I feel like mainstream Christianity missed a trick when it came to the financial crisis. Imagine the chord that might have been struck with the greater public had there been someone front and centre in visible televangelism ranting about keeping the lamps trim and how consumerism was out of control. Even without a soothsayer, if large tracts of Christian communities had emerged unscathed from the financial crisis, the claim to God inspired wisdom around matters of finance would have greater resonance in public discourse. However, a large cross-section of society, Christian and not, were touched by the financial crisis. You can bet there were a fair few financial traders who take a pew on Sunday who were caught out by the collapse.

Indeed, in the lead up to the current global financial woes, one of the more prominent themes in visible Christian discourse has been prosperity preaching. Now, I’m not against prosperity, but the problem is that the prosperity in prosperity preaching comes across predominantly as monetary.

Prosperity in a spiritual relationship surely bears its blessings spiritually first and foremost. Being spiritually blessed is its own reward and should surely be seen as separate and having no connection to financial means. In terms of what sustains a person, in a Christian dynamic it’s fitting that bread is the metaphor for what a person should be careful about focusing on in living day to day.

Mainstream Christian discourse could do better to make the distinction clearer. Financial means aren’t a necessary or promised part of the package of spiritual prosperity. Many communities through history have found ways to unite through times of material drought and maintain great spiritual prosperity despite the hardships suffered. Unfortunately the message that comes across in some Christian circles is that monetary ‘blessings’ are a fruit that proves spiritual prosperity. However, as the financial crisis showed, money doesn’t mean you’re spiritually prosperous, so it should follow that we should never see monetary means as evidence of spiritual prosperity, even if the person is a Christian.

In fact, if anything monetary means shouldn’t be seen as a blessing in reward for a strong walk with God, but a heavy responsibility to be exercised with wisdom to benefit those in need. Otherwise the temptation can be to acquire objects that exemplify spiritual prosperity through monetary blessing, even while fundamental spiritual aspects of a person’s life fall by the wayside. This approach typifies part of what brought us the financial crisis in the first place, the desire to exude success through acquisition, done quickly rather than thoughtfully.

If the Christian community can knuckle down and keep the lamps trim, a great foundation can be laid for future prosperity. Gains can be made with hard, humble work, rather than an ethic that falls in too easily with capitalistic mores that don’t lean far enough towards clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. Perhaps in lowering our monetary expectations for ourselves, we can learn to better share our abundance with those in need. This doesn’t need to be a straight transfer of money. It could be as simple as sacrificing potential earnings through time spent helping others to help themselves using our experience and expertise. It is this human to human contact which has the greatest chance of building spiritual prosperity, so much greater than writing a cheque.

Money is an evil we have made necessary, not a necessary spiritual tool gifted to us from God along with life since the time of Adam. There are enough of us whose parents did much to enrich our lives with a lot less than what many of the rich have done for the children we regularly see exemplifying excess and wayward behaviour in the media. This is not to say that being rich is bad for children, only that monetary means aren’t necessary for good children. Perhaps now is the time to double our efforts to extol a trimming of the lamps. Let others get excited over recoveries that may or may not eventuate. We can keep a constant ethic of conservative consumption, tied to spiritual prosperity, that people can take comfort in no matter what the financial conditions. What better way to prepare for any future financial storms?