On the train down from the Central Coast I read a very short book called "If God will provide, why do we have to ask for money?" by Rick Dunham. It was a simple read and I have written some notes about it below.
You can find more info at Rick Dunham's website here.
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What hits you first is the way fundraising is placed in the spiritual battle between God and Satan. Dunham’s states that Satan achieves two key goals by limiting fundraising. Firstly, there aren’t the resources for the advancement of the gospel in the world and secondly, and more predominantly, God’s people have been shown to not have wholehearted devotion to God. It is very helpful since it rightly shows the powerful spiritual forces and significance of the work.
However, there seems to be an underlying assumption that all ministry is being done by professionals. The following two lines are actually not necessarily true:
“The first implication is quite obvious: if a ministry is limited in funding, it…by definition…is limited in its impact. Clearly, the ability of a ministry to fulfil God’s call is in direct proportion to its ability to fund its work” p30
This is only the case if ministries are being conducted solely by professionals. Let me ask you a question. What is better, the money for an additional staff member, or 50 people sacrificing a day a week to serve fulltime in some voluntary capacity? A budget my actually decrease but the ministry impact increase!
That being said, I would actually contend that the loss in impact is actually even greater when the funds were going to be directed at particular roles. This is because frequently the money being spent in ministry organisations is not on doing ministry as such, but on multiplying the ministry of others. The 50 people who gave up a day a week did so because of the staff member who encouraged and developed this culture! So the loss in impact is even greater than Dunham suggests if the money is being spent on ministries whose aim is to multiply the ministry of others.
The most helpful point made throughout the book is its emphasis on the heart of the giver. “What God wants is the one thing you own and have complete control over. Your heart.” (p33). What is absent from his presentation is actually naming the issue he is speaking about: idolatry. Without realising it, much of what Dunham is discussing is idolatry and encouraging complete devotion to God in the face of other gods. There is no reference to Colossians 3:5 and the connection Paul makes between greed and idolatry, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” By not naming the real issue the discussion looses impact it might have otherwise had.
A second conviction is the need for leaders to engage in fundraising and realise that raising money is not about them but about advancing God’s work in the world. This is probably best argued in the discussion on 1 Timothy 6 but the use of Exodus 35:4-5 to establish ‘a precedent that is timeless’ fails to recognise how Old Testament narrative functions for Christians today. Dunham’s actual link to the Christian occurs on page 76 where he argues that ‘properly motivated giving came from the willing heart of God’s people.’ It is since this is a matter of the heart, a spiritual matter, that fundraising is an important task for the Christian leader.
I’m happy to deal with some pragmatics and the final chapter should not have been ‘Final Thoughts’ but be a chapter in its own right containing more material from the author’s experience. Even the discussion about the rate of communication with donors was helpful!
It was refreshing was to have the book say nothing about tithing, even though there might be the need to kill some sacred cows in this area. What was most notably was the absence of a multitude of anecdotes and a real engagement with the scriptures. It is well worth the read for all Christians who are concerned to serve God wholeheartedly.
Enlarge your hearts to God and give to his work!
