Do You Have an Image Problem?

We are frequently warned in Scripture about our tendency to idolize money and worship it instead of God. Paul tells the Ephesians, “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). This verse reminds us how God created people in his own image (Gen 1:27, the imago dei) so that we in turn could create community and culture (Gen 1:28) resulting in a perfect dwelling place at the end of time (Revelation 21). If I really believe all of this, it has implications for my own work in fundraising and anyone’s work with customers, clients or others when there’s a financial transaction involved.

Money as Image

When we idolize money, we equate financial health with spiritual health. This can happen on an individual level and on a corporate level. In my field, financial metrics are often the most facile and, therefore, are often the industry standard. Therefore, in a church, when giving is up year over year, and when the church reaches its capital campaign goal, it is seen as “healthy.” Too often we believe we see the image of God and his blessing when we see a surplus at fiscal-year close, and we forget to watch for Spirit-filled joy in our congregation, their pleasure in serving others and in giving money to both church and community, and their delight in the triune God. Instead, we fashion money into the image of corporate and individual health, and this blessing becomes a curse that blinds us to our spiritual poverty.

The Sin Effects

Once we decide that money is the desired image and goal, we establish programs and develop habits—sometimes unwittingly—to use people to build the image and reach the goal. People become the tools for me to reach my personal goals or for us to reach our corporate ones. We determine what actions we need to perform on these people to produce financial fruit: how many mailings, how many calls, how many “touches” we need before—statistically speaking—we can “close” the prospect. In churches, we create or purchase budgeting and debt reduction programs with the intention of freeing up attendees’ cash so that they can give more to the church. We execute capital campaigns in which we claim, “It’s not about the money,” but we know that, in fact, it is. Perhaps we should say, “It is indeed about the money. It’s about reaching this goal together as a church family, but it’s about a lot more than money. It’s about growing closer to Christ through our giving, and worshiping God with our gifts.”

Did Jesus need money for his public ministry? Certainly. He didn’t eschew having lead volunteers help him financially (see Luke 8), but he also didn’t leverage for personal gain the many encounters he had with affluent people (rich young ruler, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Zaccheus). He was always interested first in their spiritual health before his ministry’s financial health.

The Image Reclaimed

We are God’s “workmanship.” Jesus has rescued us from the devil and the power of sin, and the Holy Spirit is re-creating us daily into the image in which we were created—the imago dei. We are truly free. We are free to co-create with God, to help him cultivate the community and culture which he called us to cultivate at the beginning of time. And when we operate in this freedom and toward the goal that God has put before us, then we see our donors, our customers, our clients and guests, in a new light. They, too, have this imago dei, whether they realize it or not. So instead of asking yourself, “What do I want from my customers?” ask, “What do I want for them?”

To neglect the image our customers bear is to dishonor them and also to ignore the image we bear.

Questions for personal reflection, online discussion, or small groups:

• How does realizing you were created in God’s image affect how you make decisions?
• How does this affect the way you see your customers?
• What are some ways you can balance your organizational needs and agenda with that of your customers, donors or clients?
• As a manager/leader, what are some metrics you can create for yourselves and your employees that direct them to see their customers/clients as growing into the image of Christ?

Photograph used with permission via Flickr. Article by Howard Freeman, Sr. Director of Generosity for Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and author of Mead on Manhattan.