The first of several conferences teaching pastors the basics of debt-free living – named “It’s A New Day: How Will You Spend It?”- aims at “liberating people from the bondage of debt,” according to one of its organizers.
Tackling financial bondage will help people “choose who to serve, because if they are in bondage to debt … they are not free to choose to serve God,” Bob Rodgers, the SBC Executive Committee’s vice president for Cooperative Program and stewardship, said during the March 22-23 conference in Orlando, Fla.
The initiative is tailor-made for Southern Baptists in a collaborative relationship with Crown Financial Ministries.
Basic money management strategies will produce leaders who can be “catalysts that can shift the culture,” said Ashley Clayton, the Executive Committee’s new associate vice president for stewardship. “The whole world has awakened to the financial problem, and yet Southern Baptists have been silent. This initiative is about helping people come to grips with where they are financially.”
Clayton noted that the church is not immune from America’s obsession with spending, with the average American spending $1.20 for every dollar earned.
“Consumer credit card debt is at epidemic proportions – not just outside the church, but inside the church,” he said. “We are also discovering that pastors are not immune to the pressure of debt as well.”
The spiritual impact of that debt burden can be staggering, Clayton said, causing people who would otherwise be willing to go on a mission trip, teach a Sunday school class or tithe to hold back.
“They are willing to do it, but they honestly can’t,” he said. “The bondage that they’re under is absolutely keeping people from fulfilling what God has called them to do.”
The “transformational” approach of the “It’s A New Day” initiative can have a dramatic impact on Southern Baptist life, Clayton said.
“You can motivate people on Sunday morning all day long to do all these wonderful things in the kingdom, but when Monday morning rolls around, their motivation goes out the window because they’re in debt,” Clayton said.