Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, and let it be used to repair whatever damage is found in the temple."  But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple. (2 Kings 12:4-6)

            Joash decided to restore the temple.  He instructed the priests and Levites to go out from Jerusalem to the people and collect funds for the work.  But the priests were not successful.  For whatever reason, the work was not even begun.  Commentators have given many reasons for this failure:

• Perhaps it was simply that the priests were lazy. 
• Or maybe it was due to poor training; the priests were trained in religious observance, not fundraising. 
• Others have ventured that the priests were reluctant to go out to the people because they connected this act with taking a census, something that got King David in a lot of trouble.

But, one explanation that strikes home to me has an application to pastoral leadership and fiscal health of the church.  Joash had been preceded by a thoroughly corrupt regime.  The people had witnessed gross waste on the part of both the government and the priests.  Perhaps the people held back when asked for money because they could not trust that it would be used wisely.  Poor stewardship led to the reluctance of the people to give any more money.

            This happens frequently in the contemporary church.  Lack of guidance, lack of attention to detail and other types of church mismanagement have wide-ranging consequences. 

• At best, the church can expect sloppy record keeping, confusion, the inability to make timely and sound decisions, unattained budgets, and an uninformed congregation.  (When an uninformed congregation suddenly becomes “informed”, it can be very dangerous to the career of the aspiring pastor!) 
• Poor fiscal management can also result in overspending, inappropriate spending, non-compliance with tax laws and abuse at the hands of an embezzler who has spotted a ripe opportunity. 

KEY: It only takes one or two of these situations to cause a congregation to lose faith in their leadership, and when this happens, giving is often impaired:

• Because church members feel they can no longer trust their leaders they may hold back on their giving or try to direct their gifts to their favorite budget areas. 
• Others may resort to excessive “designated giving” to support projects they care about.
• Ultimately, some may simply leave the church. 

The first reaction many have to this is that this behavior is unchristian and shouldn’t happen in a church environment.  And I can’t disagree with that.  Nevertheless, this is what frequently happens.  Most importantly, knowing this does not lessen the impact.  Any one of these changes in giving patterns can be devastating to a church by itself.  The best way to avoid this situation is to build and maintain trust throughout the church.  This is done by implementation of a strong system of stewardship and accountability.

Verne Hargrave is the Church and Ministry partner at PSK LLP and author of the book, Weeds in the Garden.

The Title "Poor Fiscal Management = Poor Giving"¹

 [1] Excerpt from, Practical Aspects of Pastoral Theology. Christopher Cone Th.D Ph.D (Editor), Tyndale Seminary Press. http://www.tyndale.edu/