“The Buck Stops Here”

Monday, July 18, 2016

What guidance does the Bible have for how a church should use its money?  It seems from places such as 1 Corinthians 16 that when the early church collected funds, they were primarily used for benevolence.  Today it seems like the majority of a church's income tends to go towards paying utilities and mortgages, and churches frequently have a large savings account.  What guidance does the Bible have as far as how much a church should keep in savings, how much debt it should take on, etc.?  If a church buys land, should it consider the investment value of the land as well?  What about earning interest on money in savings?

Sincerely,
Not For Profit

Dear Not For Profit,

The church is allowed to spend money on anything God commands the church to do.  If God commands the church to assemble (Heb 10:24-25), the church can spend money to assemble in the most practical way it sees fit.  If God commands the church to teach (1 Cor 4:17), the church is authorized to spend money to facilitate teaching the saved and the lost.  If the church is told to do something, they are authorized to spend money to make it happen – that freedom to spend money is inherent within the command.  It would be the same as if someone asked you to take their car to the car wash… it would be understood that it was okay for you to spend the gas to drive the car to the car wash, and it was also okay for you to spend the money to pay for the car to be washed.  Whatever is necessary to fulfill a command is automatically allowed.

In the particular case of the Corinthian church, they needed to collect funds for benevolence… and that was a very common reason for collection in that time of Christian persecution.  In today’s culture and world the church finds itself in, we need to pay for things that the first-century saints would never have dreamed of (“Electrical bills?  What’s that?!”).  However, just because the expenses we face are not the same, that doesn’t mean that the same guidelines don’t apply.  1 Cor 16:1-2 outlines the mode with which to collect funds to pay for whatever expenses a church may incur.  It also explains that it is appropriate for the church to have a store of money for future expenses (1 Cor 16:2-3).

As far as how big that savings account can be, what level of debt the church can incur, savings accounts with interest, etc. – the church has the same guidelines for financial management as individuals… use wisdom (Pr 8:12-18).  Too little of savings is foolish; too much is greedy.  Interest is condoned by God (Matt 25:27) and shows wisdom, but “playing the market” with the church’s treasury is very different from gaining simple interest.  In other words, the church needs to show wisdom and discretion in its financial management.

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