Something we know about the church’s troublemakers

I’m reading my journal from over 20 years ago and being reminded of a lot of things–the grace of God and His sovereignty, the sweetness of many of God’s people, and also the sheer hypocrisy of some.

After I left one church under a great deal of duress, the business manager of the church and I had lunch together one day.  This is from my notes written that night. I’m eliminating the names, because identifying these people would serve no purpose. Many of them have gone on to their (ahem) just rewards and what’s done is done.

What the business administrator said was stunning.

“You’re no longer the pastor, so I’m telling you this now. So many of the people who worked against you gave almost nothing to the church. If (the chairman of the personnel committee) tithes, then he’s on welfare.  And (assistant pastor) gives zero to the church. Not a dime. And his wife a piddling.”

(The chairman and the assistant pastor were only two of maybe a dozen such troublemakers in the church who were continually meeting in little groups to plan their attacks, undermine the pastor, and such.)

After recording the administrator’s words, I had added: “That hurts. I almost wish I didn’t know this. In a way it confirms the low level of spirituality in some of these which I had suspected.”

The funny thing, looking back, is that what these people faulted me for was the “spiritual malaise” in the church. (The dictionary defines “malaise” as a non-specific feeling of uneasiness in a body.)

Really. I’m not making that up.

The people who were undercutting the pastor and working to get him out were faulting him for the discomfort and lack of enthusiasm within the congregation.

One wonders if it ever occurred to them that they themselves might be at fault.

Where one’s treasure is, you will find his heart.

That statement from our Lord is the clue to the problem. (Matthew 6:21)

I invest in something and suddenly I’m following it to make sure the investment was sound. My child goes off to a university and immediately I’m interested in everything that takes place in that town. I give my offering to the Lord through His church and bingo, I love the Lord more and am more devoted to that church.

And the opposite is true. If I’m not giving to it, I have very little interest in its success.  Each day when the newspaper comes, the only part of the financial page that interests me is the part where I own stock.

Therefore, you can write this down in big letters: The church member who gives nothing to the church cares nothing for the church.

What the non-giving troublemaker cares for is getting his own way. Perhaps it’s a power thing, an ego trip, I don’t know.

I heard a pastor say once that he became fed up with the antics of a member who was constantly on his case about something, and so, violating all his principles, he decided to see just how much that man had given to the church in the last year. The next time the man began his attack, the pastor informed the church that the total of his contributions in the previous 12 months was just enough to buy the broom and the mop in the janitor’s closet. It shut him up but good. (I do not  recall whether the man left the church, but would assume so. Such a hypocrite has no interest in accepting a humbling and repenting. I imagine he went out the door fuming.)

I do not have the solution to this dilemma.  In each of the six churches I pastored, it was a matter of honor to me that I would not look at the financial books and thus had no idea how much a person gave or whether they gave. There would be no respect of persons from this pastor; I would serve each one as well as I could.

My predecessor at one church–Dr. Woodson had led that congregation over a quarter of a century–told me, “I always made it a point to know what certain ones gave.” He was not a dictator, nor a manipulator of people, and not one to misuse this information. But I was not sure I could be trusted with that kind of information. In a heated discussion, I was fully capable of blurting out something I might regret later.

There needs to be a way, however.

There should be some way for a responsible person or two to see what individuals give and make sure the pastor gets the information if it is pertinent. If nothing else, they could inform him, “Deacon Atlee is a generous giver, pastor.” That would be good to know.

I’ve reported here before of a little thing I once did with the deacons in a church I served. In the monthly deacons meeting, certain ones always made it a point to find something to criticize in the financial report.  If we were running behind the budget, they made sure I knew that it was my fault. I was not riding herd on the spending, I was allowing the staff to overspend, I needed to preach on giving more.

One Monday, I asked the bookkeeper to do something for me.

“I want you to print out the record of each deacon’s giving this year so far. Put it in an envelope, write his name on it and seal it. There are 24 deacons, so you should give me 24 envelopes.”

That night, in the meeting, when the chairman recognized me to say anything on my heart, I passed out the envelopes. “A number of you in this room,” I said, “have been on my back about the low finances of the church.  Now, perhaps you are justified in doing so. I’d like you to open the envelope and take a look, and then decide for yourself if you should be complaining about the money.”

I assured them I had not looked at the statements and had no idea what was on any of them. “You’re the only one seeing this.”

“If you are behind in your giving, then you will please get off my case. You are the problem.  If you are faithful and up to date in your giving, let me have it, because you’re doing your part.”

Some of them never forgave me for that little confrontation, even though I did nothing but force them to connect their own faithfulness in giving to their right to criticize.

Even if we cannot open the books and show what people are contributing–and I’m not suggesting we should–we should teach the principle of Matthew 6:21, that only those who put their treasure in the Lord’s work have their heart there.

A final note.

Our denomination went through a similar debate in recent years as leaders tried to decide who was actually entitled to be a messenger at our annual conventions and who was not. For many years, the constitution and bylaws had set a dollar figure as the criteria. A church that gave so much money–I forget the figure–was entitled to send so many messengers (what we call our “delegates”) to the meeting.

Critics harped on why would we make it a matter of dollars. They asked if there were not better ways of determining who is a bonafide and faithful Baptist than by looking at the giving records. It smacked of materialism, of judging people by their bank accounts.

I thought of our Lord’s statement in Matthew 6:21. He seemed to think this was a pretty reliable measuring rod. In fact, in another place He said, “If you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous money, who will entrust the true riches to you?” (Luke 16:11)

Show me where you are putting your money and I’ll show you what you treasure most.

It’s an infallible guide.

 

 

21 thoughts on “Something we know about the church’s troublemakers

  1. Sorry, but the deacon who was giving little was doing so for the same reason that other members were. You can’t blame him. You need to blame the pastor for poor content in messaging.

  2. “What the non-giving troublemaker cares for is getting his own way.” And sadly, that, so often, is what the “giving” troublemaker cares for as well. Giving and control (power) most definitely go hand in hand, when God is not in it.

  3. Wow, Caleb. You missed it. You seem to be saying that person is not accountable for his own actions. When a deacon or a staff member withholds his support from the church because he isn’t pleased with the pastor, he is hurting himself and the rest of the church. If he can’t support the church, he needs to resign his position. It is a poor ecclesiology that will allow any member of the church to withhold his resources, or his support, because things are not going as he wishes. No amount of “messaging” is going to change a heart like that. That kind of change only comes through humble, personal repentance. No pastor can repent for someone else.

    The church is the body of Christ. How you treat the body of Christ is how you treat Him. If they don’t know this much, they don’t need to be leading.

    You would be surprised at how much junk pastors endure from people who think they know how things should be done. It has always been my opinion that squeaky wheel, control freaks who know exactly what the pastor and the church ought to do wouldn’t last long in ministry. You don’t get to play the “it’s my way of the highway” card very many times before you get to experience the highway.

    • Thank you, Glenn. Exactly right. I often think of the widow who was so highly commended by our Lord for her donation to the temple treasury even when IT WAS UNDER THE CONTROL OF A BUNCH OF CROOKS. (A den of thieves,” he called them.) No godly leader holds back his/her offerings because they do not like the preacher. They are hurting the church, as you say, and thus offending the Lord Jesus Christ.

      • What you sow is what you reap. Also, the deacon may be contributing in kind BIG TIME more than any other, while others are giving out of their surplus. So the bottomline is, giving is a poor measure. Sorry. But on this i don’t agree with you.

        • If he’s unemployed and has no income, that’s one thing. Otherwise, there is no excuse–none, my friend, nada–for someone entrusted with key leadership in the church failing to give of his finances to the Lord’s work. No amount of grass-cutting or teaching the juniors can compensate for his failure in this area.

          • Maybe you should have offered to share the pulpit with him if he thinks he knows better. After all it is God’s word. It takes grace to give voice to the voiceless. But i do agree that the way one handles money tells a lot about one’s character.

  4. Acts 20:29-31
    New American Standard Bible (NASB)
    29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.

    Seems that there are always wolves that try to deter the assembly from preaching the Good News and making disciples. It is not just up to the pastor but to each member of the ekklesia to fully participate in the ministry of the local church, this includes giving according to your faith. Grumbling and complaining against the Lord’s annointed is not part of that and ususally carries some significant penalty.

    Pastors— keep on about the Master’s business parishioners— get busy with the Master’s business

  5. As a pastor of over 30 years, it’s been my experience that the people who give the most financially are the most generous in other areas as well, such as encouragement, and involvement in ministries, and leadership. There has long been a stereotype that the big givers are the bullies in the church, insisting on getting their way because they write the largest checks. I find just the exact opposite to be true. The people who are giving the most are the ones who care about the church the most, and who make the least amount of trouble, and are the most supportive and encouraging. It’s time to stop seeing such generous and deeply spiritual people as the bad guys. I think that stereotype is propagated by people who give little or nothing, but want to justify their lack of faith by making others seem worse in comparison.

  6. God spoke right to my heart about giving generously through this article. I’ve haven’t been a cheerful giver lately, giving but not as happy about it, always worried about money because things are so tight right now. Thank you, Joe.

    I needed to be reminded that I’m loving God back with my giving. I’m really ashamed this is so hard for me. Thank you and God bless!

    • Thank you, Jayne. Nice of you to post such an honest comment. My observation, for what it’s worth, is that beginning to tithe is hard for everyone. No one has an extra 10 percent laying around the house, and decides to start tithing. So, it’s always a stretch at first. Gradually, it becomes easier and then joyful. Praying for you today.

  7. I agree with the overall premise BUT! Sometimes one’s giving is not always specifically to the church they are at. Now, as “leadership” (a concept I have conflict with itself as seen in one of my other posts), they SHOULD be doing MOST of their support to their own church. HOWEVER…. nothing says that the 10% (or whatever figure you might use) has to be given to YOUR church. The giving all went to one place in the OT because there was only one place. What I am saying is… what one gives JUST TO THE CHURCH might be a gauge, but not an infallible gauge of one’s dedication because a person might be also giving a lot to other ministries (for example I give to Impact Ministries Internation who feeds starving children, digs wells for clean water, etc and so do not give as much to my “church”… however I also attend a home church more for the sake of fellowshipping with other believers than for the sake of getting a “lesson from a pastor” which I really do not believe is the Biblical model of the Church [as we saw in one of my other posts]).

  8. Well, it’s finally crossed over from the secular world into the Church: Blaming the lack of money for all that ails it. Of course, its true label should be, “Non-tithers are the Troublemakers,” but that really a smokescreen. Now I’ve heard everything. I read no spiritual self awareness in this article. I hope, sir, that you heal and forgive. And stay away from blogging until you do.

  9. PS: I used to do handle the tithing envelopes at my church, and I was in a leadership position. I can think of just as many troublemakers who tithed. Hope no one reads the article posted and thinks that it’s necessarily true. I see it as thinly-veiled venting.

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