Some years ago I read a wonderful little book called Jesus and Money by Ben Witherington III. He commended John Wesley’s famous sermon The Use of Money and reproduced it in his book.

I pricked my ears up because I was sent by my non-church going mother to the local Methodist Sunday School. One of the heroes of the faith I learnt about, was the famous C18th evangelist John Wesley. As an adult I subsequently read of the wonderful ministry of Wesley and his brother Charles and their equally famous fellow worker George Whitfield in the evangelical movement of the C 18^th. . I grew up singing the hymns of their revival.

So when I visited the UK a couple of years ago, my itinerary took me from York to Cambridge I determined to detour off the motorway and visit the shrine of Methodism, the Epworth rectory where their father Samuel had been rector and where they had been raised by their saintly mother Susanna. It was here that 6 year old John had a marvellous escape from the fire that ravaged the house. 

The volunteer guide was nowhere to be seen but the local Methodist minister appeared from a meeting and took us over the house which was full of fascinating Methodist history. However, by far the stand-out for me was a full size likeness of the great evangelist that formerly was on display in Madame Tussauds wax museum in London. What staggered me was how small John Wesley was in real life (see photo). I remember someone had called him a ‘dapper little don’, but until I stood next to him I hadn’t quite realized just what that meant.

The thought that went through my mind was, that relative to Wesley I was a physical giant but a spiritual pigmy, whereas he may have been physically challenged but was certainly a spiritual giant.

Later I visited the Epworth Anglican parish church where Wesley had been briefly a curate for his father.  Later during the evangelical revival Wesley returned to Epworth where he was refused permission to preach within the church by the new Rector. Thus he stood on his father’s tomb and preached powerfully to the crowd outside the church. He is reported as saying that he did more good for the kingdom on that occasion in 20 minutes than he had done in two years as his father’s assistant. 

The tomb is still outside the church and surprizingly with no identifying sign apart from the inscription. I felt I was gazing on hallowed ground (see photo) and thought it would be inappropriate to stand on the tomb myself.

Wesley was a wonderful evangelist but was also concerned to help his converts develop in Christian maturity. As I note in my book Giving Generously, there is little that assists Christian maturity more than a proper understanding  of money.

In his famous sermon The Use of Money, John Wesley bases his message on Luke 16:9.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

He asked the question, given that money is not evil in itself, what is the appropriate and wise way to use it. His message is in three parts.

1 Earn all you can: but in a way that is honorable.

2 Save all you can. Don’t waste it.

3 Give all you can: remembering that you are a steward of God’s blessing.

It is a wonderful message and while it was preached well over two hundred years ago in another place and another age, the biblical truths it enshrines speak just as clearly today. And with the magic of the internet you can find it with one click on the link below. I heartily commend it.

https://www.umcmission.org/Find-Resources/John-Wesley-Sermons/Sermon-50-The-Use-of-Money

Kiama is a wonderful seaside township about two hours’ drive south of Sydney. It sits abreast of a spectacularly beautiful coastline highlighted by the famous Kiama blow hole. The Anglican Church in the town is located on a headland with one of the most magnificent views in the state. Christ Church has been a vital part of the life of the community since the 1840s.

A friend recently sent me a brochure (see below) about a giving campaign, conducted in 1959 to raise money for the Sunday School. It had been unearthed recently in the archives and is a document worth studying as it touches on most of the necessary principles for a fruitful result. Here are just some of them.

1 Past legacy, present needs and future vision were linked. There was constant reference to the fact that this was a centenary project honouring the debt free building of the first church in 1859. The then current urgent need for £8,000 to minister to the members and leaders of tomorrow was spelt out.

2 There is the endorsement of the leaders, the then Archbishop of Sydney, Hugh Gough, the rector (senior minister) of the day and the General Chairman of the campaign with the encouragement to give generously.

3 The details of the campaign were explained. The visitors would already have given to the campaign. They would not be asking the congregation to do anything they had not done themselves. They had ‘skin in the game’. People would not be railroaded. They would be approached in private. The issues could be explained personally.

4 People were asked to make a three year pledge. This is wise in the conduct of a campaign for funds in excess of the annual budget of the church. Willing members often cannot give a large up front amount (some can) but are far more able to contribute to a three year target.

5 The brochure included the familiar illustration comparing generous givers to the Sea of Galilee, with the Jordan River flowing in and flowing out giving life and vitality. The contrast was made with the lifeless Dead Sea where the Jordan flows in but there is no outlet.

6 Sacrificial giving was encouraged and boldly contrasted with token giving.

7 While there was a front page diagram of the proposed structure there were also four photographs of people and children of the church in various ministry settings. This is a key point as buildings don’t always excite people even when those buildings are used for ministry. However, the growth of people is inherently exciting.

8 The spiritual nature of the campaign was highlighted. This request was being made to God’s people who believe in God’s church and wanted the ministry of the gospel to proceed. It underlined the fact that giving to God is never a money issue. It is a faith issue and a ministry issue. Bold leaders understand this and thus are never hesitant in asking.

Some years ago when I was the senior minister of the Anglican church at Figtree I conducted a giving campaign for a building. I wrote about it in my book Giving Generously: Raising Money for local church ministry. https://givinggenerously.com/  I had to undertake a lot of research to find out what to do. The 1959 Christ Church Kiama brochure shows there is nothing new under the sun and I wish I had had it twenty years ago.

Well the Kiama campaign must have succeeded because the hall has been in use for many years and I have attended a ministry function within it.  The church in 1959 was obviously populated by people of vision and faith. This continues to be the case as a new facility has recently been built, funded by  a modern campaign but one embracing many of the above principles. The building, now debt free, serves the needs of the current vibrant community. A number of them are my very good friends. So if you are ever in Kiama on a Sunday, pay a visit to Christ Church Anglican. I am sure you will receive a warm welcome.

Consider this verse.

A generous person will prosper;  whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Prov 11:25

Now maybe you are thinking, that’s crazy. How can giving stuff away be a good thing? How could that be a bright idea? Won’t that diminish me? If you are thinking that you are in very good company. However it a biblical truth and it is a universal truth. It is also found in the writings of sages, philosophers, wise men and women and religions throughout the ages.

There is a recent secular book called ‘The Paradox of Generosity: Giving we receive, Grasping we lose’, by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson. Smith leads the Science of Generosity Initiative at the University of Notre Dame in the U.S and Davidson has close involvement in the work. The study draws attention to the paradoxical, counter-intuitive nature of generosity. Here is the essence of it:

‘Generosity is paradoxical. Those who give, receive back in turn. By spending ourselves for others’ well-being, we enhance our own. In letting go of some of what we own, we better secure our own lives. By giving ourselves away, we ourselves move toward greater flourishing. This is not only a philosophical or religious teaching, it is a sociological fact.’

This is a book worth buying. It is based on two thousand surveys followed up with sixty focussed interviews with real people, Americans, some generous and some and some self admittedly far less so.

They examined generosity over five dimensions.

• Giving money away.
• Volunteering
• Being generous in personal relationships
• Being a good neighbour and friend
• Personally valuing generosity

A life of generosity is a life where you are a giver not a taker, you are open-hearted with an open wallet. The result: generous people were happier, healthier, had more purpose in life, more friends, less depression, more opportunities and experienced more personal growth. And what’s more, the relationship of generosity with blessings was causal. Generosity was not just associated with blessing; it actually caused it. This point, being controversial, was examined in some detail.

The authors stress that the positive effects of generosity flow to those who value generosity and make it a habit of life. Making a one-off gift in some emergency, performing some incidental community service like giving blood on occasion just doesn’t cut it. The blessing of generosity accumulates to those who have internalized generosity so it is part of their DNA. Consequently it cannot be faked and does not accrue to those who give in order to get or to acquire some perceived advantage. Generosity is more like love: the more you give it away the more abundant it becomes.

They also examined the effect in the negative: the effect of lack of generosity on those who kept things for themselves.

The ultimate opposite is the miser. I certainly don’t want to be thought a miser. The miser hoards, grasps, doesn’t give, doesn’t share. Misers are not just careful with money but tight, skinflint, cheapskate. The miser is not happy.  Our word ‘miserable’ and the word ‘miser’ have the same basic meaning. They both come from the Latin root that means ‘wretched’.

The Paradox of Generosity study found that generous people were happier, healthier, had more friends, enjoyed more benefits, were more prosperous, thrived in life. The ungenerous ones were poorer in spirit and often financially, had less purpose, lived for themselves, were sicker and lonelier.

Jesus  said’ It is more blessed to give than to receive’ and it is obvious he knew what he was talking about.

To investigate this topic further see my book Giving Generously: Resourcing local church ministry.   https://givinggenerously.com/

So here is my point from the scripture, tradition and reinforced by modern sociology

Be generous. It’s good for you. It will give you great joy. It will bless others and the bible adds that it will give God glory (2 Cor 9:11).

In my book Giving Generously: Resourcing Local Church Ministry I stress the importance of asking for resources. This is in contrast to fretting, wishing, hoping, complaining or dithering. I know history records certain great believers who simply waited on God for their ministry needs.  I, for one, do not wish in any way to decry their efforts. However, when I look at the bible I see a number of examples where some the greatest leaders of the scripture, when faced with the necessity of funding a godly cause, asked God’s people clearly and confidently but not coercively to give.

Consider Moses who was charged by the Lord with building the tabernacle during the wilderness wanderings.

From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; (Ex 35:5)

There are more ways to give mentioned in subsequent verses. While this is a command of the Lord, Moses was not coercive. Note the words, everyone who is willing.

People were also asked to give their time and talents.

All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded:   (Ex 35:10.)

The people responded with such enthusiasm that Moses had to tell people to stop giving (Ex 36:6). The appeal was oversubscribed!! Now that is a happy thought and a prayer point for church leaders with a project.

When King David needed to raise money for the building of the temple he first led the appeal by personal example and asked people to follow his lead with these words:

Now who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord. (1 Chr 29:5)

Again there was a great response, great rejoicing and they all partied hard (in a godly way).

When the apostle Paul wanted to raise money for the collection to relieve the distress of the believers in Jerusalem he held up the example of the generosity of the poverty stricken Macedonians and said,

‘See that that also excel in this grace of giving’. (2 Cor 8:7)

And then after speaking of the lavish grace of the birth, life, ministry and death of the Lord Jesus that has brought such blessing, Paul urged believers to finish the work they had started. However the apostle wrote, ‘I am not commanding you’. He wanted them to give freely and voluntarily because they loved the Lord and loved the Lord’s people.

In each case above the appeal was clear, it was confident but it was not coercive.

There is something else in common in each case. The leader, whether Moses, David or Paul made the request. In churches today, this is a leadership function that should not be farmed off to the church treasurer. Treasurers are important and do a wonderful, often unheralded ministry. See you need a good treasurer https://givinggenerously.com/need-good-treasurer/ . Also, there may be a very good reason for the treasurer to explain the financial facts, but pastors should not pass the buck in this task, which is one only they should do.

Recently I attended a church service for Volunteer Sunday. On this day the minister suspended the normal preaching programme to design a service and preach a sermon celebrating the many volunteers who week in week out exercised a faithful and fruitful ministry in the church and on behalf of the church in the community. I had been to such services before and with the writing of this post in mind I was especially looking forward to this service.  I was not disappointed. This church goes all out. It is never a half- hearted afterthought such as: ‘Hello everybody thanks for your ministry. Now let’s return to normal business’.

On the day the church and foyer were festooned in a celebratory atmosphere. The service and sermon had a theme of ‘hundreds and thousands’. This was meant to embody the idea of hundreds of volunteers ministering to thousands of people. Fairy bread covered with ‘hundreds and thousands’ were distributed in the foyer after the service.

The preacher used a very, very large adhesive board and to it, attached dozens of coloured dots which represented people in ministry and reinforced the theme. The bible passage was Romans 16 where the apostle Paul greets a galaxy of otherwise unheralded ministry friends. These are people who were highly significant in Paul’s ministry and had laboured long, diligently and effectively in gospel work but don’t get the attention that we naturally pay to figures like Peter, Paul, James and John.

The connection is easy to make. Congregations are naturally aware of the ministry of the preacher, the music director or people who pray, lead singing or read the bible. Their ministry is prominent and visible. Volunteer Sunday gives the opportunity to thank not only the prominent people but also those who humbly and faithfully serve behind the scenes. At Figtree Anglican Church, where I ministered for many years, there was an unobtrusive lady who had been folding the church bulletins, midweek, since the 1940s! What fantastic devotion and how appropriate it is to thank such a servant.

During the sermon the preacher invited people in the various ministry groups , pastoral care, missions, service, children, youth, mentoring, men’s women’s ministries to come onto the platform where he prayed for them and the congregation celebrated their service with acclamation. Many hundreds came forward and crowded the front. They were invited to stick a coloured dot to the adhesive board indicating their ministry and giving them a tangible participation in the message. Apart from the virtue of thanking God for his goodness and thanking his people for their ministry the celebrating of volunteers has other benefits in the life of the church.

First, it introduces a sense of real joy. The entire atmosphere of the service was one of delight in the Lord and his goodness. This congregation loves their church and this service is just one reason why. Second, Volunteer Sunday always acknowledges the vision and mission of the church. The ministry is not being done as a chore but for the glory of God. Celebrated leadership author Peter Drucker says that ‘Volunteers work for a cause’. Volunteer Sunday gives ample opportunity to remind everyone of the gospel imperative by which we live.

Third, it makes raising money so much easier. I discuss in detail raising money for ministry in my book, Giving Generously. It is a simple fact that people who serve in the ministry of the church in a practical way also give more money to that ministry. Volunteers are involved, invested and they are committed and are consequently more likely to be generous regular donors and respond to special appeals for financial support.

The church I refer to is a large, healthy church of very generous givers. It has over 1000 volunteers in ministry and given the way the church thanks them and celebrates their ministry, it is easy to see why.

You can find the sermon “Volunteer Sunday” by Andrew Sercombe from Gateway Baptist Church here.

In August 2017, 53 year old Massachusetts hospital worker Mavis Wanczyk won the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history, a massive $US 758.7 million. She immediately quit her clerical job and looks forward to her new life. Will it be a happy one? For her sake I certainly hope so. However the odds aren’t necessarily in her favour. It is not just that lottery winners can get preyed on by hungry friends and family or even worse criminal elements; It is that lottery winners don’t report getting much happier after the initial buzz wears off. In fact one classic study reported on marginally more happiness with the enjoyment of everyday life experiences than people who had suffered catastrophic accidents.

Part of the problem is that we tend not to spend money wisely. Generally the new house, new car, extra gadgets or luxury lifestyle on which lottery winners and others who came into money indulge themselves very soon pall and lose their lustre.

I read recently a fascinating book by authors Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton called ‘Happy Money’.  Its thesis is that there are ways that we can spend money that will bring increased happiness.  They list five.

1. Buying an experience that we can anticipate share and reflect on later. I can think of a number of wonderful  holidays whose memories still give me pleasure.
2. Treating yourself with small pleasures, such as a trip to the movies a dinner out.
3. Buying time. I am not very handy and  recently hired a tradesman to construct some shelves in the garage. In a fraction of the time I would have spent he erected shelves far better than I could have imagined. Every time I look at them I feel a glow of pleasure and think, ‘happy money’.
4. Paying for an item or service ahead of time as opposed to putting it on credit. There is a pleasure in anticipation rather than the groaning associated with debt.
5. Investing in others. This is giving to someone or a worthy cause outside yourself. God’s people don’t find this surprising. Jesus said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35. This is probably best understood as meaning giving rather than accumulating.

The follower of Jesus has a cause and a kingdom to invest in that will not only be a blessing now but will count for eternity (Luke 19:9). This is why ministers of the gospel should never be timid in asking people to give to Christian ministry. Not only is it godly to give, if the request is made boldly and sensitively people will respond to the appeal and enjoy doing it, and joy will not fade.

In 1995 my wife Helen Irvine and I went on a trip to the US where we visited a number of churches and I went to two conferences. One of the speakers I heard was Rick Warren, the Baptist pastor of Saddleback church south of Los Angeles. He spoke of a large Capital Works campaign to finance the construction of their building. It had been called ‘Time to Build’. The campaign had raised an amazing $US22 million in money given on the day and pledged over three years.

I found later that Rick had conducted a number of such campaigns, the first being ‘Possess the Land’. Saddleback church had commenced in Rick’s lounge room and as the church grew had met in a variety of properties that the church didn’t own. As the titles suggest the ‘Possess the Land’ campaign was to finance buying of their first property, and then ‘Time to Build’ was to finance the erection of a suite of buildings. Later Rick ran a further campaign called ‘Build for Life’. In fact conducting campaigns for a variety of purposes has become a hallmark of Saddleback’s ministry. The campaigns 40 Days of Purpose and 40 Days of Community have been used fruitfully all over the world.

As I discussed in my book, Giving Generously , when I came to financing Figtree Anglican Church’s building development I thought that I would need professional assistance to help raise such a large amount of money, many times the church’s annual operating budget. However, such a professional needed to be chosen very carefully. I believed they needed to have a good track record with engaging with churches as opposed to schools or other not-for-profit organizations. They would need to fit the culture and theological ethos of Figtree Anglican. A cultural mismatch in theology or methodology would be counterproductive at best and disastrous at worst. And of course they needed to be available and willing to come. My problem was that I couldn’t find any who met all three requirements.

However all was not lost. I found that Saddleback had produced a relatively inexpensive Time to Build kit showing in great detail precisely what we needed to do. With the invaluable assistance of my extraordinarily capable administrator Karen Dixon and a legion of wonderful volunteers we bought the kit, put it into practice and conducted a very fruitful campaign. Three years later we needed to repeat the process and by then the kit was called Build for Life. It contained very similar material.

Until quite recently the Build for Life kit was available to be purchased from Saddleback but it appears to have been withdrawn from sale. However, very similar material can still be accessed. As I noted above, conducting campaigns and helping other churches conduct campaigns is a feature of Saddleback’s ministry. An overview of what needs to be done can be found on the Campaign Central section of the Saddleback website. See https://store.pastors.com/pages/campaign-central

For more detail go to the free 33 page Campaign Success Guide

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0545/9317/files/Daring_Faith_Success_Guide.pdf?3657149131282000050

This is for a series called Daring Faith but the material in the Guide relates to campaigns in general.

Each of these campaigns has, at the core, a related sermon series of approximately six weeks. I found such series invaluable because at the start I had no idea how to preach in such a campaign. What I needed was simply to listen to other preachers to see just what they would say, and find a way I say something similar in my own voice and in my own context.

The original Build for Life sermon series is still available for purchase at: https://store.pastors.com/collections/building-for-life

They are certainly worth hearing.

Finally of course, read my book Giving Generously, especially chapter 14, where I explain in some detail how we applied these concepts at Figtree Anglican Church.

Great Redeemer Church was centrally situated in a regional town that was experiencing considerable population growth. Numbers at church services were steadily increasing and the auditorium was ancient and obviously too small. The projected cost of a new worship centre was in the vicinity of $ 2 Million. The operating budget was $750,000. How could they fund the new centre? Again after wrestling with the problem in prayer and dialogue, the board thought the solution was evident. For as long as anyone could remember the church had owned a large block of land adjacent to the church, currently used as overflow parking at Christmas and other large services. This property was becoming increasingly valuable. Why not sell a large portion of this land and resourcing the new auditorium would be straightforward?

The above examples are typical of decisions regularly being made by churches desiring to upgrade facilities or construct new buildings. Those decisions are often very ill-advised. I say often because there is no hard and fast rule and sometimes selling property is the only way to get a project up and going. I have known some outstanding ministers who have sold property for this purpose. But very often it is not the only way to proceed, and parishes sell valuable property in prime positions that they will never get back, in the process compromising future development.

In my book ‘Giving Generously: Resourcing Local Church Ministry’, I discuss conducting a capital campaign: one that involves sums in excess of the church’s annual budget. In my time at Figtree Anglican Church we conducted three such campaigns and they all were very fruitful. Under my successor Ian Barnett, Figtree church has now repaid a multimillion dollar loan that helped fund a wonderful auditorium. The Figtree project was so large it needed even more than capital campaigns could realistically raise.

Conducting a capital campaign is very daunting because of the large sums involved and because often ministers don’t know where to start. I completely understand this because I led the three campaigns mentioned and initially had no idea what to do. So if you read this and are feeling nervous, I totally empathise. However, there are many, many positives in attempting to raise the money.

 A successful church capital campaign is based around vision, mission, generosity and then asking for support sensitively and confidently. It is simply a marvellous opportunity to crystallise what your church stands for and where you are going, and to build faith and hope and generosity into the congregation. These are opportunities too good to be missed.

Recently Helen Irvine and I were asked to give money at church and now that process is over I reflected on why we gave and why we were happy to give.

Fourth, the message itself was based on a famous passage of the bible,