Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSalternative god of mammon! Who makes the decisions aboutthe use of money?Noel: As far as our businesses are concerned, the directorsor partners. As far as church and community funds are concerned,there are trustees. These are accountable to the membersand give reports at the annual general meeting.Roger: Presumably you’re on the executives that make thosedecisions?Noel: I’m on a number of the executives, but not all.Roger: Obviously people are always concerned about thepower that money brings.Noel: We fully understand the danger of money power. We’veseen how Jesus said, ‘Sell your possessions.’ We’ve sought tomove away from the power of personal possessions. Like allour elders and full community members, I have no personalpossessions or wealth.Roger: How do the funds get used?Noel: We accept that all the funds of the church and communitybelong to the Lord, and we seek to use them withwisdom in the Spirit within proper, constitutional, legal andaccounting structures. We don’t want to be rich, just to beable to share the gospel and build the church, including community.We do not ask the general public for funds and rarelytake collections in our meetings. We spend a fair amount ofmoney on our evangelistic campaigns and literature. We don’tuse money to wield wrong ‘influence’ over people and society,but we do want to spread the gospel and engage in socialaction as God directs.Roger: Do you use your money to support any missionaryor aid organisations which don’t actually belong to you?423