In Church, is Money Spiritual in Nature

Welcome to Churh Talk. Today we have Apostle Priji and Pastor Aby converse on the importance of managing church finances wisely.  Tune in to understand the heart of God and that giving is a part of our spiritual DNA.

Transcript:

Apostle Priji: Greetings in Jesus name! Welcome to Church Talk podcast. Today I have a dear friend of mine whose name is Aby who pastors one of our churches at Revive Nations, HISnearness, KR Puram in Bangalore. This podcast is for our pastors, lay-leaders, those involved in church planting and raising organizational structure within the church. If we can set the right structure at the very beginning, it will give a good momentum in the coming 20-30 years.

Pastor Aby: Thank you for this invite pastor. I feel privileged. I am excited to share something on this platform.

Apostle Priji: Sometimes in the church we underestimate the importance of structure and organization. We have seen in Revive Nations and we have been blessed by the amount of organizational help you have brought in; we have been blessed. There is so much of teaching on money. Why do you think money is such an important thing?

Pastor Aby: This is the subject that most pastors don’t like talking about, maybe due to past experiences of accusation. What I have learnt from past experiences and from my father is that, we cannot run an organization or be effective in Kingdom without having a proper teaching on giving. It is something close to the heart of God, because He is a giver. If we observe the characteristic of God, we know that He is a generous giver. He gave His only Son; it is a part of the spiritual DNA. So, if we observe ourselves, we will know that it is a part of our DNA; giving is natural to us. But due to some past experiences or challenges, we hesitate to give. As our father taught us, free spirit gives! When we give generously, it is a sign that there is no bondage left within us. This is one area that the enemy holds us so strong, because he knows that once we are free, we will give generously. We need to understand that when we give, we are reflecting the character of God.  When we start giving, there is nothing that can stop you.

Apostle Priji: We hesitate to talk about giving because we think that people will think that we want their money. There are bad stories and experiences. If we don’t teach people to give, we cannot see the freedom that God wants to release in the church.

Pastor Aby: We can never over-teach about giving. We need to constantly remind our congregation of how important giving is and it is something where God asked us to test Him!

Apostle Priji: There is a culture in many churches where we teach on giving only when there is a need in the church! I think that’s the wrong way to do it; we need to teach to give in every season.

Pastor Aby: Once the revelation strikes people that when they give, they are not just bringing a blessing to the Kingdom of God, but that they are opening up many doors that were closed in their own life. We cannot outgive God; how much ever you give, God will always outgive you.

Apostle Priji: What do you think the church needs money for? Does the Kingdom of God need money?

Pastor Aby: We cannot set aside church as a spiritual institution alone. We have administrative aspects, bills that has to be paid; we cannot always say that church is a spiritual organization and everything should run by faith. Because we need a place to come together, there are people who are involved and working full-time, there is a pastor who is leading the church and his expense need to be met. There are many other aspects involved, enough funds for internet, software license, equipment. The more money that come in, it can be used not just for daily expenses but also for further reach-out. Not just for the benefits of members but also people across the world can be benefited. The church is not limited to four walls; we have the ability to expand. We need funds. Also, church can help widows, paying tuition fees for the children.

Apostle Priji: It is good to say that we run by faith but that should not stop us from saving up and stewarding our money; planning future investment. If all that we are doing is using money for ourselves and not planning and preparing to reach the world around us, then we are under utilizing what the Lord has given us.  It is sometimes challenging to stay accountable with money. When we don’t have income in church it is easy to depend on the Lord, but when we start seeing income that is the time when it becomes more challenging!

What is the best way to keep finances accountable in church context?

Pastor Aby: First thing is that whatever money comes into the church, we have to see it as the Lord’s money and we have to be a good steward of whatever comes in. Also, there are two level of accountability; first is the accountability to God and accountable to the law of the land. Church has to follow the laws of the land; so proper registration has to be done. If there is any tax implication, it has to be taken care of; I would also suggest an external auditor to audit the finances of the church; having a proper budget is very important. Good faith and wise management of funds, it goes hand in hand and it will go a long way. It is true that we have to move by faith, but at the same time we have to be wise in managing the finances. Having documented the inflow and the outflow.

Apostle Priji: How do you budget church finances? Sometimes the vision is so big, and the income may not look like its going in sync! So, how do we plan church budget wisely? What tips would you give to church planters and leaders?

Pastor Aby: First thing is to receive a right vision from the Lord. There will always be a desire to do something big, but it is very important to allow that vision to go through fire and have a concise understanding of what God wants to do. From our experience there were projects which looked big and impossible but once we planned and received idea from God, a blueprint and started working on it seriously irrespective of knowing that we do not have enough money and we saw how God miraculously provided. It’s not just leaving things in the prayer room but taking concrete steps.

Apostle Priji: As much as we teach the church people to give, we should also make it a practice to sow from the church because that is what is going for income to come into the church. If we have big dreams then we have to intentionally pray and sacrificially sow into those big dreams.

When we are budgeting there are things that get less priority, like microphones are important but pastor’s salary is not; the pastor will serve the church without a genuine income! Most genuine pastors they will serve if God calls them, if they have a genuine vision for the nation or the city; they will serve for free! But is it wise or is it spiritually intelligent to utilize the services of a man of God? The most key element of a church is the voice of God coming week after week; how much priority should we give to blessing and serving our man of God and along with this are there anything necessary for which we need to have budget every month?

Pastor Aby: First thing that should go from the church is the giving part; what we have seen in our church from the beginning of the year is that we are giving as a church and that has blessed us in many ways. Second thing is the benefit that we are supposed to give to the pastors because he should not be thinking about his survival.