The Jubilee Centre has published a new course on what the Bible has to say about how individuals and the church can manage their money today.

The 'Bible and Money' course is designed to help Christians develop a biblical understanding of money and how it should be used, and comes amid a row over politicians’ expenses.

The course explores such issues as the desire to acquire material possessions, money and stewardship, church borrowing, and the biblical exhortation to accumulate treasure in heaven.

It also considers grey areas such as whether individuals should default on debt payments to tithe and whether churches should accept funds from public lotteries.

The eight part course has been put together by senior international economist Dr Paul Mills. Speaking in a strictly personal capacity at a recent Jubilee Centre conference, he suggested that Christians should take a lead in using money to build relationships within extended families and their communities.

The Jubilee Centre exists to research Christian-based alternatives to socialism and capitalism and what the Bible has to say about public policy.

Dr Mills has worked at the UK Treasury and the UK Debt Management Office. He currently works for the IMF, where his interests include global financial stability, the US financial system, innovative risk transfer, climate change and financial markets, and Islamic finance.


On the web:
The course is freely downloadable from the Jubilee Centre website at www.jubilee-centre.org