CAN IT BE THAT SIMPLE?

By Bill Hoffman

“Hey Dad, Brian and I would like to tithe a portion of our tax refund to help you with the expenses of your upcoming conference in Denver,” announced my daughter, Tiffany, over the phone. “If we make out a check to Living Hope can we still get credit for it on next year’s return?”

For a moment I stood in stunned silence. A few days earlier I had taken the advice of Mike Steele from DAWN Ministries and sent out a rare request for special funds to enable me to attend their Simple Church Leadership Gathering. I felt like the Lord was leading me to go but I knew the finances just weren’t available. I trusted God to provide; I just didn’t expect Him to do so through my own daughter.
“Yes, thank you,” I replied hesitantly, wrestling with the mix of emotions I was experiencing.

I was truly grateful for the help, but I knew Tiffany’s own financial moorings were far from secure. As parents of a three-year-old plus a brand new baby, I felt certain our daughter and her husband could use those funds to help with their own expenses. Besides, aren’t parents supposed to sacrifice for their children and not the other way around?

“Of course you can make the check out to the church,” I answered, “but are you sure you really want to do this?”

When Tiffany responded affirmatively I swallowed my pride and thanked her profusely. I know there is a season of life when children come to the aid of their parents, I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

“Hi Bill,” greeted the voice on the other end of the line. “Are you busy right now? I’d like to come over and talk to you about something.”

The “something” this individual felt compelled to talk to me about on a Sunday morning (during my breakfast) was church finances, one of my favorite subjects to wake up to………NOT!

“I think we need to give some money to this new house church that is starting up tonight,” he began, while watching me finish off a bowl of Cheerios. “They will have some expenses like food, paper plates, etc, and they may have a need that becomes apparent from someone in their gathering. In addition a gift from us will let them know we are behind them. I think it could be a real encouragement to them. The figure of $250 has stuck in my mind. Does that sound about right to you?”

“If that’s what you are hearing from the Lord, then it is exactly right,” I replied. “But I believe we have less than $50 in the church account right now.”

Reaching into his coat pocket he pulled out an envelope. “This should take care of it,” he announced with a smile. “I haven’t been able to give much to your ministry lately,” he explained. “But with my new job I intend to start tithing again.”

These two seemingly unrelated incidents flashed to the front of my mind last week as I was contemplating how to explain the concepts I had just finished outlining. As part of a breakout session on simple church finances for the DAWN conference I was trying to summarize what the Lord was teaching me. Katie Driver, a house church leader from Minneapolis, and I were teamed together to come up with some practical guidelines on dealing with simple-church stewardship. In the process we discovered some basic principles which should apply to house gatherings in this country and around the world.

I believe the Lord not only desires to return His church to the simple structure revealed in His Word, He is also passionate about redeeming the ministry of giving and receiving. Over the centuries the Church, particularly in the west, has severely jumped the track when it comes to how we handle finances. The typical congregation spends about 90% of its income on facilities and salaries with only 10% going to actual ministry. David Barrett and Todd Johnson in World Christian Trends have calculated that it costs the institutional church in this country $1,551,446 to baptize each new convert. George Barna recently declared, “In the last decade, the churches in the United States spent $500 billion on domestic expenses-with no growth to show for it.” Could anyone possibly call this “good stewardship?” Imagine what could happen if our giving percentages were reversed and 90% of the Church’s income was spent on ministry with only 10% going to salaries and facilities. “Impossible!,” you say. “Too idealistic to be practical,” you claim. I believe if the Lord was truly allowed to be the Head of the Church our stewardship would be drastically altered from what we now see.

I offer the following guidelines for the sake of the harvest in this country and beyond in hope that such an alteration will be realized-and soon!

1. God owns the resources. Okay, so there’s nothing new here. But do we actually behave as though we honestly believed this to be the case? All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. – Acts 2:44-45. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. – Acts 4:32.

2. The resources are already there, waiting for us in the harvest. When Jesus sent out the 72 in Luke 10, He instructed them to “not take a purse or bag or sandals.” Christ has already procured everything we need to accomplish the ministry to which we have been called. We just need to have faith and obey.

3. Jesus, as the Head of the body, is also our Treasurer. …speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. – Eph. 4:15-16. This is a beautiful “X-ray” of the organic, natural structure of the Church as well as an “MRI” of how its various “parts” are funded. Every single cell in the body is connected to all the others, held together by love. Since there is only one Head, no single cell should regard itself as being “above” another. We are all dependant upon each other. Nutrition flows freely from one cell to another as directed by the Head. Jesus, the Head and Treasurer, determines the nutrients (funds) which need to be appropriated from outside the body in order to provide for optimum health. He also determines where in the body those nutrients should be stored. When a need arises in one part of the body, the Treasurer simply transfers funds from one account to another. As long as we remain connected to the body, our proper nutrition is assured.

4. Every citizen of the kingdom is a paid minister. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. – 1Pe. 2:9. Most Christians who read this will gladly adhere to the principle of the priesthood of all believers. Everyone has been called by God and gifted accordingly in order to accomplish a specific ministry on this planet. As such we are all members of the clergy. But do you realize we are all paid clergy? Our Treasurer doles out the paychecks for His servants. Some of us will be paid through the Church, others through secular employment. But we are all paid members of the clergy. Whether we labor in some “tent-making” job or receive pay directly from the Church, we are all ministers of Christ and deserve equal respect.

5. No matter who signs our paycheck it ultimately comes from God; we must trust the Treasurer and be content. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. – Phil. 4:12-13.

6. The key is in listening to the heart of our Treasurer. Are we in a season of giving or receiving? Chances are we will each experience both seasons moving back and forth from one to another often throughout our lifetime. We need to have “ears to hear” our Treasurer. When it is time to give He will let us know and He will make certain the funds are there to obey His directive. When it is time to receive He will tell us to set aside our pride and accept His grace. There are wonderful blessings in each season. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied…And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. – Phil. 4:17-19.

7. We must model and teach this new form of giving and receiving. As the Lord pours the new wine of His presence into our simple churches, we must not hold on to the wineskins of our past stewardship practices. Budgets, finance committees, and annual stewardship campaigns need to be replaced with a more organic model of giving and receiving reflecting the living body of Christ. Fathers and mothers will usually sacrifice for their children when they are young. Later on children, acting on their parents’ example, will do the same for their own children and often give back to their parents as well. It is a natural progression of life, although the timing is not always ours to choose. Simple-church networks when they first begin will usually be led by someone who is laboring in a “tent-making” occupation. Mature networks may decide to support their leaders, especially those who are laboring in the ministry of planting other churches. It is the natural progression of a growing body of Christ. Our Treasurer will let us know which season we are in, whether giving or receiving. As members of the paid clergy we should not be afraid to ask for help when we have a need, even if the response comes from our own children, be they physical offspring or spiritual. Neither should we be afraid to give when we hear from our Treasurer, even if the request comes during breakfast on Sunday morning.

Allow me to borrow an oft-heard slogan in the simple church movement and sum up this discussion in the following manner: Listen to our Treasurer; obey what you hear; teach others to do the same. Yes, my fellow members of the paid clergy, it really can be that simple.

Bill, simply a child of God