Money

Cue the Pink Floyd.
I never cared for the song or the group, but I must admit, it has a message.
Stay on a church board long enough, and you will have to deal with the wonderful and at times terrible subject of money.
First we have to understand that the church HAS to spend money. I know that sounds kind of simple, but you would be surprised at the people that don't get that.
There is where the problem lies.
God is so cool that He made us all different. We all look at things from a different point of view. It's no wonder many marriages fall apart, usually there is a saver and a spender, and unless we are willing to work together and compromise, we are in for some huge battles.
Those attitudes come with us when we enter the council meeting room. There are savers and spenders. The fuel is present for some nasty explosions and unfortunately, like some marriages, churches split.
How do we avoid this?
First we must realize that the church is NOT a business and it is NOT like our home finances. The goals need to be different.
In our homes we try to save some for retirement, or maybe a home or a car. In a business you save to upgrade, and perhaps keep a little in case business gets slow.
What does the church save for? What is its goals?
I never really thought about it until I was reading Erwin McManus' book "An Unstoppable Force". It hit me. We are worried about our survival.
When we become more interested in our church surviving than we are about its mission, we have reached a dangerous point in our church history.
It turns itself inward, hoarding its resources, afraid to step out and spend a little to do the work. Maybe what we really ought to call it is unfaithfulness.
I really tried to think of a Biblical story of God rewarding people who lacked faith in His ability to provide. The only one I can think of is when the Hebrew people were wondering in the desert (because they lacked faith, hmmm) and God provided them with manna.
I wonder how many churches are wandering in the "desert" because they didn't think God was big enough to handle a mission project, or whatever else we NEED to be doing in our churches.
The Bible says we cannot serve two masters. We cannot say we are doing everything we can to reach people when we are unwilling to spend our money for ministry. We cannot serve the god of money and the one true God.
Now I'm not saying the church shouldn't have a little put away for a roof or something like that, our buildings need upkeep, and of course the church should always pay its bills, but don't always think that being a good steward means hoarding your money while people in your community are going hungry and needing clothes.
The church in Acts, according to the Bible, sold what they had and gave it away. You will notice they did not put it away for a rainy day, into a CD or a building fund. The "church" was not worried about their survival, just doing the work of their Lord.
No wonder it grew.