If we are to listen for the Word of God in the life of a congregation, we need to listen for the way in which money has played a part in our life together. And if we are to believe that the church is the Body of Christ, we must notice how our response to the issues of money reveal the Word of God.
What was the witness when in 1958, while they were planning a campaign to raise $60,000 for their projected Activity Building, they received a request from Presbytery to commit to raising $84,000 for a fund to develop new churches and decided to postpone their local campaign until they had responded to the Presbytery campaign? Was God speaking through such an action that the development of new churches in our area was a higher priority than our own increase in facilities?
Is God’s Word impressed upon members and non-members when the Session repeatedly responds positively to requests to join in campaigns to support educational institutions, retirement homes and facilities that care for abused children? Were the youth giving their testimony in their decision to use the profits of their successful coffee house to purchase recording equipment for the church sanctuary and some audio visual equipment to assist in a local program for the disadvantaged in 1970?
If you want to exegete a congregation, you can make a significant beginning by examining the history of decisions around money. Sometimes they will be amazingly faithful, even sacrificial decisions and sometimes they will reveal fear more than faith. However, as you view them from a distance, you can begin to measure how God’s word has been expressed and can be expressed in a church.
