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The gospel of finance
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July 20, 1999: 7:29 a.m. ET
Groups using Bible as guide to money management are flourishing
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Call it Biblenomics. It's the practice of managing your money in accordance with Christian principles. And it's catching on.
"The concept is growing because of the tremendous need for it," said Walt Walker, a spokesman for Crown Ministries, Inc., a Longwood, Fla.-based non-profit group that sponsors financial planning seminars in churches across the country.
"Credit card debt is increasing, the national savings rate is actually in the negative and bankruptcies per household have gone absolutely crazy," Walker said, pointing to the 1.35 million personal bankruptcies filed in 1997.
He's not the only one who's concerned.
Last year, 27,000 individuals enrolled in Crown Ministries' 12-week course to get their own budgets under control, a number that has grown by 30 percent or more for the last three years.
Stewardship
Groups such as Crown Ministries and Christian Financial Concepts in Gainesville, Ga. -- two of the largest non-profit groups in the field -- teach their members to use Biblical Scripture as instruction on how to earn, save, spend and manage their income.
Depending on who you ask, theologians say the Christian Bible contains between 1,600 and 2,500 references to personal finance.
One example:
"He said to them, 'Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions'" (Luke 12:15)
The groups also emphasize debt reduction and stewardship of assets.
According to their teachings, that means the money you earn and the possessions you've acquired actually belong to God. That, in turn, obligates you to earn, spend and manage your assets according to the scripture.
"The one principle that surrounds everything else is that of stewardship; that we are the managers of everything that God has given us," said Larry Burkett, founder of Christian Financial Concepts, or CFC.
Burkett, whose background is in economics and marketing, hosts about 200 live conferences a year -- that's more than twice the number he held just 10 years ago. He also gets the word out over the airwaves.
CFC figures show between 100,000 and 110,000 listeners call into Burkett's half-hour radio program, Money Matters , broadcast from 400 radio stations across the country each month. Not all, of course, get through.
"The calls are really up a lot," Burkett said.
Two years ago, 90 percent of the calls related to investing. Today, the vast majority off callers are seeking help in debt management. The average caller has credit card debt of about $17,000.
"Here we are in some of the best economic times many of us have ever seen and they're deeper in debt than they've ever been," Burkett said. "I think they sense they are in real financial trouble and if they don't get out of debt now, they wonder what will happen if the economy does turn down?"
Like Crown Ministries, interest and support for CFC has mushroomed in recent years.
The organization's Web site gets about 1 million hits a month and donations to the group are growing annually.
On bankruptcy
Burkett said the Bible is especially prolific on debt management issues.
"The Bible teaches us that when we borrow money, we can't be late in paying it back," he said. "Typically, we teach that bankruptcy is not an option."
He noted that Scripture "does not prohibit borrowing, it just establishes very sound rules to govern it."
Among them: Don't borrow needlessly, don't borrow long-term, and don't borrow for things that are depreciable or non-existent such as credit cards.
(Click here to take Larry Burkett's online Personality I.D. test)
Praying for business
Unlike Crown Ministries, Christian Financial Concepts also holds courses geared specifically to business owners. The courses cost $125 per person.
Jerry Pedine, vice president of seminars and training for the CFC, said the "Business by the Book" seminar, established 20 years ago, helps business owners "live their faith through their business."
The best way to do that, he said, is to run a debt-free business.
"When you start talking about operating a car dealership on a cash basis, for example, it sounds impossible," Pedine said. "The realistic part is that you can't open a huge dealership initially. But you can build the business slowly, so when you hit those downturns in the economy you don't have to fire your employees. You aren't a slave to whatever interest rate the lender is holding."
The seminars teach business owners the "Christian-like" way how to manage employees, handle accounting, plan ahead, oversee the quality of their products and deal with suppliers.
"The Scripture states very clearly that you should pay them on time," Pedine said.
Profit, he acknowledged, takes a back seat to religious principles, but it's not forgotten.
"We are not against profit at all, because in order to stay in business you have to make a profit," he said. "But instead of profit being the main motivation, you would be sure that the name of God is glorified."
Learning from the past
Dan Busby, vice president of member and donor services with the Evangelicals Council for Financial Accountability, said groups such as CFC have been in existence for decades. The growing interest in them of late, he said, is due largely to the go-go U.S. economy.
"This is not new, but it has only really been done on a significant level in the last decade," he said. "I think the run-up in the stock market in the last 10 years has given more people more money to invest, especially on the savings side. That probably has fueled it in the last decade."
Burkett acknowledged that many of the Christian finance principles he teaches today stem from the same financial management techniques that have governed society for generations. It's just that many of them have gotten lost, he said.
"If you look at many of the economic textbooks from the turn of the century, from Harvard University for example, they still quoted the Bible a lot," he said. "The principles have stuck around for a long time. It's just the direct references (that been omitted)."
Practical guide
If these groups are starting to sound a little like the TV evangelists who reportedly bilked millions of followers out of their life savings, you're barking up the wrong tree, Busby said.
The Evangelical Council for Financial, a watch-dog group that protects Christians against religious scams, said these two are above board.
Walker, of Crown Ministries, noted the idea behind the seminars is to help Christians of all denominations better manage their income and lead a more spiritually content life.
"We tell people it's not about raising money for your church," he said. "That's not the point. It's a practical guide for handling all of your money, getting your will and assets in order, and getting out of debt." 
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