Come Back John Wesley -- Financially Speaking

Wood, a professor at Gordon College in Wenham, shares a philosophy from John Wesley - founder of the Methodist movement in the 18th century - that some might find contradictory, particularly from a preacher: "Earn a little. Spend a little. Give a lot. Save a lot."

His update on Wesley's "The Danger of Increasing Riches" sermon, which Wood first presented to an adult Sunday school class at the West Congregational Church of Peabody, is "a catchy way to promote discussion" about personal finances and the role it plays in life," he said.

Presentations by Wood in Nashua, Portland, Maine, and on the college's Wenham campus have sparked a good amount of discussion, according to Jen Thorburn, 27, who graduated from Gordon in 2004 and scheduled the events for the college's alumni office.

With so much focus on the economy, it seemed like a good time for a presentation on personal finance, Thorburn said.

"We saw it affecting our constituency," she said. "It hasn't led to as big a drop in enrollment as we'd thought, gratefully, but we still see it affecting people everywhere."

A teacher at Gordon College for 28 years and co-director of its Center for Nonprofit Organization Studies and Philanthropy, Wood had been playing around with general philosophies of personal finance for many years in discussion with students.

When he happened upon the Wesley quote three years ago, Wood said, he found it thought-provoking from the first line and its reference to making money.

"I went online and found the sermon, and read a little bit more of what he had to say," Wood said. "He was saying, 'Well, I gain all I can but try not to become greedy in the process.' In other words, 'I work, and earn money, and that's an OK thing.' Then when he said, 'I save all I can,' and I thought that can be a negative, too. But he was talking about being careful with the money he has. Sometimes we call it stewardship.

"My take is that the way to financial peace is this: Earn a little. Spend a little. Give a lot. Save a lot," Wood said. "These four steps, of course, often lead to a pretty simple lifestyle, but one that is free from anxiety."

The paradox of giving and saving a lot when one is earning and spending little is a deliberate part of Wesley's intention to promote discussion, he said, noting that working for an income, having careful stewardship of possessions, and sharing within one's community are repeated throughout the Bible.

"Sometimes, we save so that we can give," Wood said. "The pastor of our church once said in a sermon, 'We should hold onto our possessions, loosely.' I thought that was pretty good."

Nashua resident Brian Erickson, 48, a 1982 graduate of Gordon, went to one of the alumni events in February in part because Wood had been his adviser at the school.

"It's a good discussion," Erickson said. "He asked some questions that were thought-provoking, and made you think of what's important and not important, and, from a biblical perspective, what we should be doing with our money, or not doing with our money. Things that, especially now, are pretty important."

Erika Diaz, 21, a junior communications major, attended one of the speeches because she felt it would be a good thing for her to hear at this time in her life.

"I'm at a place where I'm ready to take my finances into my own hands," Diaz said. "I've been taught a Christian perspective of handling finances, but the Christian perspective isn't always clear on how we should handle our finances. So, the purpose of me going was to get another voice into what my financial future could and should look like."

When it comes to personal finance, the people affiliated with Gordon College said, there are two stereotypes about Christians that exist on opposite ends of the spectrum: those who feel guilty about wealth, and those who believe that if they pray hard enough, God will help them to achieve financial success, as embodied by some high-profile televangelist churches. They also said that most Christians - like everyone else - fall somewhere in the middle.

Times like these lead many to ask the questions that people should be asking more frequently, Erickson said, using the example of a hard-working father who loses a job in a layoff.

"If your heart and soul is in your job and that's where you get your self-worth, it gets tanked when some guy far away writes with a pen that this is closing," Erickson said.

" 'Work a little' is not about working 20 hours a week. You don't want to work so much that you never get to see your family grow up. The people who do that say, 'I'm doing this for my family.' They don't attend what they're supposed to attend, the games and the plays. They're absentee fathers, is really what it is."