How do we talk about money?

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How do we talk about money?
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When the Bible talks about money, it almost
always talks about how the use of money impacts
ones relationship with God.
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In the Bible

• Money is a threat to a persons relationship with
  God.

• Money brings with it a duty that flows from a
  persons relationship with God.

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How do we talk about money in the church?

• Most often we talk about institutional needs.
• Most often money talk is not spiritual, but is
  rather about the business life of the
  congregation/synod/churchwide organization.

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Do you and does your congregation most often talk
about the need of the church to receive or the
need of the giver to give?
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What would it look like if we embarked on a
conscious effort to never talk about the
institutional needs of the church to receive and
always talk about the spiritual need of the giver
to give?(How about almost never?)
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Some practical applications

• How/why do we report giving/spending to the
  congregation? What are some unintended
  consequences of how we do this?
• Nature of annual stewardship response program.
• Timing of annual stewardship response program.
• Budgets type of budget, place for budget

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Some practical applications 2

• The pastors role in stewardship ministry is
  vital
• Preach it.
• Model it.
• Lead it.
• The dynamics of small membership congregations
  make money talk more difficult.
• Power issues
• Survival/fear issues