A healthy people and transformed givers are the goal of stewardship ministry. The local church is the hope of the world! I believe this with all my heart, especially in these challenging days when pressing social issues and tragic world events have made life difficult and precarious for so many.

How would the ordinary person make ends meet to feed, clothe and be sheltered when our leaders quarrel over, and mismanage the resources God mercifully bestowed in us to better the citizenry? But if the local church is to live out its redemptive potential, it must provide not only hope but also practical help and biblical teaching that meet people at their points of need. One of the most critical needs in the church today is helping people come to grips with their finances.

Unfortunately, as church leaders, we feel uncomfortable teaching on money. Let us take a look at how we can move toward integrity in regard to this overarching topic. A starting point is to realize that in, and of itself, money is neutral. It is simply a medium of exchange. It can be used for great good or for great evil. However, to stop there would be incomplete.

The fact that so much of Jesus’ teaching was about our relationship with money and possessions suggest that there is something unique about money. Why did He single out money as the one thing we could not serve, and still serve God? Why did He indicate that the deceitfulness of riches chokes out God’s Word in our lives and makes it unfruitful? Some authors suggest that it was because money has a spiritual force or power that attempts to draw our allegiance to it and away from God.

As leaders who wish to live with integrity, a number of things would be helpful to understand about money. Here are some basic understandings church leaders need to have: Understand that money is a powerful thing. It can become the idol that makes it harder to enter the kingdom than for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. It can cause us to build bigger barns to store our surplus only to be labelled by God as “fools.” Understand that our culture assigns money god-like powers. The culture says, money is all powerful, it makes things happen; it provides ultimate security (on paper my future may seem monetarily secure but earthly treasures are subject to rust, moths and thieves – not to mention economic downturns!).

Understand that the best way to break money’s hold is to be generous with it. The act of giving money with the fear of God advances the Kingdom dramatically and breaks the hold it may otherwise have on us – while blessing the receiver and providing the giver a joy found in no other way. Understand that money and possessions are simply entrustments. God is the owner; we are trustees. Trustees have the responsibility to use the resources entrusted to them in ways that the owner has designated, not in ways that satisfy the trustee’s whims. Understand that sacrifice is often blessing in disguise. Maybe, Jim Elliott said it best: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Think of your own example of giving up something that seems like a sacrifice at the time only to have it become an unexpected blessing in disguise.

These understandings will help us as leaders to relate to money and possessions with integrity while giving us freedom and joy in an area of life so often fraught with anxiety and bondage. From that, we can lead our churches to tackle this challenge through stewardship ministry. It starts with understanding why stewardship teaching and training is so important, and get prepared to overcome the obstacles we face.

Here are four key principles to keep in mind when doing stewardship teaching and training. The first is life’s transformation, not increased giving. I call this, transformational stewardship. Although it is true that an effective stewardship will increase giving, especially if the church has a compelling vision and the leadership is trusted to use resources in God-honouring ways. Increased giving is not the primary intent. It is to help the congregation live a financial lifestyle and grow spiritually in ways that honour God.

Secondly, senior leadership, staff and laity, must be on board and supportive of teaching and training, helping to cast the vision. They must also be committed to living out biblical financial principles in their own lives.

Thirdly, it must be made clear that the ministry is for everyone, not just those in financial difficulty. All of us are under the influence of incredibly persuasive messages in our culture that are diametrically opposed to biblical principles. Jesus said, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Luke 12:48). Most Christians in Nigeria have much but few understand what is demanded of them from a biblical perspective.

Fourthly, stewardship ministry must include three elements: teaching what and why, training in the how, and providing support and encouragement. Support can come in a number of ways but one essential way is through trained volunteer counsellors who provide sustained assistance to individuals and families, and help them make the transition from worldly to biblical ways of managing their resources.

If today’s church will take up the challenge, I am convinced “that every church and every believer would experience the spiritual, emotional and relational joy and freedom that results from practicing biblically-based financial stewardship.” This is the vision of the stewardship movement. I object to teaching on giving money just to increase a person’s worth financially. Jesus’ emphasis on the stewardship of money was to enhance life; transformation of lives for eternity, not personal gains. Let us stop merchandising the gospel with the gimmick ‘prophet offering’! No, the church is not a business venture.

Dr Akpogena, a cleric, writes from Port Harcourt.

Lewis Akpogena