From the "Stewardship" issue of The Living Pulpit, July-September 2006 A Daring Rescue — Reclaiming Stewardship from “Paying the Bills” By Rev. Charles R. Lane

The cold winds of January were blowing. In the warmth of the church basement, Pastor Johnson eagerly reported to his colleagues, “Stewardship was very good at First Church last year. We not only paid all the bills, we even had a little extra money that we have carried over into the new year.”

Unwittingly, Pastor Johnson had just become an accomplice in one of the most dastardly kidnappings ever known to Christendom. Without intending to do so, the good cleric had just kidnapped stewardship and replaced it with “paying the bills.” Unfortunately, Pastor Johnson has countless partners in crime across our land.

When talk about money in the congregation focuses on the need for the congregation to receive members’ money, rather than the need for the members to give generously as a part of their relationship with their Lord, the kidnapping has occurred. When your congregation presents a budget to members during the “stewardship program” and some well-intentioned finance committee member stands up and says, “Costs for everything are going up, and the church is no different. We need everyone to increase their giving for next year to help cover the increases,” the kidnapping has occurred. If sometime in December a wealthy member of the congregation asks, “Pastor, how much do we need to make the budget,” and then writes a check, the kidnapping has occurred. When someone comes to a new pastor and says, directly or indirectly, “Pastor, we’ll worry about the money, you worry about spiritual things,” the kidnapping has occurred.

Contrast these statements of the congregation’s needs with the way Jesus talks about money in the Gospels. Jesus talks about money a lot, and when he does the focus is always on the place of money in the individual’s relationship with God. Generally, Jesus’ talk about money falls into one of two categories. Sometimes he talks about money as a threat—generally as a threat to a person’s relationship with him. “No one can serve two masters” summarizes Jesus’ words in this regard. On other occasions, Jesus talks about the duty that accompanies having money. Those who have money are obliged to use it in the care of those who don’t have enough. The story of the rich man and Lazarus is but one example of this.
Although Jesus talks about money a lot, he never talks about the need of the church to receive. Jesus always talks about the need of the giver to give. This is the Bible’s stewardship message. We who gather in Jesus’ name would do well to follow our Lord’s lead.

Pastor Johnson and others have kidnapped stewardship. I am convinced that we can rescue stewardship, return it to its rightful place in congregational life, and send “paying the bills” to its proper place in the treasurer’s job description. I am also convinced that our preaching is a great place to start this rescue. Let me offer three suggestions.
First, we can commit ourselves to honest talk about money. Too many pastors I know are afraid to talk about money. I understand this. Each of us has probably heard someone complain about coming to church and always hearing about money. Many pastors react to this complaint by never talking about money.

Most often this complaint is unfounded. Most churches talk about money considerably less than Jesus did. Further, when we talk honestly and plainly about money as a spiritual issue, not as something the church needs, the complaints will usually disappear. We live in a society with all sorts of anxiety about money. If we can help people address these anxieties in a grace-centered way, there will be no complaints.

When we talk about money as an all-year spiritual issue, not a one-Sunday-a-year plea, God’s people will appreciate the honest conversation and the help for their day-to-day lives. I would suggest that honest talk about money should include the pastor’s indicating his or her giving level to the congregation. Since the pastor is called to provide spiritual leadership to the congregation, and since money is a spiritual matter, not talking about money is no more tolerable than not talking about prayer.

Second, as preachers we are presented with an excellent opportunity to talk about money. The opportunity is presented by our Lord in the Gospels. Since Jesus talked so much about money, texts about money will regularly present themselves. If you preach from the lectionary, seize the opportunities when they appear in the lectionary readings to preach on financial matters. If you don’t use a lectionary, be sure to regularly select texts in which Jesus deals with money. In doing so, you will be faithful to the Scriptures. I know a few pastors who, when the assigned Gospel for a Sunday deals with money and possessions, regularly preach from the Epistle or the Old Testament that week. Don’t join their ranks.

My third suggestions is that when you talk about money, you follow Jesus’ themes of money as a threat and money as a duty. Be honest with people about how money functions in these ways in your own life. Ask people to think about how money functions in these ways in their lives. Naming these two themes and examining them honestly can be very freeing for God’s people. They discover that they are not alone in their struggles, and they find hope as they face the financial anxieties of life.

A recent article in USA Today was entitled, “Many marriages today are ’til debt do us part.” If Jesus’ focus on money isn’t enough motivation for us to preach about money openly and honestly, then this headline ought to convince us that God’s people in the twenty-first century need us to preach about money openly and honestly.
Many people have described the sermon as the intersection of God’s word and the newspaper. Honest preaching about money is certainly at this intersection. And besides, who doesn’t want to pull off the daring rescue of a kidnap victim?

About the Author

The Rev. Charles R. Lane is Director for Stewardship Key Leader, a program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is the author of Ask, Thank, Tell: Improving Stewardship Ministry in Your Congregation, recently published by Augsburg Fortress.