Making Sense of Money - Part C ... Fundraising
Making Sense of Money - Part C ... Fundraising
Introduction
The contemporary technology of fundraising pounds our pockets and our hearts daily.
Incessant and emotive TV advertising and inconvenient telemarketing have developed heightened skills in lifting money from wallets, when neither goods nor services are received in return.
I guess the aplomb of fundraising is the giving of money, without the offer of a tangible benefit to the donor.
Fundraising is simply the converging of values between the giver and the receiver. (Christian ministry is yet to fully grasp this fact. If it did, many current methods may well be questioned.)
Christian ministry is continually fraught with the desire to go forward, without the donations to do so.
Christian ministry has learned to plunder Egypt (Ex 12:35-36) and look to Babylon for the skill and counsel that would promote the pennies for their various ministry initiatives and strategies. The ways of the world have yet again encroached on the ways of God's work.
So, does the end justify the means?
In the 2007 commercial fall-out that spread worldwide, a very significant Anglican Diocese lost $160 million, as it had borrowed and invested heavily in the stock-market to raise funds for ministry purposes. Its very strategy had now severely hindered and not enhanced ministry. Was such a massive debt justifiable to support ministry. Should debt ever be engaged to extend the work of God?
In this two part series, six Biblical principles are briefly discussed. There is no order of importance and they are not mutually exclusive of each other.
6 Principles to live by
1- Ministry is supported by its beneficiaries
Jesus held no appeals, conducted no mail-outs, nor passed any plate. In fact the plates that Jesus passed around were full when they left His hands, not empty.
Jesus borrowed no money, nor conducted higher financial transactions. He also taught boldly from personal experience about His Father's extravagant provisions (Mt 6:25-33).
The only New Testament window into Jesus' temporal support is found in Lk 8:1-3. Jesus conducted itinerant ministry for three years. Jesus simply relied on the support of those He had served and His Father.
After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Lk 8:1-3)
In Philippians 4:14-19 the apostle Paul writes so thankfully for the material support He has received from those in Philippi. (See Acts 16 for the Bible's description of Paul's first mission and converts on European soil at Philippi.)
Principle 1 - The ministry is to generate its own support. Those who have benefited should also contribute as they are able and equipped by God to do so.
(A brief footnote to this point is that God had established tithing in the Old Testament, so His work could be done by His priests and His tasks accomplished. It is beyond this Soul Sense to discuss tithing, but it was clearly 'a user pays' system that supported God's work very well in the Old Testament when adhered to. 2 Chronicles 31:2-15 is a clear example of this Old Testament practice of tithing functioning well. There is NO reason why tithing should not operate these days; in fact tithing simply establishes a minimum standard for giving. This standard, Paul develops in the New Testament, with the new standard of generosity. See 2 Corinthians 8)
2- Tent-making is fundraising
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tent maker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:1-4)
This above reference is a clear indication of how Paul would work to support his own ministry of preaching. Paul made tents during the day and preached when he was not working.
In 2 Cor 12:13ff Paul also reminds the Corinthians how he had not been a burden on any of them. This was his practice for ministry. He simply intended to support himself.
Paul was happy to ask for funds for others in need, but not for himself. (1 Cor 16:1-4).
Paul also spoke with great clarity about how he had lived with abject poverty (2 Cor 6:3-13, 11:23ff) and was no person of pennies. In fact, he most lovingly and diligently expended himself, so as not to burden those he ministered to. (2 Cor 12:14-18)
Principle 2 - the minister/missioner, servant of God seeks to support himself and pay the costs of his call.
For all those God has called into His harvest fields, it is faith inviting to remember that their income is God's responsibility, then it is theirs. GOD PAYS FOR WHAT HE ORDERS.
This series concludes with the final 6 Biblical principles of fundraising.