DIRTY - Why Your Church / Charity Should Change It's Bank Account

A girl stood in the wreck of Nagasaki, Japan as a result of an atomic bomb

 At my church, we are finally about to change our bank account. 

 It has been a long journey. Changing your bank account is hard. Changing an organisation's bank account is very hard (so many forms!!!!!!!!).

 I bet you are wondering why any organisation would go through the hassle of making changing their bank a priority.

The Kingdom of God

Millions of good people give their hard earned money to the Church each week. 

 Billions of Pounds (or insert your nationalities currency here) are poured into the Church across the globe, and people have one express purpose for doing so – to build the kingdom of God.

 This looks different for different churches, whether it be to keep the lights on, run feeding programs, debt management programs, buy new equipment or teas and coffees – but they all have a similar theme:

 To reveal the transformative love of God to the world and to attempt to remake the world in the life-giving, loving way that we know God sees it.

What Actually Happens

All of the things above do happen, but there is a part in between people giving their money, and the church using it to build the kingdom: the money goes into the bank.

 At this juncture, the bank invests the money that the church has put in the bank into money making ventures – this is how banks are able to operate.

The Dirty Secret

Much of these funds are invested into harmless ventures, but we know that much of the money goes to fund the arms trade, cigarette companies, gambling, sweatshop labour, environmentally harmful initiatives (insert thing that does the opposite of build the kingdom of God here). This happens because – let's be honest – this is where a lot of money is made.

 To summarise: churches take the hard earned money from people, who are giving it to us to build the kingdom of God to make the world a better place. We put it into an institution that takes the money and uses it to fund life destroying initiatives. Then finally we withdraw the money to pay for the things that we need to do.

 There is something wrong with this system – it is broken.

Make the Change

So I implore you – please look at the places where your church bank invests into (it is all available online) and have your eyes opened.

 Then go onto www.moveyourmoney.org.uk (if you are not from the UK I am sure that there are equivalents in your country) and look at the options that do not invest in harmful ventures.

 Then start the ball rolling on changing your church bank account – ensure that the only thing your churches money is doing is building the kingdom of God.

 May we take a good, honest look at how our money is being used. May we have the courage to make the change, and may we build the kingdom and transform lives.

 I would love to hear if your church has changed banks for this reason. Put the name of the bank you have changed to below to help others.

 Image Credit

Jordy Meow

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