3. Financial appeals require advance planning
3. Financial appeals require advance planning
Look how thoroughly Paul prepares the way for the gift. In 1 Corinthians he has been answering a lot of questions from the church, and he comes back to something that he has told them about before, but wants to raise again. He wants them to be ready and prepared.
Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. (1 Corinthians 16:1–3)
In 2 Corinthians 9:1–5 Paul shows the same concern for preparedness.
There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give [again catch the note of north/south rivalry]; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. But I am sending the brothers [that is, I am sending some people in advance] in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we . . . would be ashamed of having been so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given (that is, pulled together at the last minute).
Can you see what Paul is doing here? He does not want this collection to become debased into an emotional appeal in which everybody is urged to put their hands in their pockets, and the music goes on until everybody has dug deeper, and then the offering buckets are sent around again. No, Paul is purposely avoiding that type of emotional manipulation. He does not want there to be any kind of ‘on-the-spot’ pressure for a gift that has not been carefully thought through. Paul wants his collection and the giving by the church to be something that has been thought about, prayed about, and prepared for. It should be systematic (we should plan what we will give); it should be regular (week by week setting money aside); it should be proportionate (according to income, with those who have more giving more); the means of collecting should be transparent (the brothers will come and they will oversee it); and the total collected should be public (announced and recorded). All of this preparation and supervision is built into Paul’s careful planning.
Accountability is not just an afterthought; it is not something you try to sort out after the event—‘All this money has come in, how wonderful! Now we’d better decide what we do with it, who is going to count it, who is going to bank it, and who will keep accounts’. Accountability is not just a matter of reacting when problems arise. It should be planned; it should be built in from the very start. Paul says, ‘Look, here is what we are planning. This is what we’re asking you to do, and this is what we will then do when you have done what we ask’. The whole procedure is a matter of shared responsibility. Paul does not want their giving to be mere opportunism: ‘Paul’s come to town again; let’s have a quick collection and give him a love gift’. No, Paul wants this offering to be carefully thought through and planned well in advance, so that nobody will be taken by surprise and nobody can be accused of emotional manipulation. That is an important way by which he builds accountability into his financial relationship with the church.
Notice that Paul is concerned, also, about loss of face. The world of ancient Greece and Rome is a relational economy, so he conducts this offering relationally. He says, ‘Some of our brothers will be coming to you, and I will be coming later as well, and we don’t want any embarrassment. I don’t want you to lose face; I don’t want you to be ashamed, and I don’t want them to be gloating. So let’s do this properly, and let’s plan it and have it all out on the table clear and open, so that everybody is satisfied’.
Summary Principle 3: Proper planning of financial appeals is important, and safeguards should be set up before the event.