Faith and Money

Many of us, as people of faith, give a portion of our income to help others. But what about the money we don’t give away—the money we plan to spend, save for emergencies or invest for retirement?

As unbelievable as it may sound, we can use that money on behalf of God’s community, as well, and still have it for what we need. Our savings can actively benefit our community and be there when we need it.

Our investments can support our faith values and grow for retirement. We can support an economy of enough for all by thoughtfully choosing what we buy. Our guests today will expand our vision for the money we don’t give away.

Andy Loving is a financial advisor to people who work for justice through their finances. And Jim Marsh will share how he moved his money to savings and investment choices that support his deeply-held faith. Please join us as we continue to make the connection between our faith and our money.

Millions of people of faith are making the connection between the way we live and the looming environmental crisis. We know we need to change our dependence on fossil fuels and to use water more wisely, but the scale of the crisis is daunting, and the life habits that got us into this mess are deeply ingrained.

Our guests today will show us what happens when we love God and God’s people enough to take a step toward life choices that honor God’s creation.

Joelle Novey of Interfaith Power and Light will share how congregations of many faiths are responding constructively to climate change. In taking one faithful step after another, Brian Higgins and his family have created a beautiful, sustainable life. Their stories will inspire us all to more deeply connect our faith and money to the imperative of our time--to be faithful stewards of God’s creation

Would you like to go meet the neighbors? The gospel calls us to love our neighbor-- and we know that means all of God’s children-- but it’s difficult to think about people, much less love them, when we know nothing of their lives, their hearts or their history.

A Faith and Money Network Trip of Perspective is an opportunity to spend eye-opening days with people who may not have material things but spiritually, they are incredibly rich.

In spending time together, relationships are born and nurtured. And knowing someone, caring about someone, changes the way we see anything that affects them, from the weather to international policy, and changes the way they see the things that affect us.

Our guests today, Rev. Djaloki Dessables and Kim Montroll, have fascinating and touching stories from leading Trips of Perspective to Haiti. You will start to see through new eyes as we make cross-cultural connections between faith and money.

An estimated 5,000 times a day, our children are exposed to an ad that tells them they need one more thing or one more experience to be happy and accepted.

As parents, making the connection between faith and money, we know those messages of “never enough” are toxic to our children’s spirits and will distort their lives. But how do we offer God’s life-giving understanding of money when the commercial culture is in the very air they breathe?

Our guests today will restore our hope that we can raise our children with a sense of their place in God’s economy of enough for all.

Susan Taylor’s family talks and walks (however imperfectly) their understanding of God’s call to justice and community. And Caroline and Jason Bernhardt-Lanier are raising four children within a loving tension between a background of affluence and hearts committed to God’s call to be present to the poor. Join us as we make a multi-generational connection between faith and money.

Many of us hold our relationships with family and friends so deep and dear that we may not even be aware of the undercurrents created by money.

In your relationships, is money used to wield power or to empower your life together? Are financial decisions a source of friction or collaboration? Is money a way of keeping score in your relationships or a tool for faithful action in the world?

Our guest today, Killian Noe, has seen the range of money dynamics in her work as pastor, fundraiser, and spiritual guide.

Killian believes we can recognize the money dynamics in our relationships, change them if we need to, and use those healthy frameworks to relate more fully in ways that break isolation, bring healing, and create community-- not only in our own families, but in the larger world, as well.

Money is so important in our lives as God’s people that it is the second most frequently mentioned theme in the Bible.

Our fundamental understanding of God’s abundance and of our own sufficiency is ultimately a spiritual issue. Faithful money decisions can strengthen our family relationships, empower us to share our resources with others, and free us to live out God’s call on our lives.

And yet most of us who go to church hear little or nothing about money there unless the church is raising money for next year’s budget or a new capital campaign. What’s up with that? How can the church be so silent on such an important issue?

Our guests today, Rev. Roy Howard and Rev. Kim McDowell, are pastors of churches that have moved out of the silence to actually talk about money. Perhaps their stories will inspire you and your local faith community to step out into this vital realm of our spiritual journey.

If we talk about money long enough, most of us hit a sore spot, an idea that feels threatening in our core, and we spin into “what if” territory. “What if there’s not enough to take care of my family? What if one of us gets really sick? What if I’m poor when I’m old?”

The potential scenarios are endless, and our fear can be enormous, but that fear points us to a central connection between faith and money: Where do we find our security--our deep-down, gut level sense of security? What helps us feel safe enough to live out God’s call in our lives? We don’t have a one-size-fits-all answer for you, as much as we all might like to have one, but our guests are here to help us think through the questions.

Elizabeth McMeekin and Phil Moses will share their challenges of raising three children, helping with elder parents, planning for their own older years, and responding to their call to live simply. Please join us as we explore this central connection between our faith and our money.

Are you someone who easily gives away money and time? If you are, then congratulations, you have already discovered the joy of giving.

For the rest of us, giving can be tough—- it evokes our anxiety about not having enough for ourselves or rankles against our sense of merit—-I earned this and this is mine.

But the biblical story rings with the message that we need to give. And at least half of that need is our own. Giving to others reminds us that everything is a gift from God and therefore not really ours to hold on to forever.

Giving and receiving move us from isolation to a deep sense of community and nourish a life-freeing recognition that we have enough, we are enough, and that in God’s economy, there is enough for everyone.

Our guests today, Judy and David Osgood, have cultivated a genuine joy in giving and have given enough of themselves and of their money to make a significant difference in many people’s lives. Join us as we hear their remarkable witness to the joy of giving.

Are we people of privilege? Jesus himself defines those with the upper hand as the rich, the well-fed, the carefree, and the well-respected. But aren’t those things we strive for—a good bank balance, a good dinner, a good name? Why would Jesus say "Woe to you" about that?

Because that privilege can be our prison, locking us away from God and God’s people and even from our own hearts. Our guest, psychologist William Miller, names the four prison walls as greed, anxiety, envy and entitlement, painful symptoms of living outside God’s economy of enough for all. Each of these prison walls has an antidote, a key to the prison door, as Dr. Miller will help us discover during this program.

Then Dale Stitt—who has been working for decades with people linking their faith and their money--will share some rich stories of prison breaks, illustrating for us how to live more freely and fully as the people of God.

Are you weary of the frenzy of producing and consuming? The endless cycle of work-more-spend-more is exhausting, but even when we want to escape the cycle, it can seem impossible.

In this week’s program, we are moving further into the practical aspects of connecting our money and our faith. Pastor Matthew Colwell will show us why and how to slow our lives down a bit, and remember who we are and whose we are. Then Angela Lincoln and Tim Darst will share their story of choosing to consume less than is typical in the U.S., opening a full and faithful life for themselves and their daughters.

Through their story, we can begin to see the advantages of being thoughtful consumers, knowing that how we live affects other people and the planet, and how conscious consumption choices can free us to enlarge our mission and impact in the world. Please join us as we continue to make the connection between our faith and our money.

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