Money is the clearest way we place value on things. The act of valuing something reveals a great deal about how we see it, but also how we value things in relationship to it. We do this on a daily basis, and so are very comfortable with our ability to discern that value.
Time and money are related, but time is the resource that is truly in limited supply, both in what we can do in any 24 hour day, or in how long we have before something else (like death) intervenes.
The one issue facing every church is discerning and stewarding the resources God has provided. Attitudes about time and money are very revealing of an individual’s or an organization’s faith in God’s promise to provide.
Our confidence in the gospel is revealed by whether we see time and money as limiting factors (from God’s perspective they are not), or as parameters within which we can clearly discern his leading.
If we see them as limiting factors, we have a scarcity mindset. If we see them as guiding parameters, we have an abundance mindset. We must ask ourselves, “In light of the gospel, do we have a scarcity or abundance mindset?” (Eph 3:16)
God has promised in Christ to provide for his church and the mission he has given her to accomplish. If we orient ourselves to follow his provision, we will find his purpose in what he has provide for us to do.
God has provided what the church needs, but we haven’t identified and allocated those resources effectively. To do so we must be willing to reevaluate what we consider valuable resources, and reassess what our churches are intended to accomplish.
The Redemptive Leader Framework can help do that.