I left the my family's Disciples of Christ congregation for various reasons. One was the constant drum-beat for money through commerical activities. The annual youth trip was funded with car washes, slave days, and all kinds of hooey. The congregation had ice cream socials and bakery sales. The Disciples minister arrived for one worship service wearing his white chaplain's hat, in a fire truck. He was cool.
Gimmicks, tricks, and monetary manipulations have always been the strong suit of Baptists and Pentecostals. One Assemblies of God minister said they had "kite day," where every child bringing a friend earned a kite. It is not exaggeration to say that the Fuller Seminary crowd feels comfortable with stunts and performances.
The Luther Prep and WELS Lutherans for Life (Christian Life Resources) commercial enterprises are just plain tacky. They lack dignity. How can people respect Christian good works when people are selling trinkets, meals, and Bossy the cow to the public - in the Name of Christ? Too bad Paul dealt with meat sacrificed to idols instead of steak offered to alumni.
I served a congregation where we had various funds. Fortunately one person got a Junk For Jesus sale organized just in time to alienate the more sober members. The laity agreed among themselves to stop asking for money for coffee and cookies, to banish all hints of commercialism, and to rely on God's Word for giving. Ending the extra petty offerings and the commercialism gave a huge boost to Christian giving. A stewardship program built on God's Word doubled the giving in three years.
A WELS pastor I know used to work in a grocery story. The chain tried all kinds of gimmicks to make extra money, such as selling clothes. One day he said, "Why are we ashamed of being a grocery store?"
I wonder why congregations and synods do not ask the same question. "Why are we ashamed of being a church?" A church quietly raises its down money.
A Christian school does not ask students to roll in the mud to make even more money, in addition to their extortionate tuition bills. Martin Luther College admitted to overbilling its own students, then said, "And we are keeping the extra, too."
As Luther said, when people demand something from God, that is the very thing He will keep from them.
