Wallace SC&W Financial Help for People               Can you feel the financial pressure that people are experiencing?  There is tension, stress, uncertainty, and fear as people try to make “ends meet.”  Money and how it is handled is a fundamental issue of stewardship.  Jesus talked about it constantly.  So what is your church doing to help people with this critical area of their life?  If you are not doing anything presently what might you do?  In congregations I have served we put together programs to help with budgeting, credit, end of life issues (wills, trust funds, etc.), investments, insurance, and more.  We utilized the resources of Consumer Credit Counseling, a non-profit agency (http://www.cccsstl.org/default.asp ), local funeral home personnel, our own members who were lawyers and investment consultants, as well as our staff to provide these seminars.  Many people need to be taught some financial basics in order to help people build a firm financial foundation. Beyond that they might need some sort of ongoing support or accountability process to help them “turn the corner”.  There are also many of us needing guidance in the area of wills, trusts and investments. Numerous churches have the resources internally to provide tremendous help in this area. If you don’t have those resources, or want an outside “expert”, another way to go is to purchase a program.  Below are a couple programs that are being used by churches to help in this area. While I am not promoting these resources as the best ones to use they are a place to start looking. Finances are crippling many individuals, tearing families apart and creating heartache for many.  The church needs to be on the front lines offering hope and help.  What will you do to step into the dark pit of financial issues that many are fighting?     Crown Financial Ministries (http://www.crown.org ) is a non-profit organization focused on providing teaching, radio programs, resources and more to help people with the financial area of their lives.  There are small group studies, individual resources, resources for business persons and more on their website.   Dave Ramsey’s financial peace university is a 13 week DVD program (hour video and hour of discussion) for $300/church and $99/household participating.  Find out more at: http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/church                                                                                                                                       October 1, 2008