Why Preaching Matters

In any given year members of our congregations are confronted with thousands of highly professional adverts on TV, radio, bill boards and magazines promoting an ever more affluent lifestyle. However, sermons on giving let alone the wider management of all that God has entrusted to us are few and far between. and all too often resisted by those unhappy with raising this issue at all.

One of the unhappy conclusions of American church commentator George Barna is that the majority of churchgoers think as consumers first and Christians second. In the sensitive areas of financial planning and decision making Christians are hardly to be distinguished from anyone else. Here in the UK many churches live at a subsistence level with effective ministry and mission restricted by poor giving levels masked by the sacrificial giving of a few church members. Giving the Widow’s Mite is a godly thing only if we are on the widow’s income and are giving with the widow’s spirit.

Preaching has an important but not an isolated part to play in spiritual formation around money and possessions. Maturity in Christian giving is moving beyond calculating how much to give on the basis of the budget needs of the church. Rather we should be asking how much of me, of my life, my lifestyle, my faith is expressed in what I give. For more reflection on the value of preaching see Why Preaching Matters.

In 2 Cor 8-9 Paul's challenge to the Corinthian focuses not on the need of the poor in Jerusalem (though he never loses sight of that) but on an appeal to the grace of God shown in the generosity of the Macedonian churches (v2) and in the life of Jesus (v9). The chapters contain five key points for preachers, explored further in Why Preaching Matters.

• Connect the giver to the grace of God
• Connect the local church to the work of God in the community.
• Connect the giver to the blessings received
• Connect the giver to the financial need.
• Connect the giver to the need for action