Tag Archives: money

You Are Invited to Take Our Lenten Series: Wrestling with Faith and Money with Miguel Escobar

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Join us this March for a thought-provoking four-part live series, Wrestling with Faith and Money with Miguel Escobar, in which participants will delve into the complex relationship between Christianity and wealth. Author and scholar Miguel Escobar will guide participants through an exploration of how early Christians grappled with issues of poverty and prosperity, and how their views evolved over time.

  • In the first session, Miguel will explore three stories in the Gospel of Luke that explore wealth’s liberative purpose and the way these same stories were reinterpreted by the Church in the third and fifth centuries.
  • In the second session, participants will examine the ideas of Clement of Alexandria on retaining riches.
  • In the third session, the class will look at ancient definitions of money itself including money as a useful tool, money as a source of temptation, as well as money as a powerful (but highly addictive) medicine during a time of natural disaster.
  • In the fourth session, Miguel will return to the New Testament and explore Paul’s vision of koinonia, a form of economic fellowship which reappears again and again in various forms in later centuries.

The class will meet in four Zoom sessions on Wednesday nights at 8 p..m. E.T. on March 1, March 8, March 15, and March 22, 2023. Participants will be able to view recordings of missed sessions, get optional reading assignments, and download course materials at the the ChurchNext Wresting with Wealth and Poverty course page.

Participants in this course can receive a 25% discount on Miguel’s book, The Unjust Steward: Poverty and Wealth in the Church. This book is not necessary to take the course or follow the discussions, but we will be suggesting readings from it that may enhance your learning experience.

Miguel Escobar is Executive Director of Union Theological Seminary’s Episcopal Divinity School. Hear what he has to say about this course by clicking on the video below.

animate: Practices 3 launches today

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The third and final part of the animate: Practices series in conjunction with Augsburg Fortress launches today, and it’s another great one: this time, we’re led by scholars, authors, and pastors Shane Claiborne, Enuma Okoro, and Doug Pagitt in re-animating our engagements with three seemingly-mundane concepts: money, service, and community.

Shane offers his own experiences and learning on how we as Christians are called to think of and use money (and stuff and other resources), how the Bible can make us feel at odds with the world around us as well as offering us freedom and peace from this oddness. Sharing what we have and emphasizing a gospel of enough are practices that are both biblically-mandated and spiritually life-giving.

Likewise, Enuma Okoro reminds us that service isn’t something that just happens “out there” in third-world countries or in desperate hardships or labor; it’s also something we’re called to every day, in ordinary and small ways. Making ourselves available to each other and seeing the image of God in each other are what service is all about.

Finally, Doug Pagitt tells about his experiences with community as a transformative practice of mutual growth. He invites us to re-think what we expect or do when we welcome newcomers into our midst.

All three of these presenters offer thought-provoking talks on vital practices for the Christian life, and help breathe new energy into our faiths. Click here to learn more about this third course or to register.

We’re proud to partner with Augsburg Fortress in presenting some of the animate series as ChurchNext courses. The  series is unique in that it not only tackles some of the big questions of our faith, like “Is God real?” and “Is there such a thing as too much Bible?” but it does so not in order to teach a certain lesson or to impart fixed wisdom, but to challenge assumptions, spark conversation and dialogue, and encourage wrestling with the deep questions of our souls.

Shane is a founding partner of The Simple Way community, a radical faith community that lives among and serves the homeless in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.  He is the author of several books including Jesus for President and Becoming Our Prayers.

Enuma is a writer, speaker, communications consultant and an award-winning author of four non-fiction books.  A graduate of Duke Divinity School, Enuma also served as the Director for the Center for Theological Writing at Duke Divinity Law School.

Doug is associated with the emerging church movement and is founding pastor of Solomon’s Porch in South Minneapolis. He is the author of several books including Body Prayer, Church Re-imagined, and Flipped.

Creating Common Good 1 with Bishop Julio Murray now available

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We’re pleased to launch the first Creating Common Good course in partnership with Trinity Institute. In Creating Common Good 1: Economic Inequality and Injustice, Bishop Julio Murray addresses the inequalities present in economic systems and how these are signs not only of distorted relationships between human beings, but also between God and God’s creation.

jmurrayWhat is the Church’s role in righting this relationship? How can the Church give voice to those who have found creativity in scarcity? How might the Church model a new way of living — living in contentment with enough?  This course challenges, informs, and inspires us as we seek to address the overwhelming problem of economic injustice in our world.  Click here to register or for more information.

The Rt. Rev. Julio Murray is a popular speaker and preacher. He serves as the Anglican bishop of Panama. He is a featured speaker at Trinity Institute 2015; click here to learn more.

New Course: Managing Retirement and Savings with Timothy Dombek

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So you’re out of debt, or at least at a manageable point, and you’re ready to save. How Timoty Dombeckdo we do it? How much, how often, and how long? CPF and Episcopal priest Timothy Dombek teaches us how to address these questions in this fourth and final installment of his Managing God’s Money series.

 Arriving at a place where we actually have money to save can be quite an accomplishment for many people. 

But don’t stop there, says financial planner and Episcopal priest Timothy Dombek. If we take advantage of the two most important aspects of saving, time and money, we may be surprised at the financial goals we can achieve.

In this class, Tim teaches us about:

  • The Time Value of Money
  • Saving for Future Events
  • The Ten Commandments of Financial Planning

This course is ideal for those who are seeking a deeper understanding of saving money and may be used in conjunction with the other three courses in the Managing God’s Money series.

One final note: This class is designed so that if you take it all by yourself you will certainly have learned a lot.

However, if you did that you may not be getting all you could out of this course. At ChurchNext, we believe that learning together really helps us move more effectively down the road of personal transformation. When we learn together we push ourselves, discover real insights, and most of all, embrace the discomfort that’s essential to turning education into learning.

We want to help every one of our subscribers change for the better, which is much more effectively done when learners come together, face to face when possible, for what can be powerful learning experiences. So if you’re taking this course, please consider with whom you might share the experience by inviting others to take it, online, with you. You can do this by selecting the ‘Create your own group class’ option.

And, even better, ponder how you might take this course with others who are nearby and with whom you might have some face to face interaction. Then, using the downloadable ‘Discussion Questions’ which are included in this course, once you’ve taken the course, get together and work through the material as a group.

Learn More about Managing Retirement and Savings.

The Rev’d Canon Timothy Dombek is Canon for Stewardship and Planned Giving in the Diocese of Arizona. He is a popular speaker whose blog you can read here.

New Course: Managing Church and Charity with Timothy Dombek

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We all suspect we should be giving money to church and charity, but how much Timoty Dombeckshould we give, how should we decide, and how to we grab hold of the biblical truth that, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive?’ In this course, clergy person and money man Timothy Dombeck offers some great advice.

The most fulfilling emotions we feel are often related to the act of giving. Yet our financial lives often keep us from being as charitable as we would like.

Clergyman and money man Timothy Dombeck knows this well. In this course he challenges us to thing about:

  • Why Give to Church and Charity?
  • What Does the Bible Say about Managing Church and Charity?
  • Deciding How Much to Give
  • Tips for Getting There

This is a very helpful course for stewardship season in a church, as well as for those seeking information on personal finance and spirituality.

Learn more about Managing Church and Charity.

The Rev’d Canon Timothy Dombek is Canon for Stewardship and Planned Giving in the Diocese of Arizona. He is a popular speaker whose blog you can read here.

New Course: Managing Credit Cards and Debt with Timothy Dombek

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Timoty DombeckIn a modern society that urges us to spend what we don’t have, Timothy Dombek offers us solid advice on how to address issues of credit and debt with wisdom and faith.

Financial problems are the leading cause of divorce and other relationship issues – and most can be avoided if some basic rules are followed.

Timothy Dombeck ought to know, he used to do this for a living – advising clients on how to save and spend. Today, he’s a sought-after conference speaker and author who serves the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona as a stewardship expert.

In this class Tim will teach us the fundamentals of credit and debt, and give us helpful advice in how to use them wisely.

This course is perfect for the those seeking basic information on managing credit and debt. It is also a part of a larger learning series called Managing God’s Money, with courses on budgeting and money management, handing church and charity, and managing retirement and savings.

Learn more about the course Managing Credit Cards and Debit.
Learn more about Part One in this Series: Managing the Household Budget.

The Rev’d Canon Timothy Dombek is Canon for Stewardship and Planned Giving in the Diocese of Arizona. He is a popular speaker whose blog you can read here.