'Tis the Season

Just read an article that I found interesting, Scrooge Lives.

"...researchers found, is that some would-be donors don't trust how churches and religious organizations would use their donations... several church families say they don't have high levels of trust in their denomination's management and allocation of funds."

"A larger problem isn't that the parishioners distrust their churches; it's that they [congregates] are acting just like them [the churches]. American families are repeating their churches' examples."

"Relatively little donated money actually moves much of a distance away from the contributors," ...The money given by the people in the pews, it turns out, is largely spent on the people in the pews. Only about 3 percent of money donated to churches and ministries went to aiding or ministering to non-Christians.

"...major reason Christians do not give is because they are not asked to." Americans know that nearly all denominations teach that Christians should give away 10 percent of their incomes. But this teaching is rarely reinforced. Pastors are reluctant to bring it up because the issue is so closely tied to their own salaries. And the study found that pastors themselves are often not great models of financial giving, which can exacerbate their reluctance to preach on it."

Wow! Challenging article, challenging ideas!

My thoughts:

• You've heard it said to you, "You can't out give God," but I say to you, "Let's try and fail!"
• You've heard it said recently to you, "This is the worst economy in generations, so let's hoard, save, and hid what we have left," but I say to you, "This sense of desperation is good. It drives us back to priorities, to simplicity. Spend less. Give more. Make presents. Give more compliments and fewer flowers. Give more love and less unnecessary packages."
  
• You've heard it said to you, "If I give then I will have less," but I say to you, "We can't afford not to give."
• You've heard it said to you, "Seek wise counsel on how to invest your money, so that you'll get the best return on your IRA, 401k," but Jesus said to us, "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where thieves cannot break in and steal, and moths cannot eat.