Theology of Abundance versus Theology of Scarcity

I've had this idea floating around in my head for weeks now.

I'm thinking about this idea that God is a God who gives richly, his gifts are abundant....more than we could ever ask or imagine.

However, we as people often get stuck in a scaricity mentality. Either we think we must hoard what we have or we start to believe in a world of competition rather than abundance.

Let me throw out an example. My home church.

My home church White's Chapel UMC in Southlake Texas is a large, hometown congregation. A few years ago another large church planted in town. I'm sure at the time many people were worried that the new church would "steal" all of our members.

But with a couple of years under out belts now--this has not happened at all. Both churches....I believe...have grown. Each have several thousand members.

God is a God of abundance. When we think there's a limited pool to draw from--God shows he si God of the whole universe, not just our plot of people.

With a theology of scarcity there is a belief that there is a finite level of resources and that if someone else gets some of those resources, than it means I have less. Everything is always a zero-sum game. This creates attitudes which allow us to justify accumulation and acquisition as a means of ensuring that we have enough. It also has led to believe that God rewards us for faith by blessing us with wealth and things.


In the economy of God everyone has all that they need, there is enough always to go around.

It is a theology of Abundance, which believes that God has given us all that we need. We are called to share all that we have in order to ensure that all have a share in God's Blessings. In the theology of the abundance we are called to recognize our unique blessings from God and find ways to give back that call us in to relationship with our brothers and sisters. In Matthew 25 we are told that whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do to me. It is clear that Christ calls us to a radical way of relating to the world through our time talents and treasures. We are clearly called to go beyond the law to a deeper sense of giving.

When we know that God gives richly, we want to give richly to others as well.
It's about trusting that when we give God will provide for us in big, more than sufficient type of ways.

look up the concept: theology of abundance versus theology of scarcity.
I'm not sure I've done it great justice here.


But I know I'm constantly finding myself falling into a theology of scarcity that's allowing me to see other ministries, people, charities as competition--and I know that's problematic!