God and the Financial Crash

Some interesting and thought-provoking articles are popping up on the web regarding the current financial crisis and its impact upon or connection with Christian faith. Here are a few I recently found. Email me links to ones you have discovered and I will add them to this list:

Jesus and the Great Depression: Christianity paid a high price during the 1930's. What Will Happen Now? (Timothy Morgan at Christianity Today magazine discusses scholarly research concerning the impact of the Great Depression on Christian churches, including which kind of churches grew as a result of that crisis and which did not.)

Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mess (David van Biema at Time magazine thinks unbalanced extremes in prosperity teachings may have led some gullible Chrisitans to think God was giving them the chance to buy homes they could not afford.)

In Crisis, Wall Street Turns to Prayer (Tony Carnes at Christianity Today magazine details how the crisis is driving many in the financial sector to their knees. Let's pray this sparks revival...!)

The Church in Times of Economic Crisis

In his very interesting article on Christianity Today's website entitled, "Jesus and the Great Depression," Timothy Morgan cites research into the impact that severe economic crisis in the 1930's had upon Christian churches. Here are a couple of key quotes,

The depression had a devastating effect on the Churches as well as on the nation. In the optimistic flush of the ‘20’s many congregations had built new edifices far too large and expensive. When the depression hit, they found themselves unable to pay. Most carried their huge debts; a few rejected their obligation, thus bringing shame on the Christian Church.

...

While the larger Protestant denominations were busy with their reappraisal and their ministering to the spiritual needs of the nation, there was one segment of Protestantism that profited greatly by the depression. This was the group of Churches usually called "sects." They stressed the radical, emotional conversion of the sinner and the new life lived in all holiness. They stressed the presence of the operation of God’s Holy Spirit and the rebirth through him; thus, they were called Pentecostals. Some of them spoke with strange, unintelligible utterances, most practiced faith healing, and all advocated a rigorous moral life. Among these were such groups as the Nazarenes, the Assemblies of God, and the Holiness or Pentecostal Churches.

...

Though the Protestant Churches did not experience a large increase in membership, except for the extreme sectarian groups, they too went through a profound and invaluable experience as a result of the depression. For too long they had preached and taught a rather shallow message which was a watering down of the full insights of the gospel. No age perfectly comprehends God’s message of judgment and redemption, but some ages become so smug in their interpretation of that message that they fail to stand under it. They often pick that side of it which justifies their own wellbeing and earthly possessions.

Though liberal theology and the social gospel contained many valuable elements necessary for their age, they also played into the hands of the age by their emphasis. People of the ‘20’s were convinced that Christianity meant literally following the Golden Rule -- doing to others as one would wish to be treated; that it stood for the gradual building of the Kingdom on earth by men of good will if only men would exert enough good will; and that through friendliness and kindness that Kingdom was slowly being built in America.

Suddenly the Protestant Churches were confronted with the stark reality of the failure of their dreams. Under all the supposed goodness and friendliness of the prosperous ‘20’s were to be found greed and pride. Man suddenly was shown to be no higher on the moral scale, no less selfish than his medieval brethren. In place of a new stage in the Kingdom of God men had arrived at a shattered economy. The consequence was a new look at some old Protestant doctrines that had been largely ignored -- sin, faith, and justification were once more relevant.

Morgan asks his readers to email him their personal stories of walking out their faith in the midst of the Great Depression and has promised to post some of them along with his article. That should make for interesting and inspiring reading.

My own maternal grandparents came to a personal faith in Jesus through a tent revival held by a Pentecostal evangelist in the rural county where they lived. Grandpa never tired of telling how God supernaturally met their needs in answer to fervant, believing prayer. What the Lord did then, He will do today!