The Me Centered Gospel!
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism
or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
As you know, I work in a ministry. A very successful and God centered ministry that is being blessed more and more each day. I work in the contact center with people and encourage them to give to support the ministry and educate them on what our ministry is. Something is bothering me as of late though. It is not in just our ministry, it is rather endemic to the non profit evangelical world right now, and I am getting fed up with it.
My employer over this last year has capitulated and started offering you something in return for your giving to the ministry. Recently we offered to give you a NIV Bible if you gave to a certain project we had going, before that it was getting a photo book if you shared our ministry with a friend and so on. What is wrong with this picture? God did not tell us to give in order to get, he tells us to give and not let our left hand not know what our right hand is doing. He tells us to not do deeds in order to get stuff in return, rather to do it to God and his glory.
I know, this is a bit of a rant, but where have we gone wrong in this scenario? I am getting a little upset at the way the church is co-opting the ways of the world and emulating the world. I had a sponsor so upset with me that she had not received her free gift that she was ready to stop supporting our ministry, she has been supporting us over 10 years. I wanted to tell her that we did not need her to sponsor with us if the free stuff is all it is about, but I need a job, and I love the people I work with dearly.
I hope that I am not a selfish Christian, I hope that I do not fall into the trap of a consumer centered Jesus. Jesus the consumer is not the Jesus I want to follow. I want to follow the Jesus that taught love, taught how to give it all away and be happy, taught that when we put others before our consumer centered selves and our selfish desires we will find peace. I want that peace, I want God to say to me “well done” when I reach the gates of heaven.
Enjoy this short Muppets clip, consider it my free gift to you for reading my blog!
- Thoughts on God's people
- Comments(9)
Ack! I feel so conflicted! I want to watch the Muppet clip, especially because Beaker is one of my favorite characters . . . but if I accept your free gift, am I capitulating to the consumer-centric gospel??
Just kidding.
Good post…
…. but I am a little perturbed that the bribe you offer for reading the blog is available free of charge on YouTube.
the Fool
You know, there have been times when I’ve balked at giving because they wanted to send me something in return, for similar reasons. Also because I don’t need more stuff
Sarah.. you dont need more stuff??? Are you sick, Do I need to call the police so they can bring you to the nearest mall, give you the latest piece of plastic and make you feel more American?
you hit on a main vein in American Christianity right there. The consumerism rampant in the church rampant in America… where will it all end. Lets all burn our plastic, unless of course it is the uber cool plastic Jesus I have on my dashboard for giving my pledge to TBN. (lol)
Fascinating. I had not thought of that. Seems like a slippery slope in place.
1. We need money to do the good things we do.
2. As it turns out, people give more if they get a little gift in return
3. So let’s capitulate – as you say – and give them what they want.
question: If #2 is true, then there is a small subset of givers who (probably innocently and without thinking about it) enjoy their little gifts for who knows what reasons. Is the giving of the gift a bad enough thing on the morale and direction of the organization that it would be worth losing these givers in order to avoid it?
I wonder if working in a non-profit organization causes you to constantly have to ask these very hard questions. God be with you guys!
[...] My employer over this last year has capitulated and started offering you something in return for your giving to the ministry. Recently we offered to give you a NIV Bible if you gave to a certain project we had going, before that it was getting a photo book if you shared our ministry with a friend and so on. What is wrong with this picture? …Read More [...]
Good post. It makes me think of an experiment I did accidentally as a teacher right out of college.
The first year I played many games and gave prizes – candy, granola bars, pens – in order to motivate the kids to learn. The result (partly influenced by my inexperience and slight “pushoverness”) was disrespect and high expectations for more goodies and special events.
Something changed in the second year. A seasoned teacher suggested I “don’t smile till Christmas.” So, frustrated with where my class had ended up, I began the second school year with no games. Not even one. And no candy, pens or other prizes either. I put on a strict face (how terribly difficult this was!) and focussed on education as the inherent good – not on what benefits come from going to an educational institution. I did not want to be an accomplice to the what-will-I-get-out-of-this mentality.
The difference between year one and two? Respect for me, significantly higher grades and consistent homework turned in. My kids actually learned!
For the past ten years I’ve been raising support through donors. I’m still tempted to over-thank them because the reality is that unappreciated donors tend to move away. BUT, I do my best to focus their attention on the work I’m doing and not on how much they’ll be appreciated.
P.S. I abhor donor giving charts that publicly rank givers (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Tin…)
I’m a fundraiser for Laity Renewal Foundation, and we too have occasionally offered a token item to contibutors in our direct mail acquisition pieces. You might want to consider that the real psychology behind the offer is to get people to open the mail, and maybe even read it. If they read even the header, bold and P.S., the chances of invoking a response is much higher. So, putting something like “gift offer inside” as a teaser on your envelope is more about standing out among the fifty other such pieces the resident has received that day. I find it comforting to get a reply back that has the “Yes, please send me Mr. Butt’s cd of 72 inspirational radio messages” checked off. It means my idea worked, and it means they’ll hear our core vision message of faith in the workplace over and over again.
I believe God can use wrong motivation for his good. And the good is that more people will be exposed to what we think is of Kingdom importance.
Just a thought from a different angle.
Hey, Carl. First, that video is absolutely hilarious. It really made my day earlier in the week–such that we had a family viewing after dinner.
I can see both sides of this issue. The story of the person who withdrew her support definitely raises some concerns. Maybe that person just has issues–or has been looking for an excuse to stop sending money. (Though ten years of history suggest otherwise.)
The real issue, though, is whether the offer of gifts is somehow disingenuous. At what point does such a campaign turn into the sort of “suggested donations” you sometimes see where it is a clear exchange of services for a fee that can then be a tax-free transaction.