Cerulean Sanctum Series

Banking on God: The Church Finances Poll

Standard

This week at Cerulean Sanctum, I’ll be gathering polling info for a look at how American Christians view money issues, both personal and in the Church. Most polls will run for about six days. So please vote. After the polls close, I’ll offer the results and my commentary on the issues and answers related to the poll questions and results.

Thanks for participating!

(Note to those reading by RSS: to participate in this week’s polls, you’ll need to come to the site to vote. Thanks!)

As tough an issue as tithing and giving are for some, how our churches spend the money we give them may be even more difficult. Below are thirteen basic church finances questions. To vote, simply log your responses. This poll runs through 6:00 PM, Monday, March 3, 2008. A day or so after, I’ll tally the votes and post them with my commentary.

[poll=13]

[poll=14]

[poll=15]

[poll=16]

[poll=17]

[poll=18]

[poll=19]

[poll=20]

[poll=21]

[poll=22]

[poll=23]

[poll=24]

[poll=25]

Thank you for your answers!

 

If you’ve not voted already, please vote on the following polls:

The Tithing Poll – Open until 6:00 PM, Sunday, March 2, 2008

Banking on God: The Tithing Poll

Standard

This week at Cerulean Sanctum, I’ll be gathering polling info for a look at how American Christians view money issues, both personal and in the Church. Most polls will run for about six days. So please vote. After the polls close, I’ll offer the results and my commentary on the issues and answers related to the poll questions and results.

Thanks for participating!

(Note to those reading by RSS: to participate in this week’s polls, you’ll need to come to the site to vote. Thanks!)

No topic causes more problems for the average person in the pews in the American Church than tithing. For that reason, any look at how the Church deals with money must address the issue. Below are nine basic tithing questions. To vote, simply log your responses. The poll runs through 6:00 PM, Sunday, March 2, 2008. A day or so after, I’ll tally the votes and post them with my commentary.

[poll=2]

[poll=12]

[poll=5]

[poll=6]

[poll=7]

[poll=8]

[poll=9]

[poll=10]

[poll=11]

Thank you for your answers!

Banking on God: A Look at Money & the Church, Intro

Standard

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
—Ecclesiastes 5:10

I’m almost afraid to open up The Wall Street Journal anymore. Seems not a day goes by that some piece of woeful economic news drops on us. Over the course of a couple weeks, it begins to resemble the bombing of Dresden.

The times, they say, are a-changin’.

In the days ahead, I’ll be talking about money and the Church in a series called “Banking on God.” If the series goes as planned, it will be an unusual one.

On a personal note, this is a difficult topic for me. If you want the charismatic/Pentecostal term for it, the issue of money is a stronghold. Show me the Hamiltons! (Sorry, used to be Benjamins...)I also think that most of us Evangelicals find money to be a stronghold issue in our lives. Living in America, the wealthiest nation ever, money is a big deal for us. Most of us have staked our lives to money. Thus, the stronghold.

I doubt that anyone reading this right now is genuinely poor. I’m not sure that most of us know what it’s like to dwell in poverty, no matter how many mission trips we take to the garbage dumps of Mexico City. Each of us knows that a hot shower and a couple cars await us back home.

So our perspectives on money are slanted. We’re so familiar with it that we always assume it will never leave us nor forsake us.

Money, money, money.

More than anything, I pray that this week will help us ask tough questions. I’m asking tough questions of myself right now. I pray also that we can find answers.

I’ll be leaning on you, the readers, for help with this series. I’ll even post a few online polls with genuine polling software! So I need feedback. You’ll help make or break what we discuss. If you have suggestions of subtopics within the topic of money/wealth/economics, especially as it impacts the Church, drop me a private e-mail using the e-mail address at top right. I’ll use the best ones as a springboard for a few of the posts.

Stay tuned. And thanks for being a reader.