The church has a responsibility to teach its people the biblical truth about their relationship to money. The Bible offers excellent economic principles and it speaks to each of the five areas of financial life: earning, giving, saving, debt, and spending. It indicates we are to be diligent earners, generous givers, wise savers, cautious debtors, and prudent spenders.

But we dare not stop at just teaching, for even the most anointed teaching will leave many in the congregation feeling guilty and frustrated. As a result of the teaching, they may know that it's wise to save and foolish to be in consumer debt and they intuitively know there is great joy in sharing with those less fortunate. But they are in debt, don't understand this complicated thing called budgeting and have no idea how they can afford to give. Teaching is not enough.

So the second thing a church needs to do is to train folks in applying the biblical principles to their daily lives. Teaching indicates what you ought to do ...