Economics in Babylon

A framework for flourishing in exile

By Jamé Bolds

During a confidential, phone-free pastors meeting, my colleague Dr. Charlie Self and I listened as they openly shared the pressures and stresses of their lives. As we listened, Dr. Self stated, “Every pastor has two burdens: the emotional weight of soul care and church economic sustainability. Regardless of church size, both are real, and without economics there is no attention to soul care.”

The silence was deafening, as was the collective sigh.

Pastoring is hard on a good day. Economics is confusing on a good day. Pastoring economics is hard and confusing every day.

Take a step back and think about the economics of pastoral life. Pastors rely on individual giving to fund the church and their personal salary set by non-pastors sitting on a board.

And those individuals give to the church for one reason: maturity.

Only mature Christians regularly tithe, and in 2025 only 17% of American Christians stated they consistently tithe (give 10% of their income).¹

Without an economic theology there is limited vision beyond you.

ECONOMIC THEOLOGY AS MINISTRY VISION

At the Pathmakers Foundation, we regularly encounter confusion around the term “economics.” Let’s define what we’re talking about. While there are always exceptions, leadership culture often collapses accounting, finance, economics and resources (my personal favorite) into a nebulous bucket labeled “money.”

These terms do not have the same meaning!

Accounting is the language of business (the recording of money), finance is the growth of money (the allocation of money) and economics is the study of scarcity (the system of money).

Each term asks and answers very different questions:

Accounting asks, “Where is the money?” Finance asks, “What to do with the money?” Economics asks, “What’s the system of money?”

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED

When economists use the word “resources,” they are not referring to money but to factors of production, complex categories for land, labor, capital and innovation (entrepreneurship). Economist Alfred Marshall makes the classical argument that production is the result of the joint action of all factors or interdependence; no single factor creates output alone.² In other words, it’s not about cash. It’s about all the interdependent factors that create sustainability. 

Here’s the insight set: Your theology and your economics have an interdependent relationship with each other. Your church is full of resources. Think about all the people, ideas, property and money that exist in your church. All of these are interrelated factors, and how we leverage them to reach our community must be thought through in a theological, biblical and God-honoring way.

Economic theology is the biblical-theological lens through which we can see the form and function of everything God has given to us.

Let’s unpack the academic discipline of economic theology and put it on the kitchen table.

ECONOMICS AS THEOLOGY

Economic theology is a study of how biblical and theological principles reveal themselves in economic realities. It creates a framework to think clearly and morally about a system of money that then helps us understand where that money goes and how you count it.

Economic theology is not just theoretical. It’s the thinking that leads to daily practices that in turn fulfill the vision God is giving you as you pastor your community.

Let’s be clear, there is no mission without money. A God-sized vision without financial fuel is still just an idea, not a practice. Simply put, economic theology is understanding and practicing a God-honoring money system in real time.

Forming a personal economic theology fuels vision beyond us.

JEREMIAH’S ECONOMIC THEOLOGY

We love the passage, Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” It reassures us that God is with us and will lead us.

Through grace, God has a plan.

However, what’s often missed is that before verse 11, there’s verse 4. The economic reality is that like the ancient Israelites, we’re in exile. God has a plan, yes, but it flourishes in exile. That’s where we do ministry.

We’re called not only to individual salvation, but to the salvation of our neighborhoods, cities and nation. This salvation is corporate, not merely personal. Corporate salvation means that through our personal salvation, God has the ability to radically redeem families, neighborhoods, cities and, yes, even nations. God provides judgment for nations, and therefore we are agents of salvation for nations.³ You don’t simply pastor a church, you pastor a ZIP code. How you approach economics is core to that mission.

Corporate salvation applies to economic systems, as well, that need to be redeemed and brought into alignment with the gospel that benefits others. It’s a tough concept, but this clearly is the theology of Jeremiah 29. Even in exile, God says: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have children. … Increase in number there; do not decrease.”

Exile is a place with a different language, different food, a different culture and even a different system of commerce and economics. And it’s here where God asks us to flourish. In exile.

Jeremiah 29 is a concrete economic theology framework admonishing us to increase rather than decrease.

Jeremiah 29:7 is the capstone: “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

The Hebrew word “peace” is shalom, a Hebrew word picture for all things being complete or whole.⁴ Jeremiah wants us to see that in the middle of pagan Babylon, we are the people of God who are called to overcome the corrupt economic systems and create wholeness and flourishing. God asks exiles to transform Babylon: to build, invest and seek the welfare of others. Exiles flourish.

Jeremiah’s community-based economic theology fuels vision beyond us.

THREE FUNDAMENTALS OF ECONOMIC THEOLOGY

Pastors don’t need to be accountants or finance experts. But since they live in the world of ideas, pastors can grasp economic ways of thinking. Jeremiah’s economic theology is built on three principles. By understanding them, pastors can steward church finances wisely, empower their people and foster long-term community flourishing.

Community engagement. God has called his people to invest in their community. To invest in our community, we must understand our investments of time, money, skills, property and all the factors of production.

Long-term thinking. As exiles, we are encouraged to plan beyond ourselves by securing property, thinking through our production (gardens), creating opportunity for our children and creating the infrastructure so they can flourish.

Integration of economics and faith. We partner with God in the flourishing of our communities by praying for, serving and loving the “Babylons” in which He has placed us.

Our personal economic theology fuels vision beyond us so others flourish.

CONSTRUCTING AN ECONOMIC THEOLOGY

Conduct a resource audit. Economists allocate resources, and so can pastors. Start by identifying the finances, volunteers, time, where your people work and what problems you may have in the community. Think it through in great detail. Make lists of lists.

Think like an economist. Define the interdependent economic principles relevant to your ministry. What are your factors of production (land, labor, capital and innovation) that can lead to the flourishing of your community?

Identify the one thing. What is the one thing in your local community that your church is uniquely qualified to network, and yes, has the “resources” to make an impact.

Alignment. Start thinking about your classical church ministries of Sunday morning, small groups, community outreach and initiatives in a way that moves your community toward flourishing.

Encouragement. Emphasize Jeremiah’s multigenerational vision. What are the small strategic steps that can compound over a long period of time for a long-term impact and vision in your community?

Stay encouraged, be focused, pray like your life depends on it, grow in your economic theology and remember God has a plan for you and God will give you a hope for the future!

Jamé Bolds is a Ph.D. candidate (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa), an economic theologian and CEO of the Pathmakers Foundation (pathmakersfnd.org), a venture philanthropic​ foundation that discovers, funds and walks with leaders in strategic and marginalized communities. As lead pastor of Victory Church (Yorktown, Virginia), he led a five-year, $4.5 million revitalization and developed a self-funded economic model for “a church, in a park, in a city” not reliant on Sunday morning offerings. He is the co-author of Life in 5D: A Vision for Discipleship and a member of the Society of Pentecostal Studies and the American Economic Association.