Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Should Christians "Raise" Money?
Matt 6:24-33
I got thinking about this as I reviewed my mail and the uncountable numbers of solicitations for donations that I receive on a daily basis. Seems like everytime I stop to look there is another good Christian organization there with their hand out, asking me for some of my money. Worse, the more I give, the more I get asked to give.
There is something wrong in this system, not that I object to giving, no the problem is in the asking. One of the hardest things in the world is to know if we are doing "what God wants us to be doing." There are not a lot of scriptural directions around for what is and is not a good "ministry" and how we are supposed to manage them in this tax intensive, non-profit organizing society we live in.
One of the ways I have always interpreted the passage above is that if I am doing what God wants of me, I don't have to sweat the money stuff - He'll take care of it. The way I figure it, if there is not enough money around to do what I am doing, then it must be because I am somehow placing myself outside of God's providential care. Which means, if I am having to work hard to raise money for some "ministry" I am interested in then it is likely that ministry is on that outside.
Now, in a world where minisrty is done on donation, we certainly have to let people know the opportunity to contribute is there, that's not what I am talking about. I'm and talking about mass-mailing, four-color glossy, TV ad running, pyramidal marketing fund raising schemes. I'm talking about the offer of "premiums" if you contribute at the $X level, I'm talking about getting as much contribution solicitation from Christian organizations as I get from the Republication party!
If your ministry has a money problem, maybe the thing to do is reevalute the ministry, not step up the fund-rasing efforts.
Related Tags: donations, fund raising, providence, care, money, Christian, ministry
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.It's a familiar passage - familiar to the point of cliche' and like most cliche's I think we ignore or minimize the extreme truth they hold.
I got thinking about this as I reviewed my mail and the uncountable numbers of solicitations for donations that I receive on a daily basis. Seems like everytime I stop to look there is another good Christian organization there with their hand out, asking me for some of my money. Worse, the more I give, the more I get asked to give.
There is something wrong in this system, not that I object to giving, no the problem is in the asking. One of the hardest things in the world is to know if we are doing "what God wants us to be doing." There are not a lot of scriptural directions around for what is and is not a good "ministry" and how we are supposed to manage them in this tax intensive, non-profit organizing society we live in.
One of the ways I have always interpreted the passage above is that if I am doing what God wants of me, I don't have to sweat the money stuff - He'll take care of it. The way I figure it, if there is not enough money around to do what I am doing, then it must be because I am somehow placing myself outside of God's providential care. Which means, if I am having to work hard to raise money for some "ministry" I am interested in then it is likely that ministry is on that outside.
Now, in a world where minisrty is done on donation, we certainly have to let people know the opportunity to contribute is there, that's not what I am talking about. I'm and talking about mass-mailing, four-color glossy, TV ad running, pyramidal marketing fund raising schemes. I'm talking about the offer of "premiums" if you contribute at the $X level, I'm talking about getting as much contribution solicitation from Christian organizations as I get from the Republication party!
If your ministry has a money problem, maybe the thing to do is reevalute the ministry, not step up the fund-rasing efforts.
Related Tags: donations, fund raising, providence, care, money, Christian, ministry
