The last group is church leaders who don’t preach on money because you believe that giving is a natural progression of spiritual growth and people who love God will begin to give in time. I’ve actually spent time in all 3 of these groups, and since this previous Sunday I preached on generosity and tithing, I thought I would share my feelings on preaching about money. (This will also give church attenders a good perspective on why we do what we do)
Let’s start with the idea that we shouldn’t preach about money/giving because it will be a turn off to seekers. It is true that the topic can be polarizing, and can bring back memories of TV preachers and horror stories of other churches where integrity wasn’t found. It’s also true, however, that there is not one topic that hits home with as many people as financial strain. I would be willing to bet that in your churches at least 50% (probably more) of your people are dealing with a bad financial situation. So while the topic of money makes people uncomfortable, you have to ask yourself the question, “Why does it make them uncomfortable?” I believe that the topic of money is the toughest to teach on because there is no topic that has the potential to change your church, and your peoples’ lives more. In the end it’s a philosophical question. Does the attender drive the content or does the content draw the attender? I’m not smart enough to answer that question but I do believe that if you decide your teaching material based only on the truths that won’t cause tension, you will not be able to preach hardly any of the gospels.
What about the next group? The group that believes that giving is just a natural part of spiritual growth? It doesn’t need to be pushed or publicly addressed. To those people I would ask this question, “Do you preach on reading the Bible? Do you preach on prayer? Do you preach on the importance of getting into a small group?” Aren’t these all natural parts of spiritual growth? I believe generosity, on the contrary, is not natural. I believe it is a discipline that has to be built like a muscle. We are not born with the mindset of sharing. As we grow, we are forced to learn to share by our teachers and parents. Leaving generosity unaddressed isn’t a noble thing to do; it’s bad leadership. I haven’t always felt this way though. Before I was a senior pastor, when I held different staff positions, I just assumed that people would want to do the right things if they loved God. I was wrong. There’s a reason Zaccheus is a famous story; it only happened once. People respond to the standard that is set, so I want to set the standard that generosity is non-negotiable.
With all of that being said, let me give you 3 reasons I teach about giving.
1. I believe in it.
I’ve seen God use generosity to grow me and bless me all of my life, but especially in my adult life. Nothing hurts more than sacrificial giving, and my wife and I have found that every time we hear God knocking on our hearts to give in a way that stings, there is always something on the other side better than we were expecting.
2. It’s the antidote for greed.
Our society is obsessed with getting more of the latest and greatest stuff. Stats tell us that we live on 115% of our income. I love preaching on generosity because it’s the only way to cure greed. The only way that our people will get past their desire for more things is to gain the desire to give.
3. It is the ultimate sign of spiritual growth.
We’ve developed a new saying in our home. After God speaks to you, if you really don’t want to, that means you have to! Contrary to popular belief, spiritual growth is not Bible knowledge or church attendance. Spiritual growth is when you obey God sacrificially. If you are not obeying God’s voice when he is leading you into uncomfortable places, you are not growing spiritually. This doesn’t mean that we will only be uncomfortable with money. If God is leading you talk to someone at work, it may be uncomfortable, but when you do it you will grow. Maybe it’s forgiving someone you don’t want to forgive. Whatever it is, we grow when we press beyond our comfort. When it comes to money, it always hurts, and preaching about generosity gives the people a chance to grow spiritually like no other.
I want to encourage every church leader reading this article to teach about generosity more. Sure you will have people who will take shots at you, but isn’t it crazy how the people who take shots don’t give anyway. Don’t do it because you need to make budget. Don’t do it because you want to buy something new for the church. Do it because your people need the chance to grow.
About the author
Jason is the Teaching Pastor at River City Worship Center in Louisville KY, and owns a web development company Jbirdmedia. He wanted all boys until he had his daughter Sadie and now he wants 4 girls. You can follow him on twitter @jasonisaacs
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by Jeremy Isaacs on January 18, 2012
What are some steps that you guys take at RiverCity to help address the concerns, you mentioned, that people may have about accountability, financial integrity, how the money is being used, etc? How often do you specifically talk about money in a sermon?
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I teach specifically on tithing 2 or 3 times a year, but I preach on generosity every Sunday. My conviction is that we all drift towards selfishness so I try to bring awareness to it every Sunday. Give of your time, energy, etc. I also openly talk about mine and Andrea's generosity. I always have to guard my heart with pride or intentions, but I want my people to know that I give generously. I set the tone, so If I only give 10% I can't expect God to start something revolutionary in the church. It's been great to see our people donate cars, and buy things for people. I'm not taking the credit for that, but it is an example the we try to set. To address the concerns people have, we give the same speech every week before the offering. It goes something like this. " If you are a visitor this morning this service is our gift to you, please don't give a dime. If you have issues with churches and money we understand let the offering pass you by. God's not after your money and neither are we, however if this is your church this is your time to bring God his tithes and offerings. Stop being just a taker and be a giver." That's it. That's our offering speech. I know people use other methods, and I'm not saying we won't change ours in time, but right now we feel like this works best for us. We also took out a billboard 2 years ago that said "A church that isn't boring and isn't after your money" We caught some flack for it, and some people thought we were accusing other churches of being after their money, but for us we were trying to debunk the 2 biggest reasons people don't give church a chance. We expect our members to tithe, not our guests, but we don't change our teaching just because a visitor is there. Hope that helps.
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Oh, and also during our growth track 101 we take a good amount of time to talk about financial integrity. I tell them how important it is for them to be able to trust us with what they give. I make sure they know things like: 1. I never touch the money 2. My salary and raises are determined by the finance team of 5 people with secular jobs 3. We have a budget that determines spending, and is set and approved by the finance team and elders. Lastly we tell anyone at anytime if they want to see the financial reports at anytime all they have to do is ask. They can see how every cent is spent. We believe in what we do and how we do it. Maybe our executive pastor Cecil can share anything I've missed.
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Jeremy, well said! I'm afraid that we sell people short when it comes to talking about money. I believe that people want to give and want to support. They are looking for causes to bless. So often we assume that teaching on money is a turn off, but our approach makes it negative and then causes people to turn us off. If we share our stories of blessing and how giving has enriched our lives; if we share the stories of how giving has touched people and changed their environments and changed their living, if we are held accountable for what people give to our ministries, I believe that people will respond positively! Personally, I believe we are created with a desire to give. That desire just needs to be developed and encouraged. Pastors need to include this as a part of the discipleship process and need to model it before their people!
by Cecil Green on January 18, 2012
This is a good article but it follows a great sermon by Jason this past Sunday. I serve on staff with him at River City and if you're a pastor who would like a positive example of how to teach about money/giving then you need to consider ordering the message. Here's the amazing thing about speaking with conviction in obedience to God: it works. In full disclosure, we are always a little nervous when we teach about tithing because we've seen some of the negative response in the past. And this past Sunday as Jason was preparing the sermon, I prayed specifically about two people that I knew were going to be visiting for the first time and a couple of people that only pop in occasionally. As Jason said, money can be polarizing and I wanted them to hear his heart instead of just hearing the word "give" out of context. But, because God is bigger than us, and because Jason spoke with integrity and conviction, the people I was concerned about all said that they loved the message and couldn't wait to come back. I had a follow up lunch with one of the two couples and the wife said that she realized during that sermon that they need to start tithing. To further address Jeremy's question about financial integrity - we are more honest about our finances and budget than most people are interested in hearing. We present our entire budget every year in a session that is open to all regular attendees of the church. The first year there were lots of people present because it was new and different and they felt like they were getting "insider information". Now, several years into this, only a handful of people show up. It's a boring session actually, but we do it because it's the right thing to do. And, as Jason said, we offer financial statements to anyone who asks and we present a written outline showing the structure of our finance team in our Growth Track classes several times a year. In terms of disclosure, we treat it like we're a publicly held company and every person in attendance is a shareholder - even if they've never given a penny. I'd rather they have answers to their questions up-front. A long time ago, Jason and I decided that people may leave because they don't like us, but they'll never leave because they don't trust us. I suppose I'm biased, but I just believe that's a good way to run a church. If anyone else has any specific questions, let us know. We may not get everything right, but we do love to share about what God is doing in our congregation.
by Jeremy Moore on January 20, 2012
Good article Jason, and I'd piggy back on Jeremy's question/comment, that the best way to head off the nay sayers when you talk about money is to make transparency and accountability key components of your church stewardship. The more the door is open for all to see where the money goes, the less ammunition they have to talk about after a particularly "money focused" sermon or series. In the end it's all God's we (the church) should be treating it that way.
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