Is that always bad, though? I mean, if I can feed 500 people a month and I want to expand that in the future so I opt to budget it so that I feed 400 people and with the money that can feed 100 people, I invest it and look to a long term goal of feeding more than triple that amount of people and starting a shelter. Is that not a worthy end to strive toward?
I don't think we can do ministry in the mindset that we should put everything into right now because we may not be here tomorrow. We should always be looking forward and planning. Joseph had revelation of coming struggle and was able to save his family and tons of other people by seeing what was ahead and planning now for later. We are blessed that God also gives us revelation and prophetic insight, so let's use it to plan and position the kingdom to be in a place where they can help the most and gather the greatest harvest of souls.
Take right now for instance, the gov't is on the verge of failing people like it never has in our history. There's a good chance a lot of assistance that's always been there will no longer be available. What if the church had established its own system to step in and provide aid on its own terms, free from gov't funds so we can declare the gospel freely while providing tangible proof that God cares and will provide in times of need? We're never going to be able to do that if we always operate based on right now and don't take the time to invest for the future.
We just gotta agree to disagree. I don't like the idea of 100 people remaining hungry because a church chose to put that money elsewhere (stock market) so that in 5-10 years, they can feed even more people.
Just a difference of opinion, sis.
IRT your last paragraph, there are a lot of churches that are in positions to help, and don't invest in the stock market. St. Philips AME Church in Decatur, GA is one of them. Maybe if more churches looked at the models of successful* churches, instead of looking at the models of successful individuals and corporations, we'd have a lot more churches able to help? I don't know. The church in Acts was successful. Maybe we could use that as a model.
Lastly, if God gave any pastor/board prophetic insight and revelation, along with a directive to invest in the stock market, I would have absolutely nothing to say about that. I don't question what God tells people, because I've long learned that God's ways aren't ours and what we think makes perfect sense, really may not be as sensible as we think, in God's eyes. If He says stock market, then stock market it is.
*by "successful" I mean successful in doing ministry and serving their community
