Failure To Engage
Part Two
So many Christian workers ignore the money component of their lives. Why is that? The general topic has concerned me for a long time. When you add the “future” issue to the dialogue, the problem becomes even more pronounced.
So I ask you, should Christians care about the future? You would think that Christians have more reasons than anyone to care about the future, to be focused on what it means and how to prepare for it. Maybe the focus is on eternity and misses a whole time sequence. By “time sequence” I mean the time we leave a primary occupation or occupational ministry and the time we die. The issue isn’t so much that we leave a given occupation, although that is certainly a dividing line, but that the income necessary to support ourselves is diminished. Some even call it retirement.
As co-sponsors of the Faith Based Retirement Plan survey, we are interested in understanding the status of the whole retirement plan community of plan sponsors and their employees and staff who participate in the plans. That is, they participate if they have a plan at all. As near as we can figure out, over 40% of 501(c)(3) faith-based organizations do not even have a retirement plan. Talk about failure to engage.
God Owns It All
As the survey research comes in and is analyzed, perhaps we will begin to get an idea of why that is the case. I’m sure a lack of money will certainly be one of the reasons. Yet, if God owns it all, and He wants us to be prepared to serve Him, how can there not be enough?
God’s love is not a “zero sum game,” as I see it. It expands to include those who connect with Him and doesn’t diminish for those who came before. Seems to me like kind of a “loaves and fishes” issue. It’s similar to the birth of a second child: in a healthy Christian family, our love simply expands to include one more at the table.
In a similar fashion, discovering the financial elements of our makeup and then working with those to be the best of stewards we can be seems like a reasonable plan. I am referring to using God’s resources in His way and for His purposes.
As Christian leaders, supporting our employees, staff, and associates to engage in the preparation process for the time before eternity and after salary or wages stop reflects God’s heart and challenges our ongoing service to the Kingdom.
I’m going to reflect on this some more. Your thoughts and comments are welcome. Please consider this an open invitation to dialogue. What do you think is the reason so many are failing to engage in retirement?
Living with Trusted Advice together,
Bruce
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