Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Philippians All who are called by God to the ministry of the gospel solemnly commit to a life of joyful obedience and selfless service in order to glorify God and enrich his people.
I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. Believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism… Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. James Sign the Code. We invite your church leadership to also consider the NAE Code of Ethics for Congregations and Their Leadership Teams developed to equip church leaders to make wise decisions.
Code of Ethics for Pastors. With a desire for pastors to make sound ethical decisions and to flourish, the National Association of Evangelicals developed the NAE Code of Ethics for Pastors designed to provide a consistent code of ethics that crosses denominational lines. Philippians All who are called by God to the ministry of the gospel solemnly commit to a life of joyful obedience and selfless service in order to glorify God and enrich his people.
Therefore, a minister will: Pursue Integrity I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. Exalt Christ, not self.
Be honest, not exaggerating or overpromising; peace-loving, not contentious; patient, not volatile; diligent, not slothful. Avoid and, when necessary, report conflicts of interest and seek counsel. Speak the truth in love. Give due credit when using the words or ideas of others.
Effective pastors and church leaders learn to speak about money more frequently, frankly, and faithfully. Ann Michel is co-author with Lovett H. Weems, Jr. Ann A. Michel has served on the staff of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership since early Currently, she works as one of the co-editors of Leading Ideas e-newsletter.
She also teaches at Wesley Theological Seminary in the areas of stewardship and leadership. She is the co-author with Lovett H. Weems Jr. Generosity, Stewardship, and Abundance. Lovett H. Generosity, Stewardship, and Abundance: A Transformational Guide to Church Finance provides practical advice to pastors and church leaders tasked with funding ministry and inspiring others toward responsible stewardship and greater generosity. Learn more now.
Learn more and order now. This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership. Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff writes that churches can promote financial transparency and enhance generosity by addressing the often-taboo subject of money more openly and faithfully. She offers seven practical strategies to improve the tone of your conversation around money and giving.
Focus on the spiritual significance of money. Share stories. Lead with generosity, rather than stewardship. Stay positive. He was also based in a "fleabag office" in a rough part of town. Consequently, he mostly attracted troubled characters with nowhere else to go. It was during these sessions that Ole started to note a common thread. When people were on the verge of homelessness in the heart of the Bible belt, a surprising number offered the last of their cash to televangelists who promised them financial salvation.
Ole, who always had a have-a-go approach to problem-solving, felt an urge to step in. First, he tried approaching the ministries on behalf of the penniless donors, thinking he could explain the circumstances and get the money refunded. However, like Larry, he found no-one willing to talk. So he took it to a Christian broadcasting association - but it didn't want to get involved.
Then he approached local district attorneys, who explained that many preachers were protected by the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion and free speech , so there was nothing they could do. So he turned back to the media, this time major networks and publications, which said investigations would be too time-consuming.
Ole was faced with a multibillion-dollar industry built, as he saw it, on exploiting the poor - and it was completely untouchable. And this is how a community church became an investigations office. The Trinity Foundation felt compelled to tackle the prosperity preachers because no-one else would. It is hard to imagine brawls at the foundation these days. Most of its members are at retirement age - Ole himself is 80, and in failing health - and the operation has moved from its "fleabag" office to two adjacent houses in a sleepy part of east Dallas.
On one side is the gentrifying Junius Heights neighbourhood, on the other rows of slightly run-down bungalows. Every day there is an early-morning Bible study session, a group dinner at 5pm, and more theology in the evening, including prayers with guitar-led hymns. The mixed bunch of devotees now includes a Mexican economist and a veteran of Desert Storm.
Their semi-communal way of living has led to allegations that they are a cult, but he dismisses this as nonsense. Ole's dogged work has steered the foundation into an unusual niche, forming a bridge between the Christian world and the media.
Though journalists originally pushed him away, they later found his foundation could provide the springboard for their investigations. Gradually it morphed into a watchdog, maintaining detailed files on wealthy evangelists. Over the years, they have gained a reputation for their gung-ho approach - diving into dumpsters outside ministry offices, in search of potentially incriminating paperwork, and going undercover.
Collaborating with ABC News in the early s, Ole posed as a small-scale pastor trying to learn how big-money ministries work. Accompanied by a producer with hidden cameras, he went to a mailing company working for televangelist Robert Tilton and was told how posting gimmicky gifts to potential donors had boosted returns.
It was a well-known technique - sending things such as "vial of holy water" or even dollar bills to prompt people to send a financial gift back - but it was rare to hear someone admitting it. When the TV reports aired on Diane Sawyer's Primetime Live show in , Tilton denied wrongdoing and attempted to sue the network - but he failed and his TV shows were eventually cancelled.
Today, the Tilton ministry is still active but on a much smaller scale. A couple of years later, the Federal Communications Commission reportedly came close to introducing a "truth-in-advertising" clause for religious solicitations.
This would have meant that any claims of boosting finances or curing disease would have to be verifiable, and Ole took various trips to Washington to lobby for it. Ultimately the idea was dropped, which Ole puts down to the fact that the Republicans won the House of Representatives in , with the help of votes from the religious right.
He doesn't think much will ever change, but asked if this makes him frustrated or angry, he laughs. That is all there is in this world, injustice. Pete Evans - a bespectacled believer with a gentle, apologetic manner - is now the foundation's lead investigator. One of his specialities is tracking the movements of private jets, aiming to discover when pastors are using them recreationally, instead of for church business.
Pete took Larry's first phone call. He remembers being moved by it, and starting a crowdfunding page for him. Pete says that just over a decade ago there was great excitement within the foundation, when the US Senate's Finance Committee began to question whether evangelists were taking advantage of their tax-exempt status to break Internal Revenue Service IRS guidelines. While other tax-exempt organisations - notably charities - must at least fill in a basic form, known as the , churches don't have to.
This means they are not required to detail their top employees' earnings or list how much is spent on philanthropic projects. Their inner workings can be entirely unknown.
But in the Senate committee appeared to think that some ministries were abusing this privilege and violating an IRS rule that church earnings may not "unreasonably benefit" an individual.
The Trinity Foundation shared all its research with the committee, and attended meetings with its officials. All six denied wrongdoing. Four failed to co-operate satisfactorily, according to the committee White, Copeland, Dollar and Long. Larry had donated to three of them. Yet by , the investigation had lost steam. Senator Grassley drew no specific conclusions. Instead he asked an evangelical group - the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability ECFA - to study ways to spur "self-reform" among ministries.
He believes the economic crash played a part; the financial world suddenly had much bigger issues to deal with. After years of hanging on, it felt like they just punted the ball. In , it told Senator Grassley that filing full tax returns would be an "intrusion on the most intimate recesses of church administration". The Senate committee has shown no sign of taking up the subject again, and no government agency has taken a strong interest in it.
Paid-for television channels also fall outside the remit of the national regulator, the Federal Communications Commission - unlike in the UK, where Ofcom might step in. But, although it is rare, sometimes a pastor does come within the IRS's sights. In , one of Todd Coontz's neighbours called a local TV channel to complain that he was taking up too many spaces in the car park outside his luxury South Carolina apartment block.
And that's when we got interested. The channel got in touch with the Trinity Foundation, which provided background on Coontz and the prosperity gospel. The foundation also shared recordings of his TV appearances - it keeps an archive of televangelist broadcasts, taking notes on the programmes to monitor new techniques.
They might have medical condition or be unemployed. When WSOC-TV's report on Coontz aired, it went far beyond the parking dispute, detailing his personal wealth and casting doubt on the legitimacy of his fundraising tactics.
Todd Coontz is not in the same league as some of the other prosperity preachers. He does not have a megachurch, a private airfield or even his own jet.
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