Will Our Children Be Stewards?

The United States economy exceeds $13 trillion annually. Individual spending, commonly referred to as consumer spending, makes up seventy percent of this economy -- the gross domestic product. An even more staggering statistic is that eighty percent of product purchases are influenced by children! These figures calculate into a shocking realization that nearly $7.5 trillion of the U.S. economy is influenced directly by children.

Children are learning about money. What are their sources of information? Parents are a major source of information. Yet, a survey conducted by Synovate, a global market research company, suggests that giving is not a major component of parents' financial teaching and that only thirty-eight percent of parents teach children how to pay bills. Another primary and more constant source of information for children is media advertising. The average person, including the average child, is exposed to more than 5,000 advertising impressions each day. Advertising is full of money messages.

Children's money values are influenced persistently by the underlying messages in advertising. These money values will often be inconsistent with children's other values and potentially in direct conflict with Christian principles. If children are going to adopt money values that are consistent with other faith values, then they must be taught God-honoring, biblical principles about money. The church has a tremendous opportunity, and arguably an awesome responsibility, to create a culture of generosity that advocates a proportional perspective between earning, giving, saving, and spending money.

Church leaders are often hesitant, perhaps even fearful, to talk with the congregation about financial principles. They avoid most money conversations based on the assumption that money talk is private talk. Yet, several of our money decisions are more obvious than we may think. Some choices are obvious to just about any one -- even strangers! What are some of these public displays? The cars that we drive, the homes that we purchase, the clothes that we wear, the frequency that we eat at restaurants, the vacations that we enjoy; in fact, many of our consumer purchases are public displays of decisions that we have made with how to spend money.

Sometimes the public display of our money decisions does not reflect spending, but giving. In order to bring some level of balance to children's perception about money priorities, we need to provide many more examples of giving than we currently demonstrate. Why? The hyper-consumer culture will provide money awareness to children in the absence of education from parents and faith communities. Church leaders are urged to provide opportunities for children to think about the intersection of money with their faith-informed values. We need to remind children that everything in life, including money, is a gift from God.

Will our children be stewards? The answer depends largely on the level of conversation that we foster in and through our faith communities. The simple decisions that children make about money may seem to have minimal, if any, bearing on others. However, the cumulative micro-economic influence of children does sway macro-economic outcomes. We now live in a global marketplace. Children's money choices and their influence on adults' money choices ripple around the world to influence issues such as economic sustainability, quality of life, economic justice, free trade agreements, and other relevant topics.

The church's frequent posture of silence on most money conversations, except ones related to the church budget, may inadvertently imply a lack of relevance between money and faith or even an acceptance of current personal financial practices. However, numerous people are concerned about creating future generations of stewards. Church leaders, Christian educators, and parents, alike, want children to adopt a holistic connection between their faith and their values about money. Simply stated, we want children's money choices to reflect Christian values. Yet how many adults have perfected this habit? Surely fewer than are willing to admit it! But do not lose hope. If we help children discover the interdependence between faith and money, then we may help multiple generations of people in some unexpected ways.

So where do we begin? Here are some possible starting points for people within a faith community:

• Begin by examining your own personal spending plan.
• Provide lifestyle values in contrast to the hyper-consumer culture. Visit Birthdays Without Pressure for some ideas.
• Create a church culture of abundance regarding money and resources.
• Teach children Jesus' messages about money and possessions.
• Model Christian stewardship.
• Adopt a God-honoring lifestyle by placing God as your top priority in life.
• Limit children's exposure to commercial influences . . .
  • Set television watching limits and discuss product placements.
  • Set limits on computer time, review the websites and chat rooms that children are surfing, position computers in frequent family gathering areas.
• Discuss advertising, especially buzz marketing and its motives and messages.
• Enable teenagers to be financially literate and especially to understand the importance of giving and saving and the impact of consumer debt.
• Do not give in to the nagging of children's consumer-driven desires. Learn to say "no" to purchasing more stuff and to say "yes" to spending more time together.
• Recycle; let children use old items to create new types of art.
• Establish a clear delineation between "wants" and "needs."
• Teach children to write thank-you notes for gifts. Connect giving and receiving to expressing thankfulness and caring.
• Create mission certificates in honor of a gift recipient instead of buying the person a gift.
• Praise children for good behaviors by using intrinsic means (i.e. positive comments) not extrinsic reinforcements (i.e. rewards or gifts).
• Establish a child's savings account and regularly reinforce the discipline of saving money.
• Worship and pray regularly.
• Encourage children to participate in the offering and other charitable giving opportunities.
• Be involved in community outreach, service projects, and mission programs.

You will discover some starting points for your congregation to teach children about the connection between faith and money.

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David S. Bell, former Director of Stewardship with Discipleship Ministries, currently serves as Vice-President of Stewardship with the United Methodist Foundation of Michigan.

Copyright 2008 David S. Bell. Any local church, regardless of denominational affiliation, or any United Methodist organization may reprint this article provided that the author is cited.