“The last part of a man to be converted is his wallet.” — John Wesley
I made an announcement at church, launching our budget for 2013.
The announcement was a difficult word — not only did I thank those people who are generous, I lovingly rebuked those who aren’t generous, and called them to repent, turn to Christ and make him Lord of their wallets.
I spent hours crafting the seven-minute announcement — more time than I’ve invested in any other announcement I’ve made in church (except perhaps fundraising calls for our building project!).
Before I stood up to make each announcement, I felt really nervous.
While I was confident that the message needed to be said and called people to honour Jesus as Lord, I was fearful (to my shame) of how people would respond and what they would think of me.
I noticed something strange going on in myself:
When I call people to be generous with the money God has given them (and rebuke some for their lack of generosity), I am nervous and fearful.
If I was to call people to be generous with the time and gifts that God has given them (and rebuke them for their lack of generosity), I can’t imagine feeling the same nerves and fear.
The topics are very similar, and the approach is identical:
- Both are calls to be generous.
- Both are grounded in the truth that everyhing we have comes from God, and belongs to God.
- Both are addressing disciples of Jesus, whose authority is the word of God.
So what is it about calling people to be generous with money that produces this unique inner turmoil, and results in many avoiding talking about money altogether?
I want to suggest five reasons why it’s so difficult to speak about financial generosity in church.
1. It is culturally inappropriate.
Our individualistic culture (in the west) worships privacy. Privacy is often simply a mask for escaping scrutiny and accountability.
In our private culture, it is simply not appropriate to ask people how much they earn, or how much they give. In our culture, we are more comfortable asking questions about sex or politics — or anything else really — anything, except money.
As a friend pointed out to me yesterday, even a question such as, “How much did you pay for your house?” is a culturally inappropriate question. I think this reveals a lot about the place money takes in our culture — it is the dominant idol of our age.
