Prosper With Money

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Shaun Somers our Canadian counselor recently received an email from a concerned member of a local church about the debt that they were preparing to enter into. See below to Shaun’s response and as it describes both Shaun and my feelings on debt in the Kingdom of God.

“”….some have argued…. lack faith if God wants to give us the best, we should not be afraid to trust God.” Here’s the thing, I 100% agree with the quote above – we need to trust God.  But I think trusting God means just that, looking at His word and His principles about how to handle money.  To me, trusting God would mean setting a goal of a property worth $2.5M (or whatever) and resolving to get it WITHOUT DEBT.  But “we’ll have to wait too long” some people will say.  Well, who’s to say how long God will have you wait?  And if that is His will, so be it. Perhaps you should have had a target like this 10 years ago, perhaps not.  But taking a debt shortcut now is not the answer, in my opinion. Proverbs 22:7 says “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” (NASB) Does your church wish to be slave to the bank? Debt changes relationships, and not for the better from my experience. So again, my suggestion would be to avoid debt altogether.  Failing that, taking a very small mortgage would be best.  Taking on a huge debt with a congregation as small as yours seems quite “reckless”, as you say.  Any suggestion that individual congregants take on debt to then loan to the church would be in my opinion beyond reckless to the point of foolhardiness.  I don’t aim to offend here, because I know that those who brought up that idea are trying to help, but I cannot stress strongly enough that that is not a good plan. This matter of moving up in church size is no small thing, and will require much deliberation and prayer on the part of your church leaders and congregation.  I encourage you to continue to express your concerns about any plan that requires debt as a part of the solution. “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his
neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8 May God richly bless you and your church.”

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It is time for Q & A. These are questions that I have received from various speaking and teaching events that we do throughout WNY and Southern Ontario. The question for today deals with using cash vs. using a no annual fee reward credit card. This question is often asked as we teach not to use credit cards and if you are an American with a good debit card there is no need for you to have a credit card. My wife and I have been without a single credit card for over 4 years and have not missed it at all. The underlying basis of this question is that credit card companies have done such a good job selling rewards that we as consumers believe that we are getting something back on the dollars that we would have spent anyways. Well the truth is that the studies show that credit card users spend on average 8-12% more per purchase than if the would have used cash. If you are eating out and use a credit card you are more likely to spend 15-20% more than you would have if you were using cash. If you do the math the 2% cash back is not enough to out way the greater amount that you spent by using a credit card. Cash is emotional. It is harder for us to spend cash than it is to swipe the plastic. Let get back to the basic and start using cash envelopes again like our great grandparents did! Oh, and the argument for the convenience of plastic over cash…. is convenience worth 8-12% more per purchase to you?

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