Why Church? Reason Three: Money Matters

Third in a series on why we go to church: because the church is always asking for money.

A Colorado pastor tells of being in a grocery store one day and encountering a woman she hadn’t seen in a long time. “It was awkward for both of us,” the pastor said, “as she had suddenly stopped attending church and we never learned exactly why.”

After the two exchanged pleasantries, the pastor said, “We miss you. Is there anything that our church can do for you?”

The woman replied, “Yes, there is. You could stop asking for money all the time.”

The pastor doesn’t indicate how she answered that woman. Perhaps the woman’s response caught her by surprise and the pastor didn’t have time to organize a reply. But she continued to think about it, and she eventually presented her response in the form of a sermon to her congregation. She started by acknowledging that the church is always asking for money, but she went on unapologetically to defend that practice by enumerating all the ministries and missions churches engage in.

The pastor acknowledged that some people grow weary of being asked...