“Will Our Children Be Stewards?” was a historic change of course for the national stewardship office in which children from ages 4 to 9, as well as several teens and young adults, joined with adults to discuss what the church could offer to combat today’s consumptive-consumer lifestyle.

Speeches from experienced financial advisers, family-life experts, consumer-alert advocates and stewardship leaders from other denominations left a clear message: Churches provide little support to help beleaguered parents counteract a culture in which consumer advertising reinforces a message to children that says, “It’s all about me.”

 “Our country now faces a crisis because children are growing up without balanced financial values or a well-thought approach to how they use money,” said Nathan Dungan, president of Share Save Spend, an organization that promotes wise financial habits, and author of Prodigal Sons & Material Girls: How Not to be Your Child’s ATM.

He said young people receive a lot of advice on issues such as sex, dating, drugs, alcohol and careers, but they get very little help on how to deal with money. Parents are poorly equipped to talk about money management because few have developed their own values and financial philosophy, Dungan said.

“Society is working overtime to addict our children to spending. What is leading our moral values today? Consumerism, greed and materialism.”

The Mall experiment

Participants had a personal encounter in a “living laboratory” of consumerism, the Mall of America. The largest enclosed retail and family entertainment complex in the United States, it contains more than 520 specialty stores, four department stores and Camp Snoopy, a seven-acre enclosed theme park with 30 rides and attractions.

“We’re not against the mall or mall shopping,” the church’s missioner for stewardship, Terry Parsons, stressed before everyone boarded buses for the mall. “But we need to be sensitive to what we hear, see and smell. Who and what is it that is shaping our financial habits?”

One after another, speakers stressed the concept of sharing as an equal component to saving and spending and said the church had abdicated its role as a support to parents.

Eugene Roehlkepartain, director of family life and congregational initiatives for the Minneapolis-based Search Institute and author of Growing Up Generous: Engaging Youth in Giving and Serving, said churches must identify positive experiences, relationships and opportunities that all young people need in their lives to help them make healthy choices.

He encouraged an “asset-building approach” in which families, neighborhoods and faith communities unite around a shared vision that builds strength in the lives of young people and their families.

Avoiding the issue

The Search Institute concluded several broad obstacles in congregations impede financial giving by youth, he said. “There is discomfort in talking about money; there is often a loss of tradition to motivate giving; there is frequently an exclusive focus on institutional needs, such as roof repairs; there are financial anxieties of clergy and youth leaders; and often there is a belief that youth shouldn’t be expected to give.

“Young people can find enjoyment and fulfillment through acts of giving and serving if given the opportunity,” he said. “When they are personally invited to participate, they possess self-confidence and a belief in their own ability to make a difference.” Parsons said that the response from participants on the final day clearly showed they wanted and needed resources for congregations.

“Primarily, they say they need a solid curriculum about consumerism and debt, one that provides a theological perspective. They want a resource for clergy to help them talk to children about money matters. They want resources for teens, including pledge cards and envelopes. “There is a popular, but wrongly held, perception that you need to be a college grad or over the age of 21 to pledge to the church,” she said.

The overriding concern of her office is how to support families better, she said. “We’ve got to think much more about family ministry – how we nurture and support healthy families.”