Over the past six years, several people have told me that they are happy that we don‘t “talk about money” at Good News Church! While that is not literally true, I‘m quite sure I know what they are talking about.

The reason I say that it‘s not true is because we have recordings of most of the times that we‘ve talked about it. Here are 14 occasions:

• Why Should I Give? - Part 5 (Making Sense of Church)
• Biblical Principles For The Holiday Season - Part 1 (Christmas 2012)
• Family Finances - Part 5 (Family Portrait)
• Anxiety About The Future - Part 2 (Tomorrowland)
• Whose Stuff Is It Anyway? (7-part Series)
• Nazareth - Part 6 (Places Jesus Went)
• A Kind of Thank You, a Couple Lessons, and a Closing - Part 11 (A Letter From Captivity)
• The Conclusion - Part 17 (Out of Egypt)

What the people who say “we don‘t talk about money” actually mean is that “we don‘t overtly fundraise on Sunday mornings very often.” And that is true.

The main reason for that has been that our Sunday morning is the environment to which we bring visitors. If you have a guest in your home, you wouldn‘t greet them in the foyer and then immediately ask them to begin vacuuming and paying rent. Similarly, we try not to make many appeals for money on Sunday mornings with guests present. There have been two occasions that I can remember where I specifically asked for financial support on a Sunday morning, but I usually try to find other venues to communicate our need for money.

Having said all of that, I wanted to give you two reasons why I must bring up the topic of money every now and again (and maybe even occasionally on a Sunday morning — since, even with guests present, that still remains the best place to communicate things to the whole church body all at once).

REASON #1: Like it or not, Good News is not only a congregation of believers, but also a non-profit organization. Yes, I am a preaching pastor/elder in this congregation, but I am also the president of Good News Church of Ocala, Inc. And we, as a congregation, use Good News Church of Ocala Inc‘s property all the time. The lights that we use on Sunday morning aren‘t magical. We must pay Ocala Electric to keep them on. The same goes for the mortgage, plumbing, air conditioning, sound equipment, lawn mowers, KidZone computers, and even our (minimal amount of) staff. These things cost money. And as the president of this organization, it is my responsibility to make sure the funds are there to keep it going.

Many of you who like that we “don‘t talk about money” at Good News, would have to admit that it wouldn‘t be worth it to literally not talk about money ever, if that eventually led to the closing down of Good News. Many of you have been greatly ministered to by the work that we do, and realize it‘s better to talk about funding it rather than letting it go.

Along those lines, I wanted to ask you to consider helping financially during these next two months. Whether that means you making a larger than normal tax-deductible gift at the end of this tax year, or if it means that you would factor Good News into your monthly budget for 2017, I want you to consider helping us out as we try to transition to our next phase. We‘ve moved from being a small ministry to being a medium-sized ministry, and we‘ll need people to help us fund the next step of our growing church.

Note: If you are new to our church, and do not even know how to support us financially, let me clarify. On Sundays, you can place a donation in the boxes that are in the back of the room. Other (more convenient) ways are listed on our website.

REASON #2: Even if reason #1 weren‘t true, as someone who shepherds people and teaches people the Bible, I would have to bring the topic up anyway. In other words, as a pastor, I have talk about money even if there were nothing for which to fundraise.

Why? Because what we do with money is connected to our souls.

Regarding some churches, there are people who think, “All that pastor wants is my money! He cares about our money more than he cares about our souls.” I can honestly say that is not true at Good News Church. I rarely think about your money. However, to do my job in the body of Christ well, I must think about your money sometimes. Because I am unable to care about your soul, without factoring in how money affects it.

Greed is a spiritual issue. Discontentment is a spiritual issue. Generosity is a spiritual issue. Overspending and being shackled down by debt is a spiritual issue. Helping the poor is a spiritual issue. Financial anxiety is a spiritual issue. Stinginess is a spiritual issue. Jealousy and envy are spiritual issues. Theft and swindling are spiritual issues. Funding missions/reaching the lost is a spiritual issue. Being a good pastor means that I‘m going to bring up what the Bible says about these important things.

I wanted you to know. These are two reasons why we will be bringing up the topic of money every now and again at Good News Church.

So, if you consider yourself part of this congregation, please talk to your spouse and/or other family members (if applicable) and consider how you might support Good News Church.