The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. Proverbs 22:7
As I stated yesterday, I serve as President & CEO of GTP (Global Trust Partners). We offer on demand courses to multiply faithful stewards around the world.
Right now hundreds of stewards in more than 50 countries are going through 4 courses. Today, I got this question and felt led to post it and my reply as today’s post. Happy reading.
“How do we identify and then avoid those financial decisions which reflect the prevailing cultural norms?”
Michael Cherenkov of Ukraine asked this question in the GTP on demand course entitled The Choice, based on the book, The Choice: The Christ-Centered Pursuit of Kingdom Outcomes, by Gary G. Hoag, R. Scott Rodin, and Wesley K. Willmer (Winchester: ECFA Press, 2014).
Here was my reply in the on demand platform.
“Hi Michael, I can think of many examples, but I will suggest two.
In church settings, the prevailing cultural mindset is “if you build it they will come” (actually a famous movie line). When that cultural thinking enters a church, the leadership thinks, “The only way we will have a large church is to borrow money and build a big building.” That leads to the prevailing cultural norm that the only way to build is with debt. The bigger is better mindset plunges a congregation into financial slavery. Alternatively, a church can be great and grow with an ordinary building or no building. That’s eternity minded thinking because ultimately the church is a body, not a building. For more on this, read this blog: “Biblical Advice for Your Church Building Project”.
In ministry settings, the prevailing cultural mindset is a budget-driven scarcity mindset. The focus of many charities is on what they cannot do because of what they do not have. They have the worldly mindset that money makes ministry happen and rather than pray and plan and discern what God wants them to do, they say, we can only do A, B, and C, because we have limited funds. It’s sad. God lets them struggle for years with this thinking. Anyway, so the financial decisions, when guided by worldly scarcity rather than godly abundance thinking shape everything. I suggest do a discernment retreat and urge people to put to work what they have. It’s true you may want more money. First be faithful with the little you have and often God will supply more. For more on this, read this blog: “Framework for Discernment Retreats”. – https://www.gtp.org/2022/01/framework-for-discernm…
I hope this helps.”
What about you? How are prevailing cultural norms trying to shape and influence your decisions the church or ministry where you work or serve as a volunteer?