When is money talked about at your congregation? No doubt it’s a source of discussion at the annual meeting and at council meetings. Certainly it’s top of mind for your church treasurer, financial administrator, and offering counters. But, how and when does the typical person in the pews hear about it? In many of our congregations, the only time we discuss money is when we are asking for some. It’s as if the church is a “one hit wonder” when it comes to money – we’ve got only one message and we just keep playing it. While this behavior alone is problematic – the Bible has a lot to say about our relationship with and use of money beyond giving to the church – it becomes even more problematic when leaders shift from inspiring generosity to trying to manipulate people to give more to the church.
Over the last five years, I’ve seen a rampant rise of using scriptures about money, and really any conversation about money in the church, to manipulate people into giving more. The COVID pandemic, as well as the decline in income that many congregations have experienced, has forced even the most money-reticent ministry leaders to talk openly about the financial needs of the church and community. I think this is a marvelous thing because it has opened up new avenues for generosity as well as conversations about discipleship and privilege that were long overdue. However, in our rush to encourage generosity, and keep our congregations afloat financially, many leaders have consciously or unconsciously crossed the line from inspiration and encouragement into manipulation and shaming. It’s heartbreaking to watch and harmful to experience.
My goal in writing this article is NOT an attempt to repay shame with shame by exposing all of the leaders who have fallen into this trap but rather to expose how easy it is to fall into the trap in the first place. It has become so deeply embedded in our reading of scripture, our stewardship practices, and our daily conversations with other ministry leaders that it can be difficult to recognize. It is one of the worst things that we can do as stewardship leaders and one of the quickest ways to lose trust and credibility. As we explore this topic together, I invite you to think about the ways you’ve seen this come up in congregations you’ve been a part of as well as ways you might fall into this trap yourself.
In the new Faith+Lead Academy Course, Money & Mission of the Church, I share that this manipulation can come up in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons, but the three most common ones I’ve seen are: promoting the prosperity gospel, short-cutting stewardship transformation, and spreading fear that the congregation is running out of money. Let’s start with the most easily recognizable way – the prosperity gospel. This is the belief that my faith in Jesus promises God’s favor. God wants me to be financially wealthy and physically strong, and God will bring these blessings into my life if I just believe.
It might sound something like these quotes from of one of the most famous prosperity gospel preachers, Joel Osteen, in his book Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential:
- “God wants to increase you financially, by giving you promotions, fresh ideas and creativity”
- “It’s our faith that activates the power of God.”
- “When you reach out to hurting people, that’s when God is going to make sure your needs are supplied. When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance.”
It’s inherently transactional – if you believe, then you receive. Taken a step further, if you give then you will receive a double blessing – what you’ve put in and so much more will come back to you. And if that’s not happening? In the theology of the prosperity gospel, that’s on you. It’s a sign that your faith is not adequate. This theology has been used to draw people to church and to line the pocketbooks of many prosperity gospel preachers.
It can be easy to see a quote from Joel Osteen and other famous prosperity gospel preachers and know that these words are not biblical and are intended to manipulate, but this can also show up in smaller, stealthier and even more insidious forms. For instance, you may have heard a sermon or two around this verse from John 14:14: “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” (NRSVUE) which espouses a kind of “name it and claim it” theology that if I ask God for something, no matter what it is, God will bring it. If that hasn’t happened, I need to simply pray harder, have more faith, even give more money.
I’ve also seen this verse from Malachi 3 used in a similar way: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” (NRSVUE) I have seen this verse used as a tithing mandate – if you don’t give, you won’t get God’s blessing. If you do give, you’ll not only get back everything you’ve given but more. What a motivation to give to the church!
Now, of course, just like with any of these, there is a little bit of truth in that statement. I do believe that when we give, we receive a lot back – but not usually in financial form. Oftentimes with this verse and so many others, the reason why this becomes manipulative is because we take it out of context. In the context here in Malachi three in particular, the Israelites were not paying their tithe, and it was becoming so bad for the priests that they had to leave the priesthood and become farmers. And as a result of that, God was withholding rain. There was a drought going on! And so when God is talking about opening up the windows of heaven to pour down overflowing blessings, God is quite literally talking about rain. That doesn’t sound like an excuse to pad the church’s pocketbook! That sounds like a plea for justice so that the priests can be paid equitably and return to their vocation.
Let’s take a look at another way manipulation emerges, this actually comes from a good place. Imagine a ministry leader whose faith and life is transformed by the realization that they are a steward. Their belief that God is the owner of all that is and that they have the opportunity to manage some of what God entrusted has reshaped the way they live out their faith in the world. In particular it has transformed the way they give: they tithe (or more!) to the church, they share generously with other non-profits, they live with an open-hand toward those in need, they live simply, etc. They want others to have the same transformative experience but they forget that this is often a slow process. It takes hearing a message many times, asking questions, often trying and failing, and then taking slow, methodical steps forward. This type of transformation rarely happens overnight! However, I’ve seen leaders who have had this experience of transformation try to short cut this process for others by intentionally or unintentionally using the Bible to shame or guilt people into giving because they believe it will be good for them.
A pastor that I respect recently shared one of these examples with me. He was trying to bring the transformative power of stewardship to his congregation and they didn’t seem to be catching on. He had heard this trick from a fundraiser who shared the beloved verse John 3:16 but stopped right in the middle: “For God so loved the world, that he gave.” The pastor was so excited about this idea! He wanted to put it in the bulletins and up on the walls. He wanted people to understand that God’s love means God’s giving and giving to the congregation is one of the best ways you can emulate God’s love. Eek! While this pastor’s motivation came from a good place – he wanted his people to experience the transformative power of stewardship – the result is using a beloved verse to guilt people into giving more.
The last example comes from congregations who are facing financial struggles. While this can certainly take a biblical turn like the other examples above (for instance, turning every instance of money in the lectionary into an excuse to ask for more for the congregation), this one often has a little less to do with the Bible and more with conversations about the church’s finances. For instance, a congregational leader might stand up in worship to tell the congregation about the church’s financial situation and say: “give or you won’t have a pastor in six months” OR “if you don’t give, we’ll be closing our doors next year.” While I appreciate the leader’s desire to be transparent with members, this language puts the entire onus on the members. This organization or leader will “live or die” by your generosity alone. Some members may choose to give out of guilt, shame, or fear; but others will likely leave because most of us have no desire to give to a sinking ship. Our giving shouldn’t be motivated by the pastor or the building – but by the mission and the ministry God is doing in this place as well as by the ways our giving connects us to the heart of God.
Similarly, I have often heard ministry leaders of struggling congregations talk pejoratively about their members implying that their church’s decline in giving, income, and membership is all the fault of the members. I’ve heard them refer to these members as stingy, ungrateful, and even lacking in faith. Instead of getting curious about why the income has declined or admitting that this congregation may be coming to the end of its natural cycle, they resort to shaming and blaming. This type of talk behind closed doors often bleeds out in unexpected ways when the doors are open.
So what might you do if you find yourself or leaders you know headed down this path? We don’t just need a change in language, we often need a change in mindset:
- Take a Fresh Approach to Money and Scripture: One of the best things we can do is return to scripture and explore what the Bible says about money. Money comes up all the time and usually it’s not about giving at all, it’s about the role that money plays in our lives. We’ve created a Faith+Lead Academy course called “Beyond the Tithe” that explores various scripture passages around through the lens of various spiritual practices and reflection questions.
- Discern God’s Mission for Your Congregation: We often resort to manipulation when we aren’t sure of another way to motivate generosity. As Clif Christopher says, in chapter 2 of Not Your Parent’s Offering Plate, the number one reason why people give is belief in the mission. They want to know how their dollars will make an impact and how your church is changing people’s lives.
- Hone Your Stewardship Leadership Skills: Curious what good stewardship leadership looks like outside of manipulation? Check out the Faith+Lead Academy course, Money & Mission of the Church.
- Diversify Your Ministry’s Income Sources: Manipulation often creeps in when we believe the offering plate is the only viable source of income for our congregations. Diversifying our income streams whether through grant funding, rental revenue, selling space, starting a social enterprise, or more – can help relieve that pressure on the offering plate as well as our fundraising and stewardship conversations. You can find out more about this approach in the Funding Forward Faith+Lead Academy course.
When we teach and preach openly about money without resorting to shame, guilt, or manipulation we are following in the way of Jesus. Jesus talked openly about money – referring to it in many of his parables. He knew that money, when stewarded unwisely, had the capacity to draw us away from God. However, money could also be a tool for us to live out our faith in the world, connecting us more deeply with God and our neighbors. Generosity is key to this, but generosity ceases to become generosity when it isn’t freely given.
