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Financial Policies |
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 "What little money we have, we spend it on what counts. We don't waste money, we literally give it all away, everything that comes in!" |
While David tried to remain uninvolved in the
details of the administration of the movement, he made sure that Family supervisors
adhered to certain principles. He knew from experience that much of the revenue raised by
churches was spent on administrative expenses and building maintenance, rather than on
reaching non-Christians with the Gospel. He was determined that the Family would be
different. From the beginning, he instilled in his followers a love of frugality and
austerity, and a determination to see that as much money as possible was spent on
evangelistic and missionary-related expenses. He wrote: "If I were a religious racketeer, I could have become a rich man. I could have figured out some way to make this thing make money for me. But we have done the unheard-of, the ridiculous: We have as good as said, 'Disorganize, scatter, decentralize, be independent, everybody handle your own finances! Take care of yourselves! We don't want your money, unless you want to give us a little to help us to help you help the world by getting the message out, if out of your abundance you can spare some to help us.'" [112] "I don't care if I ever see money as long as I've got a place to lay my head and something to eat. I don't think you know anybody that cares less for money than I do, really, except that I'm a pinch-penny and I hate to see it wasted." [113] "What little money we have, we spend it on what counts. We don't live high on the hog. We don't waste money, we literally give it all away, everything that comes in! You know I don't live any better than you do; in fact, we live in the smallest quarters here! It's almost like living in a trailer, the bedrooms are so small!" [114] "I don't know of any other group that is operating as economically as we do. I don't know of any other group, no matter how small the denomination, that doesn't have churches, buildings, headquarters, offices, and a lot of excess administrative personnel." [115] "If we'd wanted to buy properties, we could have done it! But look at the money we would have robbed the missionaries of! We [The Family] don't own any property in the whole world, nothing! -- Not one piece of property anywhere in the world! "We don't waste money on buildings or buying properties. The Lord has helped us to spend every penny we get in for what is really necessary and really valuable, and most of all for Gospel literature and missionaries and souls won! "All the money we're saving by not having fancy offices and big buildings and extravagant churches means that almost all of our money is going into publishing the Gospel, preaching the Gospel, supporting missionaries and their literature!" [116] |
