The Grace of Giving, The Grace of Managing!

Not long ago the Gallup survey institute from the United States issued findings that were quite alarming. The results of his research stated that the level of public trust in churches and religious institutions was only around 36%. This is a very low level of confidence. The most trusted institutions are the military and small companies. Even the most trusted professions are not priests or religious professions, but nurses. 89% of the people of the United States put their trust in nurses because of their honesty, professionalism and morality in serving patients. The high level of trust in military institutions and in the nursing profession indicates a high level of accountability. Conversely, the low level of trust in church institutions and in religious institutions shows how low the public's evaluation of the accountability of religious institutions is. This is an alarming finding, and at the same time this is homework that we must complete.

Accountability is not directly related to work. Accountability is closely related to the performance of a person or an institution. Work without performance is activity without achievement. Work without performance is activity without direction and without responsibility. Performance means working with full commitment, integrity, love and responsibility for the good being served. When a mother feeds her children, she does not carry out her ministry activities carelessly. What matters is eating. Instead, the mother must provide the best service. Wholehearted and responsible service. The service is based on a strong love for his children. Therefore, his ministry is not aimed at self-gain. Not for his own satisfaction. Absolutely not. His service was done for the happiness of his children. The satisfaction and happiness of their children is the measure of the success of their ministry. So, it's not just work, as long as you're busy you don't get stuck. This is performance! Achievement work. Well, a person whose heart is filled with God's love will not work carelessly. Nor does it serve his own interests. Instead, he will work seriously, with all his heart, full of commitment and responsibility for the love of God.

Our Challenge

The challenge for churches and religious institutions today is to win back the trust of the people and society by working as well as possible by increasing very high moral accountability. This accountability is shown by encouraging church servants and religious institutions to show better performance that is felt by the people and society. Good performance means working hard, full of commitment, honesty and full responsibility for the good of himself, the good of the religious institution he serves and for the good of the people and society he serves. Good performance is not achieved by simply increasing the competence of the servants. Competence without strong morality is of no use. Good performance is a combination of increasing competence and improving moral and ethical quality in service.

Christian anthropology states that humans are ambiguous. On the one hand, man is the image of God who has the capacity to do good. On the other hand, humans are also human sins, sinful humans who, in their moral fragility, have the potential to deviate. Well, this realistic picture of humans shows that improving the moral and ethical quality of servants is not sufficiently based on the awareness of the servants who are indeed fragile. A person's moral and ethical qualities can only be realized if a transparent and accountable system is created. There are guidelines, but at the same time there are controls on action, on internal and external policies and decisions, and especially on the use of church and religious institution finances. Based on the Christian anthropology above, we are reminded that good humans will become corrupted in a bad system. Conversely, bad people are 'forced' to be better and more honest in a good, transparent and accountable system.

The Grace of Giving

Well, the book "The Grace of Giving" in your hand reminds us of two important things. First, this book reminds us that giving is the greatest gift that those who are 'rich' in heart have. They will be filled with gratitude and able to give because they feel abundance in any situation. On the other hand, those who are rich in wealth but poor in heart live full of complaints and screams because they always feel deprived. They are the real poor because they are unable to give anything. Of course, the ideal is if a person is rich in heart and rich in wealth. They will become true philanthropists. For them, wealth is a deposit that must be distributed to those in need.

The second important thing is that this book reminds churches and socio-religious institutions to manage and distribute gifts in a transparent and accountable manner. What God gives is not only the gift of giving, but also the gift of managing. Both are equally important. That is why considerations of our loyalty and love for God as well as moral-ethical and humanitarian considerations must be taken into account in managing people's finances. Churches and religious institutions that are run without carrying out moral-ethical principles are robbers in the robes of clergy. They are Dracula who suck the blood of people and society. Churches and accountable institutions view people's gifts as entrusted by God which are intended to be a blessing to others, especially to those who are in dire need. Seeing the results of Gallup's research above, it feels like the time has come for us to look for servants who serve in love, commitment and responsibility for others and for the glory of God.

Bandung 

29 June 2022