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Summary: A Voice That Must Be Heard
Review: "Financial Meltdown in the Mainline?" was written about 10 years ago. Loren Mead, founder of the Alban Institute, applies more than 20 years of working with churches across denominations to this book. He claims that the issue of church finance came up in the writing of each of his previous books, but that he did not directly address the issue in any of them. He directly address church finances in this book. More than that, he says what needs to be said without sugarcoating the truth. He looks at the financial crisis present in every denomination - churches, denominations, seminaries are all suffering. The cause - Christians are not giving money as they should, nor are Christian leaders speaking accurately about the depth of the crisis. Mead backs these claims up with hard data. I must admit, the first six chapters were pretty depressing. Mead confirmed many of the suspicions I developed during my first two years serving as a church administrator. Underlying the financial crisis, Mead claims, is a spiritual crisis. In short, Christians are serving money rather than God. And Christian ministers are serving people rather than God (i.e., they do not speak the truth for fear of the reaction of their congregation). Mead is a strong advocate of endowments in the face of this financial crisis. He offers practical guidelines for endowment management. Every Christian minister and lay person should read this book. Perhaps the strength with which Mead paints the picture will bring the truth to light in a way that will draw out godly giving from all Christians.
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