Joe Manafo

the new economy: money

money: owning people since the beginning of time.

dough - greenback - kitty - scratch - legal tender.

in light of the new economy, the casino isn’t the only place where the buck is gambled. the church, notorious for misappropriating funds, also has a penchant for wagering its soul. unfortunately, the odds of winning are better at the casino.

i do, however, see this trend coming to an end - but it’s not by choice. from my vantage point, the financial infrastructure on which the church in north america was built is on its last legs. for a variety of reasons (decaying support structures, giving streams, etc.) our financial base has slowly eroded away thus signaling churches to adjust their sails or face their own extinction. you can call it the result of a post christian america, i call it a gift from God.

why?

on the surface, this harsh reality is forcing churches to re-examine how they are stewarding their resources. but a closer look reveals a call to recapture our essence: the salty tasting, cheek turning, de-labeled subversion that establishes God’s kingdom on earth.

with theStory we’ve been quietly pondering what part this will all play in shaping our community. in short, this is what we’re thinking about:

100% tithe

blurring the lines between personal finances and church finances, we believe, is a well rounded biblical approach. we understand that all that we have is a gift from God, it belongs to him, and we’ve been given the responsibility to steward it for his glory and for the benefit of others. thus, if there is a need, we meet it. giving is seen as part of worship, therefore paying our rent, buying someone a bus pass, hiring a babysitter for the single mom who needs a night out is just as spiritual as supporting a member who’s heading to the dominican republic on a missions trip. bottom line: there is no limit to how much we give - we’re not off the hook if we’ve give our monthly 10% - it’s all at God’s disposal. all
of it.

the funnel

we see our church as a funnel for financial resources. as people give to the coffers, we in turn, give it away again. it usually goes in two directions: local & global. when we speak of local it could go to a member of our church community who is in need, or a need in our city. (incidentally this article has got me thinking this morning of how we, as a church, can address the needs of the poor in our city.) when we speak of global, we look to extending God’s kingdom to people and places outside of our own context. recently i’ve been talking to a friend who works for World Relief Canada. not sure where that will lead, but by next fall my hope is that theStory has adopted a global project.

the shoe string

the entire budget for our church is less than $50,000/year, and because of our approach, i don’t see that number drastically increasing over the next ten years. in fact, i believe that church planting in medium to large canadian cities can be done for $50k or less per year. on this topic, i’m of the opinion that 10 churches of 100 is a healthier perspective than 1 church of 1000. so if you do the math, for a church of 100 for example, it would cost less than $50/month per attender to keep the thing afloat. imagine that…

all that to say that in this new economy…

may we come to terms with that the former infrastructure on which we once depended has just about expired.

may we make intelligent and Spirit led decisions revamping our structures for the present and the future.

may we steward our finances in truly biblical manner.

may we give freely, without hesitation as the Spirit give opportunity.

Filed by Joe at May 9th, 2007 under Rants