Everyone is asking the question: "What will we do with these upcoming generations who simply will not give money to the church as their parents did?" It comes with some serious hand wringing. From the tone, you'd think you were on the Titanic's bridge just after that meeting with the iceberg.

It's not an idle question, but my objection is that this seems to be the only question churches ask these days about money and younger people. It leads to rhetoric like "They won't give to institutions, but to causes" or "They are motivated when they see where their money goes." Such insights may help a church stay "mission focused" during a fundraising campaign, but they ignore the real issue, at least as I see it.

Many of the church's younger people are begging for a different relationship with money. That's the real issue. An entire generation, maybe two, are consumed by money and debt and consumerism. They need to see money in a new way, a biblical way; but, because the church is also bogged in ...