One of my roles on staff is overseeing our larger teaching times, including our two Pizza Theology events each year. This spring we looked at what the Bible has to say about money and possessions. I've noticed that most Christians, including students in our ministry as well as the pastors on my staff, have some general idea of what the Bible says about giving/generosity but a very limited sense about money in general--the entire gamut of spending, saving, giving, hospitality, contentment, enjoyment, etc. We wanted to speak into that looking at the whole of Scripture (as best we could in less than 4 hours!), so different teachers from my team took different sections of the Bible--the narratives, the wisdom literature, the Old Testament law, Jesus' life and teachings, and the New Testament letters--to try to unpack what they might say to Christians today about money and possessions in light of knowing God.
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| We had well over 400 students come to learn! |
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| First Baptist Plano graciously hosted us again this spring. Their deacons even jumped in to help serve all the pizza--unasked! They are incredible hosts and so generous with their building. It's obvious they love college students! |
Our culture is very hush hush around money, and this privacy has had some unintended consequences. I talk to many young people who have no idea about their own parents' finances and have never discussed money with them. Even many Christian parents don't talk to their kids about money at all. Churches are so afraid of being seen as only talking about money in order to get money, that they fail to show how the Bible speaks to one of the most anxiety-producing, but also opportunity-producing, parts of our lives. The scriptures have SO MUCH WISDOM for us if we are willing to do the work of not oversimplifying their messages to find rules and easy answers. If this isn't something you've studied recently, I highly recommend you take the time to listen through some of these talks. I know you'll be blessed as I was! Also, I gave the first one. :)
Thank you for your prayers and supporting me to spend time investing like this in the lives of young people--this kind of work will pay dividends for God's kingdom in the decades to come!
Student Testimony
