When someone asks your church for financial help

 There are times when every church is approached by someone who needs financial assistance. Because the church exists to serve and minister to people's needs, we usually try to provide that assistance. But, what if we are enabling bad behavior? Are there times when it is more compassionate for a church to refuse to provide financial assistance? Would a different response be a better way to meet a person's needs? That is one challenge I address in my new book Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade?.

Each chapter of the book looks at major challenges the church will face as we continue into the 21st century and some ways to respond to these challenges. Addressing poverty is one such issue, and it's one that every church will deal with many times. It is possible to harm those we seek to help financially, and it's not always easy to know when we are truly helping and when we are doing harm. I believe that chapter in the book helps shed some light on that issue.

Other chapters focus on some of the troubling issues facing people in our congregations and communities, and unless we can address them with compassion and courage we will fail those individuals. For instance, there is much confusion today about sexual issues and gender identification. Church leaders can not ignore these types of issues but need to think through how they will respond when confronted with them. Studies indicate that a significant number of people in our congregations deal with mental health issues or have a history of such illnesses, but what is the church's response to that. Too often, it has been silence.

In the book I also address addiction problems, the growing number of suicides, the racism that continues to exist in our nation, the growing violence in our society and other issues confronting the church. We cannot afford to be silent on these issues. We need to educate ourselves so we can reach out to a hurting world to offer hope, healing and transformation. My prayer is that this book will help church leaders be able to do that.

The book is only available as an eBook for Kindle at this time. You can order it through Amazon by clicking on the link above. I hope you'll check it out.