Why Church Mortgages Are Wrong

The Conquering Truth

Many churches have mortgages or are seriously considering getting one. Sadly, it is shocking how many Christians (and particularly, pastors) do not believe the Bible when it says, “The borrower is a slave to the lender”. We like to make rationalizations and say that slavery has been abolished, and that it’s just a financial obligation that can be ended at any time, but those are just lies. The warning about slavery IS a warning about the financial obligation. Also, Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrows and does not repay” and we should understand exactly what this says about the obligation that debt puts upon us. And while we published an episode on debt and slavery earlier this year, in this episode we want to focus specifically on churches and why the Bible teaches that it is a sin for the church to become a slave.
In this episode, we discuss how a local church body going into debt teaches a false gospel. God is the church’s husband and like any good husband, he does not fail to meet the needs of his beloved. Additionally, the gospel is the proclamation of how God bought the church out of slavery and into the freedom of his covenant and household; what could be more rebellious than the wife he purchased returning to her slavery because her husband will not give her what she claims she needs? We also spend some time discussing how a church should think about their time and resources and how the lure of a mortgage tempts them to focus on the wrong things. Lastly, we discuss what a church with a mortgage should do and what repentance might look like. Our prayer is that the church would take these issues seriously. The actions of the church are always moral actions and should depict the heart of a loving bride who trusts fully in her beloved. Please join us as we discuss this important issue.
Previous episode on debt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36WZF8ZZFKY
Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson