WHAT CAN MONEY DO?

As an accountant, I look at finances as a way to make sure rules are followed and income is maximized and expenses are controlled. The plan needs to be to turn a profit. That’s how you know that the business is a success. The stockholders are happy! The stockholders (the stakeholders) have received a return on their investment.

As a deacon, I look at finances in a completely different way. Before I can even begin to look at the finances of a church (or synagogue, or basilica, or mosque), I have to face some questions:

·         How do we know a church is a success?

·         Who are the stakeholders?

·         What is your investment?

·         What is my investment?

·         What have I received if I’ve received a return on my investment?

A lot of money in the bank account at the church does NOT show success for a church.

The stakeholders are many, and they do not necessarily include just the members of the church. The stakeholders are those who are unchurched; those who have been hurt by the church; those who are in need; those who are hungry and living in the streets; those who have suffered violence, at home, on the streets, at school, and in the world; those who live just outside our doors and those who we may never meet.

My investment must be just as multi-layered as the stakeholders are. My investment must include prayer; my investment must include my time; my investment must include my love; my investment must include my witness; my investment must include ME. And my investment must include my gifts. Why? Because our vows as United Methodists have included “to faithfully participate in its ministries by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service, and their witness.”[1]

For anyone who has been active in the finances of a church knows, money can be important; but it is a tool, and can only be important when that tool is used properly and is used to build God’s kingdom here and now.

What do I receive as a return on my investment? It’s certainly not what I’d receive as the owner of or investor in a business. I don’t have more in my purse or my wallet. But I will have more in my heart and in my life. And, more importantly, there is more outside me. More love; more prayer; more disciples; more service; more worship; just more. BUT, there’s also less: less hunger; less homelessness; less violence; less racism; just less.

What can our money do for us, and more importantly, to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?

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[1] The Book of Discipline 2012, paragraph 217.