A Church in Debt Denies the Holiness of God 

Where does the money come from when a church gets a loan “to do God’s work”? The money ultimately comes from the world—from unbelievers. True Christians give to the Lord’s work; true believers will not enslave the church to themselves through debt. But if the church asks the world to provide funding for the buildings that she “needs” to worship God and to teach His Word, then she is denying the holiness of God.  

Has God ever gone to an unbeliever and begged for money so that His work can be done? The apostle John writes about “brethren” that the church sent out to preach the gospel. He says about them:  

“Because that for His name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles” (3 John 7).  

To maintain the integrity of His Name, Christian leaders today should trust God and His people alone to supply their needs. A church’s understanding of God’s holiness must be very faint if she has no problem begging the world for loans. 

 
Church Debts are Contrary to the Gospel 

If we look into the Old Testament, the matter of church debt does not look any better. The Old Testament teaches that the borrower becomes a slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:21). Looking at debt from this viewpoint, burdening the church with debt is totally contrary to the gospel. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (5:1). Anyone who preaches a “gospel” of debt, and how it supposedly is God’s will to do His work with debt, preaches falsely. Debt is not freedom; it is bondage! Promoting bondage in the church is a severe matter. 

 
Servitude to Another Master 

The most damaging aspect of church debt is the spiritual bondage (servanthood) that comes with the debt. Proverb 22:7 states: “The borrower is servant to the lender.” Debt puts any person, any church, into bondage. Some might say: “We can handle the monthly payments easily, so what’s wrong?” In addition to the obvious obligation to service the debt, a church also takes on a spiritual bondage. We started out to serve Christ, and Christ alone; now suddenly we have to also serve another master. We might not be aware of the fact that we now have two masters, we might play it down, we might even deny it, but the Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35): “The borrower is servant to the lender.” By signing a mortgage contract, the church has agreed to be servant to another master. The ministry of the church is now divided between two masters: the bank and Christ. 

The church’s finances become divided. The interest that is paid on a thirty-year loan accumulates over the years to about twice the amount that was originally borrowed. If $1 million has been borrowed, then about $2 million will be paid in interest. Two thirds of the total payments go to the lender, the new master. One third pays for the building project that the church believed the Lord wanted her to engage. Mortgage payments are so structured that at the beginning of a thirty-year loan, 95% to 98% of the monthly payment consists of the interest portion, and only 2% to 5% of the monthly payment pays off the debt. When the church goes into debt, she definitely is serving two masters. 

The church’s motives also become divided. Yes, the church wants new people to join the church, but why? Certainly there can be many good motives why a local church invites new people to join. But the church has now come under pressure to keep up the monthly mortgage payments. Because of that obligation, the single-mindedness of purpose and the purity of heart are gone. The church has to have new people join. There are always members moving away or joining other churches in town. A drop in attendance could mean financial difficulties. Therefore, attendance not only has to be kept up, but newcomers cannot be offended and thus driven away. (And since sound doctrine is always a dividing force, the tendency is also to compromise on doctrine.) The single-mindedness is lost because the people in the church have changed; the pureness of heart is lost because the situation has changed—the church now has to satisfy two masters. The monthly payments are very real. 

The church’s loyalty becomes divided. At one point in His ministry, Jesus had a steep drop in attendance. Jesus gave a message that His disciples did not like; the result was that most of His disciples left Him:  

“From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” (John 6:66-67). 

A church in debt cannot afford to lose attendance that drastically. If the truth will hurt church attendance, then the truth has to be held back. The monthly payments have to be met! The Lord Himself lost attendance, and there was nothing wrong with Him or His preaching. Why do churches think that over the next five, ten, twenty, or thirty years there will never be a drop in attendance? The danger of compromising the truth becomes very real. One cannot be loyal to Christ and at the same time not be loyal to the truth, because Jesus says, “I am the truth.” A church in debt becomes a church of divided loyalty. She tries to stay loyal to the truth, but she also has to meet her financial obligations and, therefore, will do all that is necessary to please the people, so that they will continue to attend and give. 

 
Conclusion

The apostle Paul states simply and plainly that we should not owe anything to anybody, but love. Yes, this is only one verse in the whole Bible. But once we begin looking at the implications of debt, we find an overwhelming support in God’s Word for this seemingly insignificant statement: “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another.”

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