A consumer mentality has gripped our nation. Personal debt is at an all-time high. Savings are at a 70-year low. Some people find themselves in desperate financial straits, needing immediate help. Others are only one paycheck away from disaster, knowing that their debt is too high and their savings are inadequate. Personal bankruptcies are at record levels. Marriages suffer from a lack of wise financial management, with disagreement over money often cited as the leading cause of marital discord.

Money lures with its power and promises and then, like a traitor, sabotages our lives and dreams. The sad truth is that Christians, too, are caught in the money-trap, even though the Bible warns believers of the seductive power and empty promises of wealth. Even worse, Christians who are in a financially precarious position find it difficult and embarrassing to ask for help, so they remain imprisoned by their financial bondage.

Beyond the personal crisis that many believers find themselves in is the effect of their personal bondage on the church. As believers languish in debt or live with no savings, they have nothing to offer the church; not a tithe, not a gift, not a cent. According to Barna (Dec., 2001), only 8% of "born-again" Christians tithe to a local church. And the work of God, to be funded by God's people, stalls from a lack of resources. Money is unavailable to fund ministry staff or ministry events. More painful still is the church that finds itself outgrowing its base of giving, tantalized by the great potential its outreach has, but unable to fund additional staff or buildings to meet the growing needs.

Not all people, Christians included, are financially troubled. Many avoid consumer debt, invest wisely and save regularly. They demonstrate sound financial principles in managing their money. But they haven't yet grasped the vision of leading a financial lifestyle informed by a Christian perspective. They don't yet see that all that we have belongs to God and that we are stewards of those resources entrusted to us. They don't yet see the freedom that comes when money is no longer a chief rival to God's work in their lives. They don't yet see that managing their money is not just a financial issue, but a spiritual issue.

There is a tremendous need for churches today to educate and assist people with managing their resources in a God-honoring way. A Good $ense ministry does just that.

A Good $ense ministry relieves those in your congregation from the crushing stress and anxiety caused by consumer debt; it restores marriages torn by the conflict over money; it heals the self esteem and confidence that was shattered by poor decisions concerning the handling of money. It also helps church leadership become more comfortable teaching about the once mistakenly forbidden subject of money in the church. And Good $ense helps the church itself as people become free to give to God's work through the local church.

Most significant of all, however, is that the teaching and training of a Good $ense Ministry remove what for most people is the major block to their spiritual growth and development - money. When money is no longer the chief rival god; when money no longer controls the person but the person controls their money; and when the deceitfulness of riches is exposed for its deceitfulness and can no longer choke out God's word in their life (Matthew 13:22), that person is free to relate to and serve God in profoundly new and deeper ways.

That's why a Good $ense ministry can never be confused with a program. It's not about the latest in financial management strategies or about organizing a budget or about fund-raising techniques for church leaders. If that were all it was, it would simply be one more resource among many that offer such assistance. What distinguishes a Good $ense ministry is not that it applies a program to the surface of a person's life, but that it applies biblical principles to the interior of a person's life. Ultimately, a Good $ense ministry is about contributing to the spiritual development of human souls through a relevant, easily understood and biblically-based understanding of money and it's place in the lives of Christ-followers. Good $ense teaches stewardship from the inside out. We call this approach "transformational stewardship".