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KEN WALKER
Baptist Press
DALLAS (BP)–As the leader of a new marriage-enrichment ministry, J.B. Collingsworth knows how crucial money matters are to couples’ unions.
The former associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Orlando, will visit 25 cities this year to conduct marriage seminars and conferences, most of them at Southern Baptist churches.
Everywhere the parachurch leader travels, he sees marriages threatened by out-of-control spending, particularly with couples whose house and car payments are too high for their income.
"One of the leading causes to divorce is money problems," said Collingsworth, founder of Marriage and Family Matters. "Eight of 10 times there’s a money problem in a marriage. We have many people who don’t know biblical principles getting strapped with debt."
Long before he left the Florida church’s staff last fall, Collingsworth was attuned to the need for biblically based education in fiscal management.
After going through Crown Financial Ministry’s small-group study, in 1995 he spearheaded a move to implement a regular series of Crown classes at First Baptist.
Since then, more than 900 couples have completed the material. Classes are offered three times a year.
Sessions are held on Sunday and Wednesday night at the church, and others meet in homes during the week, according to Marty Wassman of the adult development department.
Requiring regular homework and Scripture memorization, Collingsworth called the study a great tool for churches.
"It teaches you to give by tithing," Collingsworth said. "I saw people who had never tithed before begin to tithe. I saw people in debt pay off debt."
Among the biblical principles he learned in the Crown study was to never co-sign for a loan and to never take on debt for anything that decreases in value.
Most Christians don’t know the Bible contains more than 2,000 verses on money and stewardship, compared to only a few hundred on prayer, Collingsworth said.
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The concepts taught in the course made a noticeable impact on students, judging by the letters and messages that came to the church office.
People wrote such things as, "We’ve been cheating God," "We’ve paid off credit cards," and, that since they had started tithing "now we have more money at the end of the month," said the former staff member.
"It’s hard to explain the impact until you see what happens when people are taught the truth," Collingsworth said. "I know so many people from Orlando who have gone through it and it has been a huge blessing to them."
The educational thrust has also enriched First Baptist in Orlando, which in the past three years has seen record growth in contributions, Collingsworth said.
Media minister Steve Smith said budget gifts have increased 19 percent over the past three years, and a total of 54 percent since the Crown studies began.
"We definitely are breaking the trend," Smith said. "Contrary to what’s happening (in many churches), as of June 15 we were at 103 percent of budget (for 2003.)"
Smith credited the strong giving to the grassroots educational effort. Other than a five-week sermon series earlier this year about giving, Smith said pastor Jim Henry hasn’t done any aggressive promotion for tithing or for the Crown series.
Since the church hasn’t surveyed participants, it is difficult to say how much of the healthy giving pattern can be attributed to the small-group studies, Smith said.
"But looking at it from a spiritual and practical standpoint, there’s no doubt it has had an impact," Smith said.