In God We Trust: Miami Church Hands Out Cold Cash

Parishioners at a small Miami church were saying "amen" and "hallelujah" a lot more this week after the house of worship decided it was better to give than receive, to the tune of $5,000.
 
Rather than pass around the collection plate this past Sunday, Pastor Mathias Grehn at Vision Church in Kendall instead passed out envelopes of cash in a divine concept he devised.

Of course, like anything that comes free, the cash came with a catch.

Parishioners of the nondenominational church couldn't spend the money on themselves and they couldn't give it back to the church.

"I've been thinking about doing it for a long time," Grehn said Friday of what he calls a "reverse offering" to parishioners. "We're not rolling in money, but I thought it'd be a great way to teach people about giving."

The cash was spread throughout the envelopes, with some containing as much as $100 and others as little as $10. Nobody knew how much they'd be getting.

"Faces dropped when they heard it," Grehn said of the stunned parishioners. "This sort of thing is unheard of in the church world."

The $5,000 represented about a week's worth of giving for the church, which has between 80 and 100 parishioners.

Grehn said about 85 were in attendance at the giveaway.

People are already giving out the money. One woman gave the money to her brother, a former Marine who is now jobless and without benefits. Others gave cash to sick, elderly neighbors, or bought toys for a pediatric clinic.

"The response has been unbelievable. Some people haven't used it yet, they want to find the right person to bless," Grehn said. "It almost becomes hard, like, 'wow, I don't want to blow this kind of opportunity.'"

For Grehn, 37, a native of Sweden, the plan is just part of his philosophy of doing things differently.  

"We like to do things out of the box, that's our style," he said.

Don't expect to walk away with an envelope of cash if you show up at Vision Church this Sunday -- Grehn said the giveaway was likely a one-time deal.

"We're not planning to give more money away, but it doesn't mean we don't have more things up our sleeve," he said.

Though the Vision Church doesn't have its own building and holds its Sunday services at the Arvida Middle School, Grehn hopes his plan will inspire other houses of God to give back.

And what about parishioners who don't pay it forward with the money?

"If you use it on yourself, that's your problem," Grehn said. "That's between you and God."

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