Services for Churches - Stewardship

Texas Methodist Foundation Connects Faith and Money

Though the Texas Methodist Foundation provides “resources for ministry,” we are often referred to as “the Church’s banker.” This may be because United Methodists across the state associate the Foundation with the financial services we offer: loans, investments, planned giving, grants, and stewardship services. It may also, however, reflect a more deeply ingrained cultural tendency to separate “faith” and “money,” or the “spiritual” from the “material.”

The subject of “faith and money” evokes ambivalence. We consider financial matters to be extremely personal, unfit for public discussion. Studies suggest a disparity between people’s beliefs and the ways in which they actually conduct their financial affairs. There is often little recognition, even in the religious community, that how we spend our money reflects our values.

In our work, faith and money are inextricable. Our financial services provide a bridge connecting God’s love with a hurting world desperately in need of that love. We build that bridge by helping congregations and individuals manifest their faith in every aspect of their lives, including their finances. That is our God-appointed opportunity and responsibility. Our “banking” would not be meaningful without a profound understanding from our donors, investors, grant and loan recipients of how it enables ministry. Our constituents act out of an intense desire to make a difference in the lives of others. They demonstrate Christ’s message of good news.

Likewise, people want to give their money, time, and talents to ministries and organizations that share characteristics of the good news - change, risk, positive outcomes, and a brighter future. Those features shape the overriding principles that guide the Foundation in this process of linking faith and money. Here are three essential, if interrelated, factors that may also assist United Methodist churches, institutions, and agencies with their stewardship efforts:

  1. People give to organizations that change lives. Since the Church is in the business of transformation, one might assume we have a significant advantage over secular charitable organizations. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Congregations throughout Texas are improving circumstances for many but often forget to tell those stories - stories about feeding the hungry, nurturing children, providing scholarships for college and seminary, hearing confessions of faith, healing broken spirits, and on and on - to their members and the community. So instead of seeing the church using resources to transform lives, often the general impression is of an institution more interested in maintaining and preserving than in changing, which leads to the second point.


  2. People give to organizations that have a clear sense of identity and purpose, including a captivating vision for the future. Preserving the past is not a compelling reason to give; learning from it and using it to face current challenges and embrace the future are worthy of our support. We can no longer rely on denominational loyalty, with one generation following another to The United Methodist Church. But far from being an obstacle, that condition offers enormous opportunities to prove ourselves, to show the world that instead of being bound by old practices, we can use our rich Wesleyan traditions as a constant springboard to more effective ways of reaching out into the world.

    The Foundation hosted a statewide event, Holy Conversations: Leadership, Money, and Ministry, where we described a process, based on a book by Alban Institute consultants Alice Mann and Gil Rendle, to help congregations discern God’s purpose for their church. Three critical formation questions - Who are we? What is God calling us to do or be? Who is our neighbor? - provide a framework for strategic planning as a spiritual practice. This process forces us to imagine that horizon of hope and to constantly ask where God is leading us. Further, people are drawn to such organizations because they sense places of expectation and high adventure. God is not finished with us.


  3. People give to organizations that address genuine needs. The Church’s response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year was swift, unmitigated, and extravagant. We couldn’t give enough; we couldn’t help enough. We were breathing together as one body of Christ. We were what we know we ought to be, what we could be all the time, but aren’t. Those needs are there, every day, even when not dramatically depicted on our television screens. While not stranded on rooftops or in an overcrowded domed stadium, all around us people are stranded by hopelessness, hunger, homelessness, fear, and despair, and these people need to hear the good news of a God who loves and accepts them just as they are.

We have the most compelling reason of all to ask for money - to do God’s work. And yet we hesitate, deflect, end-run, and apologize, while secular organizations freely and repeatedly ask for and get it. Both clergy and laity must summon the courage and candor to talk about money - to encourage their fellow pilgrims to integrate their faith into the financial practices of their lives, so they will not be giving up but giving to the purposes of Christ.