Christian Attitudes About Money

Fundraising Options For This Ministry

We Christians tend to be somewhat ambivalent about issues pertaiing to money. That ambivalence is derived from what appears to be a conflict between the things Jesus said about money and the realities we often observe firsthand in our own lives.

On the one hand, Jesus said that a preoccupation with money was an indication that a person's treasures were in the wrong place. Jesus seemed to suggest that if a person was focused on doing God's will, God could be trusted to provide for that person's material needs.

On the other hand, it's a demonstrable fact that becoming a Christian does not insulate a person from the harsh realities of life. If one wants the bare necessities of life, such as food, clothing and shelter, one must find some way to finance the acquisition of those things --- and begging is generally seen as a last resort, not as a desirable option. If one wants to achieve anything significant in life, it will be necessary to acquire even more money, because very few noteworthy things can be achieved without the use of material resources such as tools, supplies and so forth.

Some Christians have taken scriptures out of context in order to justify extremely materialistic attitudes about money. According to such Christians, there are simple scriptural principles which, if followed, virtually guarantee that Christians will experience material prosperity.

Presumably, such people would consider that St. Paul was an abject failure as a Christian. After all, Paul supported himself as a tent maker (not the most lucrative of occupations) during the time of his ministry. And Paul died in prison. Prisons were not exactly luxury hotels in those days.

On the flip side, there are those who claim that following Christ means that one must resign one's self to a lifetime of poverty. That claim seems to contradict other scriptures which suggest that God does sometimes bless people with material prosperity as a consequence of their obedience to him.

We should strive to achieve a balance when it comes to our attitudes about money. Money should never be one's god. Money is a means to an end, not the end itself. God knows our needs, and God can be trusted to provide for those needs. Fear of poverty is natural, particularly when we are struggling financially, but when we allow fear of poverty to control our lives, it demonstrates a lack of faith in God's love for us, and it demonstrates a lack of awareness of the transitory nature of money and material things.

Having said that, it is naive to think that we have the luxury of ignoring monetary considerations altogether.

One can have big dreams and grand ambitions --- as I do, in relation to this ministry --- but those dreams and ambitions will come to naught if one does not realistically address the need for financing.

So the question is, how do I plan to fund this ministry?

Many Christian ministries rely almost exclusively on donations. I certainly believe that there's a place and a need for donations. I encourage those who support the goals of this ministry to donate all that you can in order to help this ministry to achieve its goals. In the future, I plan to set up various "donor incentive" programs in order to encourage donations and in order to reward those who support this ministry with their donations.

In the short term, the easiest way to donate money is simply to mail a money order to the contact information which is furnished on nearly every page on this web site. However, I plan to eventually set up a "Donate Now" button so that folks can donate directly to the ministry via PayPal, as a useful option for those who are looking for convenience.

Monetary donations are generally the best, for the obvious reason that one has more flexibility when one receives monetary donations than one has when one receives physical products or services. However, "in kind" donations of specific products or services which are needed by the ministry are needed as well. For example, this ministry is definitely going to need office space in the future. Furniture will be needed for that office. A vehicle may also be needed. All of those are things which can be donated, and once 501(c)3 tax-exempt status has been obtained, you'll be able to make such donations and get a tax write-off. (That isn't an option yet, which is why I need an "in kind" donation of legal services in order to help do what is necessary in order to obtain 501(c)3 status.)

However, donating money, products or services isn't your only option if you want to support this ministry. Or at least, it won't be in the future, once I get things set up in terms of several programs I'm currently looking into:

ALTERNATIVES TO DIRECT DONATIONS
1. Membership fees for NAAAC members.
2. Subscriptions for online periodicals.
3. Sales of items (such as art products) via this web site.
4. Sales of items via 3rd party web sites (such as Lulu.com or CafePress.com.)
5. Affiliate links to items sold via 3rd party web sites (such as Amazon.com).
6. Sales of items via charity and cause-related web sites (such as iGive.com).
7. Ticket sales for special benefit concerts.
8. Sales of compilation CDs and similar products created for the express purpose of raising funds for the organization.

That's just a brief summary of a few of the possibilities I'm looking into. It's rather vague at the moment, but I'll be adding more details to this site in the future, so that you'll have a better idea of all of the different possibiliies.

For more specific information about the mission of ArtisticChristians.com, read our Mission Statement.

... Mark W. Pettigrew
    Webmaster and Christian Renaissance Man