It has 

 

Many of the appeals made in today’s Churches are attached with the promise of improving the Church.  But in many cases, it is not about the “building fund”, or the “elevator project” as it is presented to the Church.  Many of the Church building fund committees have raised more than enough money to make the necessary building improvements.  However, fifteen years later, after all of the fundraisings, there are still little to no Church improvements done and no elevators being installed.

 

You may ask the obvious question, where did all of the money go?  Must I tell you?  For those of you who do not know where all the money went, I will tell you.  “The Church Has Become The Pastor’s Piggy Bank”!  Many of the pastors in the African American Church competes with one another by seeing who could wear the latest $5,000 tailored suits and $1,000 “gators” and snake skinned shoes.  They have to live in the finest deluxe homes and drive the latest, top of the line “high end” cars.  Where do you think this money is coming from when in most cases these pastors do not even have a job?  But these pastors will never come out and ask the congregation to support their lavish, over-the-top lifestyle, thus often times they ask you to support their copious lifestyle cloaked in the name of “the building fund”, or in the name of “the elevator project”.

 

When the Church falls on “hard times”, the pastors usually turn to the members of their congregation to make up the slack.  But how they forget that it is the members that experience the “hard ship” and subsequently this hardship is passed on to the Church.  You would think that the pastors would understand that the Churches’ hardship is a direct result of the hardship of the membership.  Therefore, why continue to drain the members in this situation?  The Church could probably weather the storm of hard times better if some pastors would stop using the Church as an employment agency for their family members and friends.

 

Are you one of the many who keeps on giving and giving to the “building fund” but see little to no improvement at your Church?  Were you promised that if you keep on giving that your “ship” would eventually come in?  Do you often wonder why your “ship” hasn’t come in after fifteen years or more of taking your financial resources from your family and giving it to the Church?  The bible says, “If a man doesn’t take care of his own house, he has denied the faith and he is worst than an infidel (1 Tim 5:8).  If you are going to give, then give with the right motive.  We should never feel that God owe us anything because we give money to the Church.

 

After many pastors have squandered the Churches’ money, they began to come up with other schemes and tactics to cajole the members to give again.  They quote scriptures like; “God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7).  But they stop short of quoting the entire scripture which says, “Every man according to what he has purposed in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”  They intentionally omit the first half of this scripture because it doesn’t line up with their deceptive agenda.  The Apostle Paul was instructing the Church at Corinth that whenever they give, they should do it according to the way they feel in their hearts.  After they are moved to give according to how they feel in their hearts, then they should give accordingly.  In other words, if I get upset when I give, then my giving is in vain because the Lord is not pleased.

 

The reason I write what I write is because of the great love that I have for the people of God.  And I’d rather be hated by the wolves dressed up in sheep’s clothing, than sit back and watch them take advantage of the people of God.

Posted: 03|21|09 at 7:47 am. Filed under: Minister Butler's Articles.
Comment | Trackback