Stewardship and Simplicity As Christian Discipline
The current economic crisis is unusual because both the financial sector and the real economy have been hit hard at the same time. Rising unemployment and reduced production have been accompanied by plunging asset values. This crisis, therefore, has affected almost everyone: difficulty finding a first job, job loss, declines of retirement accounts, falling home prices, no credit, or several of these at once.
Dramatic developments, which normally would have seemed impossible, have raised anxiety. Until 2008 we had never in recent decades witnessed such things as the rapid sequence of failures of major financial institutions that occurred last year. Attention-grabbing governmental actions, meant to shore up financial institutions or to augment declining demand through deficit spending, have added to the average person’s economic anxiety.
Experts will be writing about all of this for decades to come, but a few things are clear. First, this crisis represents an unwelcome return to nineteenth-century patterns when financial panics precipitated depressions. This pattern had not been seen since the 1930s. Second, the financial crisis exemplifies economic feed-back effects that amplify each other. Both objective facts and psychological factors interact to push the economy along the wrong path. Finally, this economic illness provides a major test whether large doses of economic medicine can stabilize the patient and shorten the illness. Future governmental interventions in an economic illness will be shaped by what will be learned this time.
What has been the effect of all this on charitable giving? Given the severity of economic shocks last year, one might have expected a severe downturn in giving. Surprisingly, the Giving USA Foundation reported recently only a 2% decline overall in charitable giving for 2008. It adds that giving to religious organizations actually increased a little in 2008. However, this average hides the fact that some religious organizations have faced major cutbacks. Figures for 2008 also may not predict charitable giving in 2009 very well. Anxieties created in late 2008 may carry over into 2009 and have even more effect than they did in 2008.
Looking toward the future, an optimist could rightly point out that the economy is now coming out of crisis mode, so giving might increase. True, the rapid assault of ever-worse news seems to be over, but the economy in mid-2009 is still weak, with unemployment close to 10% nationally. Thus, giving in 2009 remains a question mark.
The economy has also harmed the investments (“endowments”) of those non-profit organizations that may have significant investments. For example, the wealthiest universities announced investment losses of 25% or more in the last six months of 2008, with more losses this year. Unlike universities, local congregations typically do not depend heavily on investments, so this is not a direct concern for them. However, individual members may have suffered investment reverses, which could affect their giving. Also, investment losses may have contributed to the recent down-sizing of the national offices and programs of several major Protestant denominations.
How should Christians react to all this? This is a good occasion for relearning spiritual and moral truths. A major economic storm such as this one reminds us of our human kinship; we all ride in the same boat and are neighbors to each other. In such a circumstance, sharing and joining in common efforts should be natural responses. We might also simplify our lives. Simplification may begin as a matter of economic necessity, with the intent to return to old ways of (perhaps excessive) consuming and living as soon as times improve. Instead, we may discover that simplicity frees us for a more authentic Christian life; what began as necessity might continue as a Christian discipline. Finally, as the gospel account of the widow’s penny instructs, we should remember that giving done in adversity is more significant in God’s sight than larger contributions made in easier circumstances.
This is also a good occasion to exercise clear-eyed Christian realism. Many of us have not been hit very hard by the economy (perhaps our jobs and pensions are secure). In that case, we need to acknowledge that we are financially whole and then step up and commit to greater support for the institutions we cherish. Our religious and charitable organizations, including experienced staff, are too important for us to let them be severely damaged by cutbacks. The need for the gospel, and for the works of the gospel, cannot be put on hold for the economy.
There are no magic economic formulas to offer to members of church boards and other leaders for dealing with these circumstances. Instead, it might be more helpful to look to models of good church leadership during times of scarcity and uncertainty. One model is colonial Bishop Spangenberg, who, under the most difficult of circumstances, consistently found ways to move forward the work of the Unity in North America.
