Getting Financially Involved in Your Church

For those of you new to Free Money Finance, I post on The Bible and Money every Sunday. Here's why.

Recently some of the Christian Financial Alliance members answered the question "What is one piece of advice you would offer to someone wanting to get involved in the financial arena of their church?"

The people asked took this question one of two ways:

• Some considered "financial arena of their church" to mean something like working in church administration, handling money, doing the accounting, and so forth.
• Some considered "financial arena of their church" to mean something like teaching/helping people manage their personal finances, usually with a study/plan developed by Crown Ministries, Dave Ramsey, or something similar.

I took it to mean the former, and here's my answer:

“Depends on the area, but generally I’d tell them to make sure their finances are solid before they start working on the managing the church’s money.”

Here's the deal: I don't want someone managing the tithe I give to the church if they can't manage their own money correctly. It's the same reason I won't go to a fat doctor. If they can't take their own advice and manage their affairs according to some set of "best practices" then I doubt that they'll do a great job doing it for someone else. I realize some (many?) people may disagree with this, but that's my take on the situation.

I'm interested in knowing your take on this issue. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Comments

[JP]

To your sound advice of having your own house in order first, I would add "only seek that type of role once you are giving of your resources.". Giving should be the first way to get involved, and giving changes your perspective on how the church's finances should be handled.

[Eric]

FMF,

I like those ideas.
1. Getting involved with handling the Church's money and administration.
2. Learning and teaching about handling [my] money God's way.
and/or
3. Getting involved with the Church's benevolence or missions groups.

Someone should be getting involved with ensuring the food pantry is stocked, serving weekly free meals, or making sure the congregation knows about the latest missions sponsorships. I think serving in those capacities help individually and corporately. Those involved receive reminders of how good they have it and to remain humble (financially) and grateful to God's grace in their lives. In addition, those involved help ensure as a Church we maintain our focus on helping "the least of these" who struggle through this life financially.

Keep up the good work,
Eric