Please Welcome Bible Money Matter’s Newest Contributor

I‘ve been running Bible Money Matters for almost a year and a half now.  It’s been a labor of love, and during that time I’ve tried to write at least 5 quality posts every week.  Writing that much can get exhausting over time.

This year i decided that I may want to bring some contributors on board to help give us a fresh perspective on things, and to also give me a break from writing quite so much.  The only problem is that whoever I allowed to write for the site had to be able to write quality content, and at the same time hold a lot of the same values that I do.  Finding someone that fit the bill was no small task!  A few months ago I brought on board a great writer and person to write devotionals for the site on Sundays, Jason Mitchener. He’s done a great job, and we look forward to more great devotional posts from him in the coming weeks.

This past week I asked another great writer to come on board to write some more biblically based personal finance content. Thankfully he agreed to give it a shot!

Our New Contributor

Craig Ford was born and raised in the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG).  For ten years he lived in PNG as his family continued doing missionary work.  At age ten, Craig’s family moved to Canada, his country of citizenship.  After nine years of living in Canada, Craig did school work at several institutions in the United States (Rochester College, York College, Abilene Christian College, and Harding University Graduate School of Religion).  During this time he earned an AA, BA, and an Masters of Divinity degree, all in the field of Biblical Studies.

Over the last ten years Craig has worked in several ministry-related positions, including youth ministry, pulpit preaching ministry and missionary work.  Craig is married to a wonderful woman originally from Cheyenne, Wyoming.  They have three young children, all of whom carry dual citizenship between Canada and the United States.  In 2006, the Ford family moved to Alotau, PNG to begin working towards preaching the good news to those in need of the gospel message.

Craig says,

“living in New Guinea made me keenly sensitive to issues related to Christians and money management.  Anyone who has lived in a third world country knows the importance of developing a theology of wealth and a theology of giving.  This helps you function in the midst of severe poverty.  So I have spent some personal time over the last few years studying, questioning, exploring, and even writing on topics related to Christians and money.”

(The average annual income in New Guinea is $745 USD per year.)  Craig decided to start blogging about Christians and Money.  Within the last couple of months he launched a blog called Money Help For Christians. (You can subscribe to his RSS feed here.)

Through the blog Craig hopes to :

1. Present financial teachings from a Biblical perspective.
2. Publish daily posts on topics that impact all aspects of personal finances.  This includes practical tips for saving, earning, giving, and managing your money.
3. Take a behind the scenes look at our finances – the motivations, impulses, and the spiritual implications of our financial decisions.  All of these components will help us honor God with our finances.

In terms of his view of the relationship between money and Christianity, Craig highlights that Jesus taught a lot about money.  Some say it was his second most discussed topic, second only to the Kingdom of God/Heaven.  Jesus taught about money because he knows we are always learning.  Our view of money can either be taught in a way that will honor God, or it will be caught from the popular views of the surrounding culture.  Jesus preferred to teach how God wants us to handle money because where there is not teaching money can so easily become our Master (Mt. 6:24).

In a similar way, Paul identifies two options for Christians: (1) be transformed, or (2) be conformed (Rom. 12:2).  If we are not taught about Christian finances, our knowledge and practice will naturally conform.  If, however, we study God’s teachings about money we have the opportunity to transform ourselves and our culture for the Glory of God.

Please take a moment and welcome Craig to the site in the comments! Stay tuned as his first regular post will be going live tomorrow morning!  I’ve had a preview and it’s very good!  (If you want to check out Craig’s previous posts, click here)