Searching for God # 61

How could such a series in search for God not have a piece dedicated to the issue of money, filthy lucre?

Of course, there is the proverbial 10% tithe, prescribed in the Bible, and the message behind that is that to be a Christian effectively means changing how one manages one’s life, including one’s financial affairs. Words like stewardship, generosity, compassion, and a spirit of ‘giving TO God’ are used in the petition to enhance the flow of cash into the church’s coffers.

And then, there is the reality of the ‘big donors’ who write cheques for Carillon Bells, and new organs, and stained-glass windows, as well as new heating systems, new air conditioning systems, new paint, new bell towers, and the like. Invariably, such donors are treated, both by the hierarchy as well as the men and women in the pews, as ‘highly respected, highly honoured, and extremely important to the life of the parish. From an objective perspective, without such donors, and many more of smaller sized contributions, the church would cease to operate. And, over the last two or three decades, churches have been closing at a rate significantly higher than over the last century.

In Canada a CBC news report, dated March 10, 2019, by Bonnnie Allen, entitled, “From sacred to secular: Canada set to lose 9,000 churches, warns national heritage group’ we read:

A national charity that works to save old buildings estimates that 9,000 religious spaces in Canada will be lost in the next decade, roughly a third of all faith-owned buildings in the country…..As of 2009, there were 27,601 buildings for worship, training or promotion owned by religious organizations in Canada, a statistic found buried inside a Natural Resources Canada energy audit.

From Axios in a piece entitled, 15,000 churches could close this year amin religious shift in U.S., by Russell Contreras, October 3, 2025, we read:

The U.S. could see an unprecedented 15,000 churches shut their doors this year, far more than the few thousand expected to open, according to denominational reports and church consultants….The decline fo traditional brick-and-mortar churches comes as a record number of Americans (29%) are identifying as religiously unaffiliated, and as 62% identify as Christians--down from 78% in 2007, according to the Pew Research Centre.

And while we can assume that shuttering churches results from significant drops in both attendance and in financial contributions, the question of how the churches have traditionally ‘dealt’ with money may have something to do with those deflated numbers of people and dollars.

Silence, skirting around, contextualizing as ‘giving to God,’ and the mood, tenor, ethos, and the nature of the theology of the homilies, the liturgy and the music are all factors in the church’s ‘bottom line’. Cutting through the ecclesial ethos and culture, too, is the proverbial maxim about ‘looking after our own people and letting the world take care of its own,’ a deeply embedded flag of parochialism. If we look at church history, for example, in the United Kingdom, there is a church in each and even village, hamlet, and almost every crossroads. The idea of a church as a focal point for a community, especially a rural, agricultural community, in and around which travel was restricted to horse and carriage, on roads virtually unpassable in heavy rain, snow or sleet, pay have made some sense both theologically and sociologically, as a kind of ‘warm-fuzzy’ in times of pain, distress, loss, sickness and death.

Such edifices housed baptismal, confirmation, marriage and death records for literally centuries. Many of those records having been taken over, or supplemented, by the public secular authorities of the town, village, or county. Liturgical ceremonies for those pivot moments in the life of a family also commemorated their religious link to God, elevating the events as both serious moments worthy of special reflection, worship, prayer and often the Mass or Eucharist. The relationship between the people and God nevertheless, whether openly discussed or not, lies at the heart of the original ecclesial and secular planning.

Nevertheless, from the perspective of those ‘in charge’ including both clergy and laity, the unspoken issue around balance sheets, is to put it bluntly, ‘evangelizing,’ getting more butts in pews, and generating more cash flow into the coffers. I had not realized the degree of importance that is either on the surface consciously or ‘beneath the table’ of consciousness, such a motivation exists to engage those in leadership. Indeed, from my experience, in both rural and urban churches, the ‘money status’ was a hypothetical time line that paralleled, or even mimicked the attendance line over the months and years.

Having been assigned to churches in dire straits, fiscally, as well as in attendance, for multiple reasons, some of these presumably out of sight and out of mind of the hierarchies in some urban office somewhere, I found that the motive to ‘revive’ them and bring them back into whatever was considered ‘successful’ in their past drove the organization. Effectively, without selling goods or specific numbered and metered services, yet while offering opportunities for worship, home and hospital and nursing home visits, liturgical services including baptism, confirmation, marriage, funerals, and weekly worship services, the church operated in a manner similar to how a commercial enterprise operates. None, not a single one, of  the multiple meetings in which I participated to operate the church ever really entered into a discussion of the aspects that were important to those attending. Each person had a different idea on how to ‘attract’ new-comers. Some of those ideas, based on a new neighbour who had just moved in, or a new friend someone had just met in another activity in the community, or a new business associate were quite relevant. One corporate businessman of my acquaintance, in a private interview, asserted proudly,” I am proud to have been very instrumental in driving the last priest out of this parish; he was not ‘spiritual’ enough, and neither are you!” As someone who has marked the products of his technology company in foreign lands, he was very confident that he knew the full meaning of spirituality and essentially substituted it for ‘marketing’ in my view. Anti-intellectual, pro-contemporary band music, pro evangelical hymn selections, and a ‘business-mentality’ for marketing were his criteria for ‘spirituality. Oh, and in typical ‘crony-style,’ he was very careful to point out that he was a ‘friend of the bishop’.

Just as in the secular society, perhaps even more so, although less commented on, is the status of money, fiscal stability, trusts funds, along with the regular giving campaigns where churches formally ask people to consider ‘upping’ their regular contributions. A state of perpetual fiscal scarcity, (the image of the poor church mouse) seems to reign like a permanent grey cloud over the mind-set of those who have a sincere interest in ‘my church’. (The possessive pronoun is often from having attended for their whole lives, and their parents, and even possibly their grandparents were original members.)

And that ‘my’ is deeply felt, profoundly honoured, both by the individuals and families who use such language, but also, more importantly, by the others in the congregation. And this ‘ownership’ model is one to which any new cleric must become intimately familiar with, honour, and revere in humility, without which there is considerable risk of a very short tenure. There is a scent of the arrogance of ownership, proprietorship, executive board-room possessiveness, and personal identification as ‘high status’ (from a political perspective) within the organization. And that ‘ownership’ has to capacity, and the cutting edge of a knife to welcome or to exclude whomever it chooses, for whatever reasons, with impunity. That ownership, too, is very often honoured sycophantically by the hierarchical structure, as if there were an ‘old boys club’ operating behind the public view.

This commercial aspect, conflates with a political ‘status’ so important that those running for political office in small towns, villages, or even urban centres, consider it both wise and opportunistic to appear just prior to elections, often even to volunteer to collect the collection so as to be highly visible, and then disappear for the full length of the political term. Power-structures, designated by specific ‘criteria’ such as significant monetary contributions, and/or significant network connections’  or perhaps a significant social status outside the church….these all play extensive roles in the manner in which the church operates. Where power lies, and whether it is or has shifted, is a matter of which each clergy must be fully aware, least s/he risk stepping on a mine-field (could be dubbed a mind-field in this case).

The social caste system, as such, is not formally or officially operating in the churches in North America; yet a similar indelible and inescapable influence is always lurking in the background in all churches. Indeed, giving reverence to the past, including the scriptural narratives, is another of the operating psychic archetypes within the ecclesial institution. The only future that seems to have any influence might be the ‘second coming’ and the AGM where accounts are shared, and the specific repair or renovation, removal and replacement required by the building or staffing.

Could the negative and repressive influence of the ‘hierarchical’ social system be transformed, through good theological teaching, and exploration of biblical example? With the parable of the workers, for example, perhaps. Paradox, however, although integral to Christian theology is almost absent from the individual and shared mind-set of the people in the pews, as well as in the conversations with people in the hierarchies. Unless it is considered only as an anecdotal surprise, as a matter of a literary device, paradox is disconnected from all perceptions, attitudes, conversations and deliberations about God, the divine and the relationship of humans to God.

And in the light of the literal attempt to operate in a politically correct (as well as ethically and morally correct) universe, under serious and mature and adult thinking, corporate establishment ‘think’ abounds. And this ‘lens’ applies especially to matters of money, financial statements, financial campaigns, and ‘growing’ the church. The corporate ‘think’ if you don’t grow you decline’ is a cornerstone of the modus operandi. And individual or even community spiritual interests, anxieties, hopes and fears are, save for the scarcity of numbers, virtually omitted from the scene, at least in my limited experience. Occasionally, a new organ will be purchased through the beneficence of  an altruistic donor, offering another opportunity for special liturgy of thanksgiving. The humility and surprise of such a donor at his financial bounty is shared only privately, when that might be the more important theological moment, and not the organ, however large an improvement over the ‘old’ instrument.

Money as a measure of ‘success’ in churches, is, from this perspective, a mirage. And it is a deceptive mirage at that. It can and likely will distract from the deeper issues of how people relate to each other and to God, and to those in oppression within their awareness. The adage of the church financial consultants to ‘grow your financial resources so you can grow your ministry, is reverse of the appropriate equation.

Look first to the ministry needs, without even considering whether or not they are attainable, or even worth considering. If they are authentic needs and cry out for healing and comfort, given the extreme degree of oppression,  even if, or especially if their origins lie within the politically and/or fiscally elite, those needs must be creatively, reflectively and prayerfully considered, exclusive of their impact on the financial resources of the church. Indeed, paradoxically, it is a matter of faith, that there is a very high probability, that in attempting to meet authentic needs, those questions of fiscal ‘resources’ will be more than taken care off.

That paradox, however, is a very tenuous proposition in the Christian churches where I have served. Money first, and then ministry has been the ‘conventional norm’ sadly.