Speaking of money
My files are full of sermons on stewardship. I have always taken that aspect of Christian life seriously. So it came as a shock when people would say, “We know that you really don’t like to talk about money.”
Late in the game, I began to understand what these people were saying. They were saying that though it was good to hear my sermons on the theological significance of money, it is also important to know exactly what it costs to run the place—and I hadn’t talked about that. So I began to be more specific in the pulpit. I spelled out how much money was received and how it was spent, what the plans were for next year’s budget and how our giving compared to that of other churches.
When I assumed responsibility for the Christian Century, I found another challenge of stewardship. As I watched religious magazines and denominational journals close their doors and newspapers vastly reduce their operations, I saw with new eyes the financial challenges of publishing, especially in an economic downturn and at a time when people increasingly turn to the Internet, expecting news and information to be available there free of charge.
