Facing Financial Difficulties

Next week I will have been serving as a Director of Missions for twenty-one years. During that time, I have been faced with financial blessings and financial difficulties several times. I have seen several recessions that hit us very hard and we had to make cutbacks in budgets to make ends meet but God has always seen us through. We are in the midst of another financial crunch that is deeper and more significant than we have ever faced but I want to remind you and myself of some principles that I learned many years ago.

First and foremost is that God is our Resource. He is the one that provides for the needs of our association of churches. Yes, I know, it is the churches that send the checks, but all of the churches are His churches. So I need to focus on the One who is my resource and our resource and then things will be OK. I sometimes forget this and want to try to handle it myself and He is the one who can best handle it when I am trusting in him!

Secondly, when the association is hurting financially, it means that the churches are also hurting financially and so I need to pray more fervently for them and for their pastors and their staff. It is probably true that one of the first places that churches tend to cut in difficult times is the association but hey, unless the churches survive we don’t survive. So take this as an opportunity to pray for your churches. Our God hears!

Thirdly, take this time as a time to evaluate your stewardship of the resources that God has been providing. Have we taken too many things for granted? Do we spend just because we have the money or is it really needed? I have found that we sometimes get in a rut and do the same things year after year and it is not bad to have to evaluate and prioritize things so that we are sure we are doing the things we need to be doing.

Lastly, time is a great healer and this too shall pass. Economic conditions change and will move back to more secure positions eventually and we will be blessed once again and able to do most of the things we would like to do. Just learn from the hard times so that even in the good times we remember the One who is in charge of it all and our Resource for now and for the future.

Sid Hopkins, DOM
Gwinnett Metro Baptist Association
Lawrenceville, Georgia