Letter to the Strib
I sent the following letter to the Star-Tribune today in response to several articles (including this one) they have published recently about a Brooklyn Park church. Update: It was published on Tuesday, 2/13.
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Let’s see here. Jesus did his ministry as a homeless man. He warned about the dangers of wealth, stating that the pursuit of money and God were incompatible. His harshest criticism was for religious leaders who got wealthy at their people’s expense. He sometimes told his rich followers to give away all their possessions and emphasized the value of service and self-sacrifice.
Mac Hammond, on the other hand, has multiple homes and extensive use of his own jet. He wears fine clothes because, “If I look decent, I preach better.” He owns a Porsche, which he calls a “ministry tool.” His preaching emphasizes the promise of material wealth. Forgive me if I miss the connection between these two.
Do churches need to be smart about their use of money? Of course. But the conspicuous consumption modeled by Hammond and his church are treated with ambivalence at best in scripture. The wealthy in the early church sold their goods and shared them. They did not buy pricey sports cars. To me, Hammond’s message sounds more like the gospel of American prosperity than God’s kingdom. We need look no further for the reason so many people view the church as a site of hypocrisy and greed.