Who invented crowdfunding?

I always find it disappointing when people say to me that the bible isn’t relevant to modern people. As if the inner workings of the heart of men have somehow radically evolved across the centuries. 

Consider crowdfunding. It’s easy to believe it’s a modern invention. Sort of mankind’s evolution into good intentions. If you look up the history of crowdfunding, the internet will tell you it began with the British punk rock band, Marillion.  In 1997, the band asked their loyal fan base to help fund their next album, Anoraknophobia, by purchasing advance orders. In exchange, the fans who bought the album were mentioned by name in the liner notes. The crowdfunding campaign was hugely successful. The hearts of the fans were stirred and they willingly donated. The album exists today because of it.

Clever? Sure. Successful? Absolutely. Original?  Nope.

No offense to Marillion, God crowdfunded worship music first.

God beat Marillion to the crowdfunding game about 3500 years before the band members drew their first breaths. He did it in the exact same way. He stirred the hearts of his ‘fans,’ known as the Israelites and they willingly donated.

In the book of Exodus, the Israelites are rescued by God from their enslavement to the Egyptians. If you like stories filled with miraculous rescues and epic battle scenes, I highly recommend reading them. Spoiler alert, Egypt loses.

After being rescued, the Israelites get to start a new life in their own country, and it’s here that God sends his servant, Moses, to start crowdfunding to build a church.

Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Take from among you a contribution to the Lord; whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze, and blue, purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goats’ hair and rams’ skins dyed red, and porpoise skins, and acacia wood, and oil for lighting, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and setting stones for the ephod and for the^]breast piece.”  Exodus 35:4-9

God asked for the materials to make a church, and the people gave.

I love how Moses says that this crowdfunding campaign to build a church is a command from the Lord, but only for whoever is of a willing heart. God wants givers, but not reluctant givers.

This message is reinforced in 2^nd Corinthians 9:7 “Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Do you know how some crowdfunding campaigns are so wildly successful that the person who started them has to turn off the ability to donate?  That’s not an original concept either.

“And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So, all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”

Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so, the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work. Exodus 36: 4-6

God set simple precedents when he invented the first crowdfunded project. 1) Give, but only with a willing heart. 2) It takes a group to make the goal.  3) Stop giving when giving isn’t needed anymore.

I hope, dear reader, that you will see that the bible is not an obsolete history book. The wisdom within is still relevant. The hearts of men have not changed since the beginning of time. God still stirs the hearts of his fans today!

Let your heart be one of them.