Churches Tackle Worshipers' Money Management

Students in a finance class taught by Justin Moore at Crestview Baptist Church in Shelby, N.C.

This sort of broad-based offering of financial help seems rooted in the missionary mentality, and it suits the Christian church, Monroe says: "I think, looking back in history, this would not be very abnormal at all."

To be clear, this money-management movement is different from the "prosperity gospel," a label used for the popular message taught by some well-known Christian ministers—perhaps the best-known is Joel Osteen—that God rewards the faithful with financial prosperity. Some have argued that the prosperity message has spread at such an astounding rate because it was born in a vacuum—churches have usually been pretty silent on the topic of personal finance, except for the occasional sermon on tithing, the practice of giving a tenth of one's income to the church. Tithing is certainly encouraged in most of these financial workshops, and that message has been criticized sometimes as self-serving, since it directly benefits churches offering the programs.

Barometer. Personal finances matter because the way people handle their money serves as a kind of barometer for how they relate to God, says Grace McGibbon. She has been leading a group of women from National Community Church in the Washington, D.C., area, through a biblically based course from Crown Financial Ministries. Most people seem surprised by how often the Bible addresses the topic of money, McGibbon says. Crown Financial says more than 2,350 verses discuss it.

Even college students, particularly those nearing graduation, are heeding biblical teaching on financial decisions. Matt Bell, a personal-finance speaker and writer who runs the website Moneypurposejoy.com, has addressed all kinds of groups and finds college students to be an especially enthusiastic crowd. "They just seem very interested in learning how to get it right with money," Bell says.

Bell went through what he describes as a "financial train wreck" when he was a couple of years out of college. He had inherited $60,000 and used it to start a business. In about two years, he'd run through his inheritance, racked up an additional $20,000 in debt, and was forced to move in with his parents. "That was a very humbling time that made me think about some of the bigger questions of life," he says. As he describes it, the experience helped draw him to faith. Today's churches may be hoping the same is true for others.