Giving and stewardship in Border Black Baptist Churches

Abstract

There seem to be two possible extremes in relation to financial giving and stewardship in many Christian Churches; on the one hand, some may teach an unbalanced “prosperity gospel” which many suspect is motivated by the desire for an extravagant lifestyle by a pastor living in luxury! On the other hand, other churches are reluctant to give any legitimate biblical teaching on finances because of fear of offending the congregation. The result is that some churches, especially those in poorer rural areas of South Africa suffer from inadequate financial stipends for their “full-time” pastors leading to little growth in these churches because these pastor there have to be ‘bi-vocational” and give most of their time to covering their family needs through “secular work”. This research evaluates the situation in some Border Black Baptist Churches, and proposes a way forward.