Pastor, your church is about to receive a major blow.

My friend Barry Allen of Louisville knows about churches and finances.  Barry, who heads up the Kentucky Baptist Foundation, had this to say recently in The Western Recorder:

“It is likely that thousands of churches and ministries will (join Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral in going) bankrupt within the next decade or two.”

Why? Barry says the major factor is that the older members in every church are the heavy givers. “Did you know that people over age 75 give four times as much of their income as 25 to 44 year olds?”

He said, “Although older members account for only 19 percent of the membership of churches in the USA, they give 46 percent of the donations.”

In case you haven’t been paying attention, that generation is dying off at an alarming rate.  In fact, through the estates they leave behind, Barry says they will be passing 41 trillion dollars of wealth to their children, grandchildren, and other heirs–as well as to the government in taxes.

The effect of this generation of heavy givers leaving the scene, Barry says, will be like a tsunami clobbering our churches.  He adds, “Most churches and ministries are unprepared.”

That should give you something to think about today!

Some Q and A on this subject….

1) Why will churches be going bankrupt?

Some have overextended themselves financially as they counted on future generations to pay the bills.  Funny how we criticize the federal government for pulling this little fiasco–passing along the bill for today’s programs to our children and their children–and then do the same thing ourselves.

The others, who may not have gotten in heavy debt, will still find that the generation of younger adults are not funding the buildings and personnel, programs and missions, the way their parents did. And when that happens, something’s gotta give.

2) Why is the older generation so faithful in giving and the young folks are not?

There must be a hundred aspects to the full story, but I’ll tell you a big part of it: Fifty years ago, churches majored on teaching stewardship to their people. Today, it’s a rare church that trains their members on principles of financial stewardship. (Those principles include matters such as honoring God will all our wealth, ordering our priorities so as to serve the Lord effectively, controlling our spending and managing our debt, giving at least a tithe through our church, and planning our estate so that after we leave for Heaven it’s still honoring the Lord and carrying out our wishes.)

In our denomination, every state convention has a stewardship department with trained staff who can show a church how to conduct just such an emphasis.

3) Why is this? Why are modern churches neglecting stewardship education?

Your guess is as good as mine. But, since this is my blog and not yours (smiley-face goes here), here’s mine:

–a) Churches spread themselves thin, try to do everything, and necessarily have to leave some things out. I imagine there never was a decision to omit stewardship education and promotion, but it got lost in the busyness of church life.

–b) Pastors who came through those seasons of stewardship emphasis decades ago eventually got burned out and dropped them from sheer fatigue. I can relate to that.

–c) Pastors began to get criticized for preaching on money, and because we want to be universally loved and not criticized, found other subjects to preach on.  As long as the money was coming in, no one complained.

This last point–“as long as the money was coming in, no one complained”–is a biggie with me.  I’ve actually heard pastors say, “Why should I preach on money? My people give regularly.”  As though the only reason we preach on money is to fund the church work. That is a big reason, to be sure, but there are only 150 other reasons. When people get right in stewardship, they master the demon of materialism, control their debt, bless their families, and enjoy peace and harmony far more than when they were constantly bickering about dollars.  (And that’s only 1 of the 150 reasons!)

4) Whom are we failing?

The failures are monumental and victims of our failures are everywhere.

We fail the missionaries who count on the churches back home to fund their work of evangelism and missions.  We fail our own communities as we cut back on programs because the money is not available.  We fail the lost who were not reached because the funds were not sufficient to have that revival, bring in that evangelist, present that program, keep up the after-school ministry to the teens, print those Bibles.

We fail the future generations who will find church programs bare-bones and the outreach lacking. We fail the pastors and other God-called ministers whose livelihood and whose ministries count on what is given into the offering plate.

And, we fail God.  “Prove me now herewith,” He said in Malachi 3:10. And we do not.

Remember how honored the Lord Jesus was by the little widow who dropped her two coins into the temple treasury and went on her way? (Mark 12:41-44)  Well, when we do not give faithfully and generously to the Lord’s work, He is displeased and dishonored.

That incredible faith chapter, Hebrews 11, lists one after another of men and women in olden times who did the faith thing and served God. In the middle, we find this incredible sentence: “Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God” (11:16).

One more: when we do not give to the Lord through our churches, we fail ourselves.  Jesus said that by giving we are laying up treasure in Heaven (Matthew 6:20).  I suspect a lot of nongivers are going to arrive in Heaven and find that their cupboard is bare (i.e., that their reward is far less than if they had been faithful givers).  Then, they’re going to point the finger of accusation at us pastors. “Why didn’t you tell me?” they will say.

5) What is the solution?

The remedy for this situation begins with the pastors, those charged with the oversight of the Lord’s churches (Acts 20:28).

a) Let them plan a vigorous annual program of stewardship education. The sermons, Sunday School lessons, and discussions teach the principles of managing the wealth God has put in our hands.  This cannot be done in one Sunday or one weekend. It needs to encompass several weeks in order to get through to the hard-headed, catch the occasional-attenders, and give spaced-repetition a chance to do its wonderful work.

b) Have them enlist godly and faithful givers for testimonies (or to be interviewed) on how they began giving, what obstacles they had to surmount, and the blessings they have received from faithfulness. People love stories and respond to stories. Testimonies allow God’s lessons on giving to be taught without the preacher having to do it all in sermons.

c) At the climax, let the pastors call for members to make commitments of one type or the other to honor God with their wealth and to become regular givers to the Lord through His church.  Whether this means signing pledge cards or tithing commitment cards as we did in former days, or something entirely different, is between the Lord and the church leadership.  No pastor would think of preaching without extending an invitation, and this emphasis will fall flat if people are not asked to commit themselves in response.

d) Let the pastors repeat the principles in sermons throughout the year.  We used to hear pastors say they mention tithing and stewardship regularly in sermons, even if the subject were something entirely different.  The effect, they said, was to affirm the faithful and encourage the occasional giver to become more consistent.

Carolyn was living near the bottom of the economic ladder when she began coming to our church. The women of our congregation would drive her and the children to services each Sunday and then take them home. On this particular Sunday, my wife had driven them. When she walked in the house from taking them home, she told me something Carolyn had said.

“Out of the blue–we had not been discussing this and you haven’t been preaching on it–she said, ‘You know, Miss Margaret, I know God wants me to tithe my income. And you know I can’t afford it. I don’t make enough to live on at it is. But, I’ve decided…. I’m just going to do it regardless.'”

That’s how it’s done, actually. In fact, the entire Christian life is lived “regardlessly”–regardless of what we have or do not have, regardless of what we know or still question, regardless of how we feel or what others do or say–we serve the Lord.

Our people need to be taught that tithing is hardest at the first, and that if they are to become longtime faithful givers, they will have to discipline themselves to “give regardlessly.”

Over these years of ministry I’ve known thousands of tithers and never knew one who started tithing when they could afford it. No one has an extra ten percent laying around the house, and says, “Honey, what shall we do with the extra money this month? I know–let’s tithe.”

No one does that.

Everyone I know who gives faithfully and generously to the Lord started when they could not afford it and simply could not see how this was going to work. But God was faithful and they grew by leaps and bounds.

God supplied their needs, they continued bringing their offerings, and the work of the Lord for these generations has been funded.

Only now is it in jeopardy.

Teach your people, pastor. They will rise up and bless you for eternity if you will do it well.

Oh, pastor, one more thing.  Do this and you will get criticized. But the carping you will hear will simply be the death-pangs of the old nature resisting the Spirit’s urgings for them to take steps of faith.  So, do not give in to the gripes. Just stay your course.

Tsunamis have been known to fizzle out, after all.