Church Finance: A Dangerous Trend

What are some reasons that people give to your church?  To be sure, there are the obvious reasons.  Many of your givers probably feel compelled to give out of obedience to commands in Scripture to tithe; "it is the right thing to do," they will say.  Some may give from the perspective that they are, in a sense, purchasing certain rights - rights to vote, to use the fellowship hall, to exert influence upon the church in some way.  You may have some who give out of a cheerful heart, not out of compulsion, but simply out of appreciation for the work of the Lord in their lives.  These probably have been blessed through the ministry of your church, and they believe in your mission.  They want to see others blessed in that very same way.  So what's the trend, and why is it dangerous?
Have you ever seen someone stop giving abruptly over a disagreement or something similar?  You only visited them eight out of the nine days they were in the hospital, or you hired a candidate that they voted against.  It could be something far less significant.  I smile as I write this, because if you are in church leadership, I don't have to ask.  I know you have run into this.  Some people will level the accusation that you only visit them or care about them, because you want their money.  The trend here would be giving for the wrong reasons.  And the reason it is dangerous is that we develop elaborate budgets on a projected contribution number.  If that contribution number is susceptible to inaccurate impressions, your church can be in for a rocky road.  All it takes is one mouth in your church to go visit everyone and convince them to withhold their tithe or that the church only cares about them insofar as they can fund the church's work.  You may wonder what can be done about this?  Here are a few suggestions.

• Address the biblical reasons for giving in your new members class. In the same breath as explaining to new members that the church expects its people to be invested financially in its work, it would be a good idea to explain the biblical reasons that we give.  The Bible says, "we love Him, because He first loved us."  You could say by analogy, "We give to God, because He first gave to us."  We give out of love and appreciation to the Lord - not grudgingly, but in grace.  As one of my Seminary professors used to say, "If God's got you, He will have your money."  Get people's hearts to the Lord first.  It's not about the money.
• Convince your people that your love for them is not at all conditioned upon their giving. I have even said to people (even if it makes my bean counters nervous), I would rather you never gave another cent to the Lord than to believe for one moment that your church only loves you because of what you give to us.  If they put it to the test, people will find that they receive the same level of love, concern, and care from the church whether they give or not.  A key verse for this is Philippians 4:17, "Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account."  If there is any confusion as to the church's motive for encouraging people to give, I don't even address Philippians 4:17 at first.  Just tell people we are going to serve you the same whether you fund the Lord's work or not.  
• View God as the One who pays the bills.  This is easier said than done.  God may use certain people to bless your church financially, but He can use anyone who is surrendered to Him.  We love and treat everyone as Jesus would treat them, and at the same time, if our obedience to God's direction puts us at odds with certain people who comprise large percentages of our church's income, we keep putting one foot in front of the other out of obedience to the voice of the Lord.  If God can raise up sons to Abraham from rocks in your parking lot, then He can pay your church's bills independently of the control people in your congregation if He so desires.  This is a principle that is best kept to yourself, but it can truly help you have confidence and boldness in guiding God's people into His will.  Of course, you will want to exercise discernment here and not just dismiss genuine critics and difficult people who get on your nerves.  The Bible seems to prioritize reconciliation as a first step in the vast majority of cases.
• When you preach on stewardship, drive home the right reasons to give. I say when and not if, because Jesus preached on money more than anything else except the Kingdom.  And pulpit enters into the public record your position on the issue as the pastor.  Let the bean counters get nervous.  We don't give to avoid consequences.  We don't even give to twist God's arm into blessing us.  We give to worship God and to give back to God so that His work flourishes and so that the Gospel reaches the ends of the earth.