Brisbane, Queensland
A local church leader* in Brisbane, Australia, has told his congregation
that he needs to borrow money to build a church. While it is not clear how much
has been borrowed, the act of borrowing itself has come under fire, in light of
a new campaign which seeks to teach Christians about Biblical finance, especially
about churches and Christians getting into debt.
The rebuke by the movement to teach Christians about proper
Biblical finance has stirred up much outcry by the movement, led mainly by
modern evangelicals, to build more church buildings to ‘advance the Kingdom of
God’.
Some, in particular the leader’s own congregation has
supported the move, despite the prospect of each member being in debt himself
or herself. “Even though the idea of being in debt to fund one’s endeavours is
a secular financial idea, that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing”, one supporter
said. “We have the money, and God’s grace is sufficient. He lets us borrow
money from banks, even if that means we go bankrupt. He is gracious,” said
another member of his church.
“Borrowing money, even though one is in debt is necessary,
and is sometimes inevitable”, says the conservative evangelical leader, whose
has the support of almost his entire congregation. “Some Christians may think
it enslaves a person to money, but sometimes, one needs to serve both God and
mammon to serve God”, he said. “Sometimes, we just need to be realistic”.
“What’s more”, he adds, “Seeking more money for one’s
endeavour is obedience to God, because one can buy more things that are needed
to serve God”.
Christians Fighting Debt (CFD), a Christian ministry which
seeks to promote Biblical teaching on debt and to teach Christians to follow
Biblical precepts on debt has rebuked the announcement by the evangelical
leader.
“Jesus said that ‘no one can serve both God and money’”, the
president of CFD has said. “Frankly, I don’t understand why so many Christians
find that so hard to understand. Jesus Himself made it very clear”.
“The Church today, has totally forsaken the teachings of
Jesus Christ on money. They think that borrowing money is a ‘right’, and that
that it is their Christian ‘liberty’”, the president of CFD explained. “But
they don’t realise that money has a power to enslave. That is the power of
debt. Even though God is gracious, sin is still sin, and one is still
responsible for one’s actions”.
The evangelical church is part of a movement which seeks to build
more church buildings, to ‘advance the Kingdom of God’.
It has been reported that one of its leaders is a board
member at Christian bank which is becoming increasingly popular with
evangelicals.
* Name has been withheld on request by the pastor reported
in this report, owing to fears of rebuke and admonition about borrowing money.
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