Money: When You Move to Meddlin'
Haddon Robinson
Many conflicts in the Christian life come because people approach money with a mindset different from God's. My goal as a preacher is to bring their thinking in line with his.
— Haddon Robinson
A Madison Avenue advertising firm surveyed nonchurched people a few years ago and asked them their impressions of church. "The problem with church," respondents said, "is that the people are always sad, or they talk about death, or they ask for money."
In response, many churches today are upbeat, don't say much about death, and rarely broach the offensive subject of money.
Of course, a desire for evangelistic effectiveness is not the only reason we preachers are reluctant to talk about money. Many people, both inside the church and out, feel money is filthy lucre. One layman boasted to me that in the ten years his pastor had been there, the pastor had never preached on money, but the church had done well financially. The thinking seems to be. If we can get by without talking about money, all the better.
Finally, there's the ever-present nervousness that listeners will perceive we are benefiting personally, that we have a vested interest in speaking on the topic.
The result, in my perception, is that today's growing-up generation has not been challenged about giving. Statistics reveal that people under 40 contribute only about 2 percent of their income to charitable causes. If you were to ask people over 50 who have grown up in the church, "What should a Christian give?" they'd say, "A tithe." I don't think you'd get that response from the younger generation. Whether or not they agree with tithing, they have not been taught to give. Giving in church, for many of them, is seen as paying admission: You pay $15 to go to a hockey game, and ...
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