Addressing Lack of Finances

Transcript:

1. How to address lack of resources or finances in a church and in the ministry.

 On a daily basis we get calls from men of God, pastors, leaders who are struggling to meet the expenses of the church or their own personal expenses because they are putting all of their resources in developing and building the church. Understanding godly principles and what God wants us to do in a time when you feel like you don’t have enough to run the church is very important. The first thing that we need to remember from the beginning is that this is not your ministry; this is God’s church, God’s kingdom, his business, his ministry, his plan, and his purpose. Because it is God’s plan, God knows how to take care of its expenses. You and I, we don’t have to lose our sleep and lose everything that we have in order to fund and take care of God’s work. We can just learn to submit and partner with what God is doing. We will see how it becomes easier to experience the provisions that God is wanting to give us.

On a daily basis, when we receive calls, we hear people asking money for different things like they want to build a church building, they want to buy a BA system, because they have somebody in their church with a need (hospital expense, and some people as poor as not having food to eat or clothes to wear). Last few weeks ago we were in Jharkand and I got to meet a lot of pastors in that place. During one of the meetings, they asked each and every pastor to come and share what they are doing and how things are going in their life. Every pastor that shared their prayer request had one or the other financial need and lack in their life.

The more that I have been exposed to lack, the more I have been confident of God who is able to provide that lack. The presence of a problem is not the proof that God is not in the ministry. When there is a challenge, an attack, an issue it doesn’t mean that God has not sent you. Sometimes, we just conclude that probably this was a wrong ministry to do or we just think that God didn’t bless me, call me, or anoint me. You can be anointed by God, filled by God, sent by God and still experience challenges, lack, places where you don’t have enough. For example, the story of Elijah. The bible says that during the famine God sent him to the brook Kareth. If Elijah would not have obeyed that instruction to go to Kareth, he would not have received his provision. At the brook, he had ravens come and feed him. But all of a sudden, the same place where God is providing for him, God sent him to all of a sudden, one day, the bible says the brook dried up. It is possible that there can be lack where God has sent you, spoken to you. It is possible that the ravens that used to come until now all of a sudden stop coming. That is not proof that you are not called, you are disobeying God, you are not in line with the ministry or all of those negative, discouraging thoughts that come into your head, especially when you are in a lack. You need to know how to first address those. Because what we try to do is immediately get into a problem-solving mode and we are trying to question why did this happen, where did this come from, why didn’t God provide and I heard from God, I prayed about it and all of that. Instead of trying to question and trying to figure out why God didn’t provide, your question rather should be what do I need to do to now become the answer, the solution in the midst of this trial. How can I use what has already been given to me, what has already been deposited on the inside of me to bring out the solution, answer to this issue that the brook has dried up? It is a real issue. But, there is something that you carry on the inside of you which can bring forth the solution.

I do believe that it is necessary that we have to know that you are anointed to meet the needs of your church. Every man of God who is sent to a church, every worship minister, I tell this to those that are coming to us asking for money or they are sharing their need in their church worship teams, I tell them, “as a worship minister you are anointed to take care of the worship team, you are anointed to buy instruments for your church, you are anointed to bring in the right musicians, everything that is necessary for your worship team, you are anointed to put them into place.”

David, as soon as he was anointed began to attract people who are now going to become his cabinet ministers, generals in the army, the next government of Israel. The whole group began to follow David even before he became a king, even before he legally and properly sat on the throne the resources that were required, the people that were required began to follow that anointing. So, you have to believe that because you are anointed, because you are called the resources are already following you. When we read about David for example, you look at these guys that are following David and you will feel that these guys are good for nothing. That is what the bible says, “they were good for nothing, they were unlearned, they were unskilled and yet when David looked at them he saw his future generals, advisers, his cabinet ministers, his governors, the guys who are going to run the nation with him. So, the resources that you have already right now may not look like it’s worth anything, it may look like its just 5 loaves and 2 fish, it may look like it’s just 2 copper coins, what can I really, truly do with this. But, when you take steps of faith, do things that is going to impress the heart of God, that is going to move the economic atmosphere around your life, nothing is impossible for a man of God. That anointing contains not just spiritual stuff, but that anointing also contains the provision to multiply that flour and oil for the widow. That flour and oil that you multiply for the widow is now also going to feed you. The same anointing by which you shut down heavens, the same anointing can be used now to multiply money and resources can come to you.

2. If we are doing a fund raising, is it right to do it? What is right way to do it?

 I personally don’t think that fund raising is wrong or bad. The church is polarized into 2 different sections where some people believe that fund raising is okay and they go all our fund raising. There is fund raising every Sunday. There is another section where they will not even send a newsletter out telling people about their need. Somewhere we have find a balance, a balance where we do tell our members, people who love us, support us, and want to stand with us, we do tell them this is our need and at the same time we don’t burden them with it by forcing them to pay up and manipulating them to pay up. There is something that we have to draw a clear distinction “when you have a need, a pressing need especially, don’t try to use spirituality to meet that need.” If you want to raise funds for ministry, for building a church you do that. On a different note, when the Lord leads you to ask your people to sow a seed, you do that. But, don’t mix the both of them. Don’t go and tell people to give because of a spiritual reason when you have a need. I would keep fund raising different from sowing seeds. Sowing seeds is a very spiritual and a very powerful principle. The whole Christiandom has got a very bad name because we have tele-evangelists and people on television who tell us that if you sow a seed God going to bless that and God is going to multiply and they will explain to you why you need to sow a seed because they want a jet or a property. But don’t tell me that it’s a principle of sowing and reaping. Keep the spiritual principles different from fund raising. When you fund raising, let them know that this is for fund raising. When you are telling people to sow a seed it is not for you, it is for them. When it comes to fund raising, when we keep our objectives clear, when we communicate properly, we should not mix fund raising with spirituality. When you mix the 2 of them it becomes spiritual abuse, manipulation; we have to learn to distinguish between both and keep a clear demarcation.

3. People have a mind block saying that I am already giving my tithe and offerings to the church or ministry. How can we break that mind block?

It comes with a lot of teaching. As pastors and leaders you have to teach your church to give, teach them the principle of building the kingdom of God, bring them on board to feel the ownership of the church. They shouldn’t see the church as something you are doing. They have to feel belonged and they have to feel part of the team that is running the church. It all comes from the teaching. Apostle Paul did a lot of teaching on finances, on giving for kingdom purposes. That goes a long way in telling people why they should give and how much more they should give. It is necessary that you do that when there is no need. When you are only teaching about money because you need money is very selfish. When you are teaching about giving only when you need the money to build a church, that is very wrong way to do it. Do it in season and out of season, teach your people to give, the importance of partnering with God. Giving into the kingdom of God is something that we get to do only on this side of the eternity. In heaven there are endless resources and you wouldn’t need to give out money, your resources. So, it is necessary that we understand the principle of giving. We teach our people to give. The more that there is revelation from God’s word, from the principles that the apostles followed, from the principles that Jesus and the disciples followed, from the principles that the prophets and the saints of the Old Testament followed, that revelation or understanding will open our eyes. That will elevate the perspective that your people have so that they can see beyond what they are able to see. As a church, sometimes, we get stuck with the fact that “I give my tithes and offerings. But then, we forget that we are not just called to be giving tithes and offering, we are called to be kingdom builders. That means that we are called to invest into eternity. Jesus said “don’t just invest your treasures here on earth, invest it into eternity. How do you invest? You don’t invest based on how much is the minimum that you can invest. When you invest, you take the best and you invest, you invest into the best things. That is how we have to think about building God’s kingdom and say “my church is doing a good job at building God’s kingdom, preaching the gospel, reaching people and discipling them and doing everything possible to serve the community where they are living in.” I need to be able to help build this church, help expand the influence of this church. So, whatever I can do above and beyond my basic giving. My basic tithing is because I am blessed, because I am receiving something from this house. But, when I am giving above and beyond that, is because now I want others to be blessed, fed by the same grace, I want to do this ahead of time to sow into someone else’s life when I am investing. So, as pastors you need to teach these principles to your people before time, before need arises, before a challenge comes. The more there is teaching, the more the mental blocks that you people have will be opened. Don’t be afraid to get into conversations. When people come and ask you a question, don’t run away from that. It is okay for them to disagree with you, it is okay for them to sometimes not believe that everything you are saying is right.

The problem that happens with a lot of churches is that the moment somebody disagrees with us, we just try to push them away. That is not Christ-like. That is what the world will do. “If you are not interested to buy the product, then don’t come to our shop.” But, a church is not supposed to be like that. When people disagree with you, when they don’t have the money to give, you still serve, you still help them, embrace them. That is the sign of a true church filled with the love of Jesus. That kind of a church will be easy to break every mental block so that people have with that kind of love. Practice good teaching and practice love, that will help to break the mental blocks.

4. When there is a lack in the ministry, how can a pastor or a leader spend the money? Also, we would really love to hear a key from your experience to overflow in finances because every time that we have seen the way you always bring the best. Can you share with us a key from your journey, how to overflow in the area of finances?

It is very necessary for us to have excellence in our churches; it’s not possible that we can just do anything or do whatever we want to do. The church is a representative of the kingdom of God on the earth. If the kingdom of the world will not compromise and they will buy the best and do the best, why should the church do any less? When we have lack of money, it is very normal for somebody to just go and say “wait, let’s not spend too much on this now, let’s not do too much of this now, let’s not give away too much money right now.” I know churches that have shut down their missions because they wanted to build their church building, I know churches that have shut down or decreased the salary of their pastors because they didn’t have enough. In doing so, I realized that when we shut down some very essential stuff in the church because we don’t have money, we are in fact cutting off the arms that are actually going to bring in the money. You may ask how can missions bring in more money. When you are involved in missions, you are involved in things that matter to the heart of God. When you are giving more money than you are using on yourself, that is automatically going to open up the heavens over your church and ministry to bring in resources into your church. The last month I was in Jarkhand and we were with a lot of pastors there. One morning, when I woke up, I was headed into the meeting, Lord told me to carry our cheque book. The Lord mentioned to me a particular amount and he said “give this cheque to the pastors that you meet.” I thought it will be one or 2 pastors. When I reached the place, the house was full of pastors. God has already given me a word to write a cheque for each and everyone of them with a particular amount and I started doing that. I was thinking that by the time they encash this cheque our church account will be empty. This is at a time when I need money. I thought that it is okay. God has said it, he knows how to take care of it. I believe that when we learn how to prioritize the things that are high on God’s heart, God will make way for us to not have to compromise on anything else. God knows that the needs of your church. But, when you can just prioritize and spend on things that matter to your God, to your king, your king will take care of all the other things.

Let me give you a very foundational principle! If you are a church member, if you are on the church board, if you are a trustee in the church, figure out a way to bless your pastor. Figure out a way to increase your pastor’s salary. Especially, when the church is going through a lack. You will automatically see how the finances of the church will increase. You will automatically see how the church is going to now be blessed. Everything flows from the head to bottom. If the head (the pastor) is not being fed, is not being taken care of how do you think the believers will experience an overflow. If the pastor is living in an overflow, automatically he will be able to release an overflow over the people that are attending his church. The overflow that the people experience, they will bring it to church, to God’s presence. It will increase the finances in the church. Never cut down your pastor’s salary because you don’t have enough money in the church. Instead, do the opposite. When you don’t have enough, make sure to give more, so that works like a seed, or it works like an alter that you are building to bless your man of God and at the same time cause an overflow from him to flow into the entire church.

I do believe in principles that are not thought in management schools. Over there, they tell you save up, to budget better, and to plan better. We do the exact opposite. When we experience lack, we give all the more. When we experience that there is not enough money to take care of something we go crazy on the other side serving God, serving God’s people, serving God’s missions around the world. God has been so faithful. We have had this church for 9 years now and it has been our testimony that every single year we have given away more money than we have used on ourselves. The things that we have used on ourselves is of course taking care of our church’s physical property and investing into our in-house cameras or paying the salary for our staff vs the money that we have given away to other churches, other ministries, other men of God, to missions who work outside the church. From day 1, this was our heart. We wanted to do at least 50% outside the church and only use 50% for the church. Until now, God has helped us to do that and that is a big key as to why we are experiencing an overflow. The more we give to the kingdom of God, the more we give to the church around the world, the more God has been opening up doors, blessing, and finances over our church. Some of the people that we give to are not part of our church. They are not in our organization, we are not giving money to them or supporting them because we can put up pictures of pastors who are part of our organization. These are pastors that don’t even speak our language and don’t even come under our spiritual covering, but we believe in building the kingdom of God. The more that you believe in things that matter to the heart of God, the more you will see an overflow of finances in your church.

This is not your church, this is not your organization, this is not your ministry; this is God’s. God knows how to take care of it. But, my question is “Do you know how to activate the right spiritual principles? Put things in place so that that channel for the miracles, the channel for the blessings is open and the resources flow in freely.” “Do you know how to make sure that God is going to bless you? You can make sure by the way that you handle your finances, by the way that you talk about certain things, you don’t talk about certain things that you will see divine favour in your church. Your church will not have any need or any lack in Jesus name.