Dr. Rodgers has
written this book, as the title says, for pastors. They are the
key to teaching on stewardship and need to take the lead in this
very important area of spiritual growth and discipleship.
In part one of
the book he exposes what he calls the ministerial myths about
money and the truth that answers each myth. Myth 1: A
truly godly pastor will never talk about money. Myth 2: I
can build a great ministry without raising money. Myth 3:
It is not my responsibility to raise the money for my church.
Myth 4: If I just pray and preach on giving, people will
give as they should. Myth 5: If I ask for a giving
commitment, it will hurt the church because many people will be
offended and will leave.
He follows up
with eight reasons why people don’t give and the answers the
Bible gives to correct their thinking.
1. Christians
don’t give because they lack pastoral leadership.
2. Christians
don’t give because they have spiritual problems.
3. Christians
don’t give because they have financial problems.
4. Christians
don’t give because they have limited vision.
5. Christians
don’t give because they have limited relationships.
6. Christians
don’t give because they don’t know they can.
7. Christians
don’t give because they really do not know how to give.
8. Christians
don’t give because they don’t plan to give.
Part two of the
book is a very practical step-by-step of how to deal with the
issues of money and the principles that the Bible teaches about
stewardship. He lays the plan out in a ten-step process. The
strength of this section is step one about mastering the
biblical principles of stewardship.
Part three of
the book is how to apply the previous ten-step program to your
church. His premise is if you preach it people will give.
There are
several appendices—one, a sermon on getting out of debt, and
another on the authors experience in his former church where he
used the dynamic giving system to increase giving by as much as
32%.
He also gives a
good bibliography on stewardship at the end of the book. There
are good ideas and food for thought as pastors consider what
they should be doing in the area of stewardship.
Richard
Aeschliman
Back
to Equip Page
|
