How Biblical Financial Training Benefits the Church - Lesson 4

In our last several posts we concluded from the examples of scripture that:

1) Personally we should not borrow,
2) We should not pledge our resources to the debt of another
3) By implication the Church should not borrow either.
4) We need to train believers in Biblical financial principles.

But what are the benefits to  the church when they train believers in Biblical financial principles?

1) Believers who are trained in Biblical financial principles build strong marriages.
2) Believers who are trained in Biblical financial principles build strong families.
3) The team who does the financial training is a wonderful environment for discipleship and leadership development.
4) Trained believers are passionate givers.

Lisa and I have coordinated training in Biblical financial principles for over 350 people in our church (about 180 families) over the last several years. We are coordinating a class of 55 right now in January, February and March of 2014. I share this because we have observed some things that I would not have expected prior to this experience  In our experience with these classes, we have found the following:

1) Training in Biblical financial principles builds strong marriages. One of the surprising effects of getting on a budget and working together on your finances is the level of communication and intimacy that results in a marriage. Because talking about and working on financial goals spills over into every other part of the marriage. Goals for your children, goals for your giving, goal for ministry, goals for your career, etc.

2) Training in Biblical financial principles builds strong families. We have 5 young couples and 15 families with high school students in our current class. Young couples starting their financial lives together can change their family tree by applying Biblical principles to get out of debt, Parents with high school students can give no better gift to their children that a life time of winning with money. Singles too establish a firm foundation for their future.

3) A financial training team in a church is also a wonderful environment for mentoring, discipleship, and leadership training. This is one of my favorite benefits to the church, because I am almost as passionate about discipleship as I am teaching financial principles. It is also a great ministry for men that sometimes get left on the side lines.  Working with people in this area is very rewarding for those involved. People often become passionate about this ministry, because it made such a big difference in their personal lives, that there are often more volunteers than you need. Yes you heard that right, I have a waiting list of people who want to help teach biblical financial stewardship.

4) Believers trained in Biblical financial principles and who are out of debt are passionate givers.

That leads to our next post on this subject.

Thinking generously...