“And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.” (Romans 5:16)
“...ye have not, because ye ask not.” (from James 4:2)
This piece may seem totally inappropriate to post on Good Friday. If if offends anybody, I regret that. There’s just something gnawing at me today that I’d love to get some solid Biblical feedback on.
I receive a number of e-mail newsletters, as probably many of you do. One of them is from a Christian institution of higher learning. Specifically, it’s from one of our Assemblies of God institutions of higher learning. (In the U.S. Assemblies of God, we have at least fifteen such “endorsed” schools including a seminary, several colleges, and several universities.) I won’t say WHICH AG school it was, except that it was NOT my alma mater, Central Bible College.
The newsletter featured a prominent piece by the school’s President. The school’s President is probably one of the ten most loved and respected Assemblies of God ministers in the U.S. He states that he tries to only put out major financial appeals once a quarter, and that this is one such appeal. The President writes that he needs at least 4 people to donate at least $50,000. apiece this Spring, along with others donating what they can.
In evangelical Christian circles there IS some controversy about putting out such letters and e-mails. SOME good friends of mine say that it’s very bad to put out such information...that it’s manipulative and smacks of the worst of worldly marketing. The example that’s usually given is George Mueller. George Mueller lived in 19th Century England. George was a devout and praying Christian. He founded a number of orphanages which ran totally on faith. He never put out any financial appeals. He just prayed and donations poured in. Not only did MONEY pour in, but more commonly it was sacks of flour, or bottles of milk, or maybe some fresh killed chickens, or something like that. George Mueller ran a number of orphanages that way for many years never putting out any financial or other appeals.
My question is: Why was George Mueller one in a million? Well, I know there HAVE been a few other ministries that have run totally on faith the same way...but VERY few! My experience is that 98% of churches and para-church ministries depend on financial appeals. If you’ve been a born-again Christian for any length of time, you’ve received (frankly manipulative) fundraising letters from Christian organizations. In some cases, they can get kind of ridiculous, as with the old PTL Television ministry of the 1970s. Every month there would be a sensational letter from them stating they were in a crisis and needed a great financial miracle. And every month, millions of dollars would pour in to them. Well,we all know Jim Bakker went to prison and that all fell apart.
But even the most reputable ministries put out fund-raising letters. They’re usually less sensational than PTL’s used to be, but they definitely ask for money.
Now that I’m no longer pastoring and First Assembly of God of Framingham has closed, I think I can write much more freely about this. Sometimes I was criticized for putting out manipulative fund-raising letters on behalf of the church. I plead guilty. I did put them out. Honestly, they worked. Well, 90% of the time, they worked.
I DID find that if you put out such letters TOO often, they don’t work. You have to have a legitimate need that you can clearly state. You also have to be able to state some legitimate accomplishments of your church's (or para-church organization’s) ministry. Maybe 3 people got saved last month. Maybe a person with a heart condition was miraculously healed at one of your services. Maybe a new family in town got help and direction and wrote you a complimentary e-mail which you draw excerpts from. Put it out there: it works. Just about every time I sent out an “all mailing list” mailing with a heavy fundraising component, two things would happen: ONE is that our attendance would be up for the next couple of Sundays, TWO is that our income would be up for the next couple of Sundays. Then it would drop back to it’s usual level.
“Pastor Bob, the first-century church didn’t do manipulative stuff like that!” some will counter. Actually, they did.
Check out what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9. It’s quite manipulative. Paul was raising money from churches in the central Mediterranean area to help the famine victims of the Jerusalem area. In that low tech era, he spent over a year soliciting donations; then he and a group of several others brought the donated money to the church at Jerusalem. Specifically in 2 Corinthians 9, Paul writes to the church at Corinth that he’s been bragging to the Christians of Macedonia about how the church at Corinth was ready to give to the offering a year ago. Now, Paul’s kind of nervous. He’s going to be showing up at Corinth with some Macedonians to pick up their money. He’s afraid the Corinthians will have little or no money to donate and that he (and the Corinthians) will look like fools. He gives them specific instructions about putting money aside for the next several weeks in special offerings so that doesn’t happen. When I think about the modern arm-twisting financial appeals in Christian circles, well, that wasn’t much different.
Honestly, in the last couple of months I was at First Assembly of God of Framingham we desperately needed a financial miracle. I wanted to put out one of the strongest financial appeals I’d EVER put out. Frankly, there were a few people on our mailing list that could have made substantial donations. On the other hand, I did not want to offend some people in our church Membership who probably WOULD have found such an appeal offensive. So, I backed off.
Is the George Mueller approach to fundraising the correct one?
The Jim Bakker approach?
The Apostle Paul approach?
The AG College President approach?
There’s no question that such appeals do offend a number of Christians.
Again, they also work.
On Good Friday, we especially remember that “Jesus paid it all” for our salvation.
Unfortunately, churches and ministries all have mortgage payments, and utility bills, and insurance requirements, etc. etc. That battle between “faith” and “promotion/marketing” can be a tough matter to reconcile.
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2 comments:
It's a loaded issue because in essence they're all part right. Part of what is hard to translate from the first century model is it was smaller (relatively speaking) and more socialist based. People sold their stuff and gave to the church. We don't do that anymore. We don't gather our stuff and "distribute to those who have need" anymore, unless you're a big church with a food pantry or something.
I can't answer the question about when it's right to ask for money. But I can say this: conversely, the church doesn't know how to give anymore. There are certain givers yes, but I think in general we don't know how to give by faith. We have become so jaded that we don't know what to do with our money unless specifically begged for it. I don't know why that is, but it seems to me that maybe only 5% of the time do I see people give because God expressly told them to and they were listening.
Even our faith giving is done with arm twisting. The AG has their "faith promise" program to support missions. They feel the need to explain giving by faith and send out paraphernalia to churches to get their people to essentially promise God that they will give a certain amount every month. Why? Because frankly their business model demands that they know what kind of funds to expect. I'm all for giving by faith, but over this past year I've come to see this as a manipulation. They want us not to call them pledges but "faith promises", something you promise to give God by faith. ...Scripture is pretty clear that making promises, vows, or oaths to God is a dangerous business. I wonder how many over the years have broken their faith promises, and what sort of results that yields.
I think I've rambled a bit. But your post has reminded me I have this month's faith promise to give somewhere somehow.
I am always bothered by the 'you need to give us $x amount of money because we need it' approach. However many of us just don't understand or think about the cost of maintaining buildings, staff, etc, or what others may be giving (i.e. 'what do you mean, the collection didn't cover it?' syndrome).
The most effective appeal I ever experienced was a personal contact from another member of the church laying out the cost of maintaining the property and asking me to consider what the church meant in my life and give accordingly. I just hadn't thought about it before. Only once have I given just because it felt right, separate from a social obligation/expectation.
So since most of us are not listening or at least not paying attention, I think it is important to put the size of the need out there. I like the public radio model where the costs are laid out and the goals of what the station would like to do are stated. If these are not achieved then something has to change in the management (goals or costs).
Any appeal that is either begging (please we really need the money with no specifics) or a threat (if we don't get $x, something terrible but not specific will happen), makes me nervous and suspect a con. Suffice it to say most people need a wake up call but make it upbeat, specific and fact based, in my opinion.
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