For the Love of Money…
When I was a student in seminary the Texas state lottery was at 800 million. I was curious if the pastor at the church I was interning at would accept a tithe from this if someone in the congregation won the lottery. In my head the good that money could do through ministry was mind blowing. When was the last time a church received a check for eighty million dollars without strings attached? Then he blew my mind, he said he would not accept such a thing because of where it came from. It was not about gambling and the like being an issue, although we did talk about the damage that can do to a person, it was about accepting money that was received from a program that inherently damages people who play it. My father once called the lottery a “tax on people who can’t do math”.
In his book, Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practices in a Consumer Culture, Vincent Miller does an outstanding job of tracing the roots of a consumeristic society and how that affects religion. I loved his first line in the introduction. “This is not a book about religion against consumer culture; it is a book about the fate of religion in consumer culture.” [1] This speaks to the heart of my problem, why is the church so self-centered? What causes churches to turn this way?
“What’s in it for us?” is the prevailing principle of decision-making for too many churches. Denominational leaders and professional fundraisers know that to be successful in their promotions, they have to convince churches that this project will reap great rewards for them personally.[2] When you read this over and over in different publications, from different denomination points of view. The church looks exactly like the world when it comes to a me first attitude. Miller speaks to the consumer culture and the movement when he writes “industrial laborers, post-industrial service workers, and white collar office workers pour their lives into alienated labor, they will be inclined to seek just the sorts of shallow fulfillments that consumerism provides.”[3] So what is alienation, according to Miller it removes men and women from their creative power as human beings.[4] In other words the industrial revolution and its subsequent moving of the labor force from an agrarian focus and community focus, to one where the skilled labor force is, for lack of a better description, dumbed down to button pushers, they loose their creative ability. This causes them to search out other things to quench the inner desire for more and at that point a consumer mindset occurs. Instead of a person finding fulfillment in creating while they work, whether it is food, hand made tools, etc, they look for fulfillment in the things they own or purchase. In his review of Miller’s work, Darryl McKee says “In this postmodern consumer culture, practices that at one time had their own rules and standards (e.g., religion, friendship, art) are instead subsumed under the rules and standards of consumption. This consumption approach to all practices assumes a seed of dissatisfaction with the present and a continuing search for something better.” [5]
If you look in the church, this also seems to pervade the thought process. Congregations see other churches and what they have, and feel inadequate and feel they must spend more. Spend more on a new sanctuary, a new sound system, a new lighting show. These things, they tell themselves, will make their church a place where more people will come. In a way they are right, in his article Aaron Earls writes, “They want the church with the best preacher, with the best worship, closest to their house that makes them feel welcomed when they decide to show up.”[6] Pew research was quoted in the same article with these statistics,When asked what factors played a role in their choosing their new church home, Americans overwhelmingly pointed to four main concerns: quality of the sermons (83%), feeling welcomed by the leaders (79%), style of worship (74%), and location (70%). [7] So people change churches looking for the latest and greatest, looking to consume what they feel can fill them up the best. The problem with this lies in the fact that all churches seem to be doing is sheep stealing. I have watched youth ministers, at lunch in schools, “recruit” kids from other churches to come to their church because they have a better band or more giveaways than the other church they are attending. There is no focus on reaching out and finding people who are lost, who really need to hear the gospel. They pay lip-service to those things by giving to a cooperative program and sending people on short term mission trips, but when you look at their spending, you see where the focus is. When a church has a “green room” for the talent to relax before their performance, we are just putting on a show.
So where does the answer lie? I don’t know, how do you change a whole American mindset of I want to buy the latest and greatest gadget for my fulfillment. It does not matter that I just purchased a new 50″ 4k LED television, I just saw my next t.v. at Wal-Mart, the bastion of consumerism. I feel maybe the answer lies somewhere in our past, smaller churches with a community focus.
[1] Miller, Vincent Jude. Consuming religion Christian faith and practice in a consumer religion. New York: Continuum, 2013. 1.
[2] McKeever, Joe. “Is This Mentality Killing Your Church?” OutreachMagazine.com. July 17, 2017. Accessed February 07, 2018. http://www.outreachmagazine.com/features/21777-selfish-church.html.
[3] Miller, Vincent Jude. Consuming religion Christian faith and practice in a consumer religion. New York: Continuum, 2013. 35.
[4] Ibid. 34.
[5] Clark, Terry. “Book Review.(Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture)(Book Review).” Journal of Marketing 69, no. 4 (2005): 264.
[6] “Why Do Americans Change Churches?” The Wardrobe Door. August 24, 2016. Accessed February 7, 2018. http://thewardrobedoor.com/2016/08/americans-change-churches.html.
[7] Ibid.
About the Author
Jason Turbeville
A pastor, husband and father who loves to be around others. These are the things that describe me. I was a youth minister for 15 years but God changed the calling on my life. I love to travel and see where God takes me in my life.12 responses to “For the Love of Money…”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Jason,
Overall great job! I have a few thoughts. This is an important topic for you and your dissertation.
Maybe I am too consumeristic because i just bought a 65” 4K tv on Black Friday!! If someone tithes 80m to your church, TAKE THE MONEY!!!
The devil has had that money long enough.
IMO
Kyle
I actually probably would but man the issues that could crop up just give me a headache thinking about it. Of course to win it you have to spend it…most lottery winners end up bankrupt within 18 months, not a happy thought.
Jason
Jason,
I agree it telling to see how we as the church have adopted marketing, fund-raising and promotional philosophies from businesses. I think some aspects can be used to enhance parts of what we do. How do we differentiate was is useable from the business world what should not be considered?
The answer lies in you donating the 50” tv to your favorite overseas worker…:-) If large churches are what we seems to like…how can they be authentic and large? How can churches that are small be different and not long to be what they are not? It is difficult even in our context to get away from the bigger is better mentality. We have defined success (even in the church world) as more butts in the main sanctuary, rather than more in small groups discipleship. Good look at your own world through the eyes of a pastor that cares.
Greg,
Not sure my tv would work in China, I mean it was made there but ya know… :). I love the idea of house churches which I have read are pretty prominent in China, have you seen this to be true, and if so are they more authentic in their faith and how they walk it?
It’s a challenge, isn’t it? I do think that we have to think through the implications of having a consumer-oriented church. What good are butts in the seat if lives are not being transformed into the likeness of Christ? Jason, what do you do in your church to avoid some of these pitfalls?
Jennifer,
I think the best I can do is live as authentically in Christ and encourage those around to do the same. One thing friends of mine who ave worked in megachurches have said time and again is that the main struggle is how do they not become mile wide and an inch deep. You see so many who “go” to these churches but live just like the rest of the world. Not much change in their lives. It’s a struggle to be sure.
Jason
I like your dad’s understanding of the lottery. In a similar vein, I refer to it as (yet another) tax on the poor.
That said, I agree with Kyle. If someone were to tithe $80m from the lottery to a church, I would take it and redeem it. At the same time, it would take incredible wisdom for a church to know what to do with that unexpected windfall. The church would likely explode into various divisions over how to use the money wisely.
Here’s how I would counsel the winner of the lottery. Put the vast majority (99%) into a foundation, and donate 10% of it to the church. (I don’t believe in a legalistic approach that this number needs to be 10%.) I think one should use discernment as 10% of that vast amount might be too much for the local church depending on the current context, leadership, and environment. With the remaining assets in the foundation, give annually as required by law to projects that strengthen society both socially and spiritually after having developed a strategic vision for what the assets are destined for. I would also encourage the family to either develop a strong board of competent outsiders to ensure continuity or create a sunset clause where the entire foundation’s assets are distributed by the third generation in order to retain the original purpose of the founder.
This leaves 1% for the family to invest and live on. That’s $8m. It still might be too much to keep. Keeping unearned money destroys families eventually.
Mark,
I agree it would be a difficult thing for a church to work through but by no means do I think it is impossible. I have nothing but respect for your plan as outlined above, you definitely have a handle on what you do brother.
Jason
Jason,
Yes, it does seem as though the church, in an effort to compete with culture and other ‘trendy’ churches, has bought into the drive to create ‘cool’ places to worship and be in community as if the comforts and surrounding materials will somehow make God more present. I am not sure what the best way to combat this is as their is a risk if we choose not to engage culture in a way that they can hear. But, there is also significant risk if these items simply become tools to attract people that will help keep our doors open and make us one of the cool churches in town.
Dan,
That is the struggle my brother. As a pastor I want to attract new believers but I don’t want to be all flash. So that is the tightrope we walk I guess.
Jason
Hey Jason, thanks for your excellent post. Your thoughts on how churches compare themselves with one another is so true and indicative of our consumer culture. The church I grew up in was 5 miles away from Saddleback, and we always use to laugh about how we were in the Saddleback vortex and were super insecure about ourselves as a result. This was a great quote: In a way they are right, in his article Aaron Earls writes, “They want the church with the best preacher, with the best worship, closest to their house that makes them feel welcomed when they decide to show up.”
Thought provoking post. I have always loved the discussion that comes out of the “lottery” dilemma. The question I think lies in our rationalizing methods for coming to our final conclusion. If a member worked at a liquor store but on Sunday offered their contribution, would the church accept it? What if they were a tax collector like Matthew? The desire to give back to God as we have prospered is the command given to us, and at no point does the bible really outlaw any of those offerings…we do. The reality is that in this world that we live in, we have started to determine what is acceptable and what is not, when in Romans 12-14, Paul teaches that God gets to make those determinations. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe as individuals we need to put thought and consideration into how we spend our money, and where our money comes from; the reality I see is that if the Lord blessed me with an $800 million jackpot, I think He would be more disappointed if I did not try to give some back.