Advisors who feel a strong pull to their Christian faith now have the opportunity to acquire a designation that tells clients they have the education and the spiritual commitment to offer financial advice backed by core biblical teaching.

Advisors with Purpose, a three-year-old Ottawa-based national organization for Christian financial advisors, has launched its new Christian financial counsellor designation, and conferred the CFC on its first recipients at the group’s national conference in late May.

The group established the CFC designation to help advisors provide clients with Bible-centred financial advice.

“The world view of the Christian client is that God owns it all, and that we are his stewards,” says Jan Kupecz, executive director of the Canadian National Christian Foundation, the faith-based parent organization of Advisors with Purpose. “Many clients are saying, ‘I want an advisor who is really going to help me understand what that means in my financial affairs’.”

The CFC is intended to give advisors the tools they need to guide Christian clients in managing their money. Kupecz explains there are more than 2,300 references in the Bible to money and possessions. “It’s not one of those areas that the Bible leaves a little fuzzy in terms of how to interpret it,” she says. “It gives us a pretty clear direction on how to live.”

Applicants are required to complete three courses — biblical business principles, biblical money management and how to build a financial practice with purpose — and two electives. The courses take approximately 50 to 60 hours in total. A further 20 hours of CFC-approved continuing education is required for annual renewal of the CFC.

Most of the initial qualifying courses must be taken in person, with the rest obtained through self-study material or through a small group study format. For now, courses aren’t offered online.

The CFC applicant is also required to provide references from two clients, two industry members and a pastor. The applicant is also required to prepare a written narrative detailing his or her “spiritual journey and commitment to biblical calling.” Finally, the applicant must declare his or her commitment to biblical stewardship principles and sign a statement of faith and code of conduct.

The declaration includes a pledge of integrity in dealing with clients, an acknowledgement that some forms of debt are inherently dangerous, and a pledge to personal discipleship and the continued study of the Bible.

“We don’t want people coming into Advisors with Purpose thinking this is just another revenue stream of clients that is available to them,” Kupecz says. “Our process weeds those out.”

One of the major themes of Bible-centred financial advice is incorporating charity into financial planning and, especially, estate planning.

“The question of whether you should be passing on all your wealth to your children is going to depend upon your world view,” says Kupecz, who adds that a Christian client might be best served with an advisor who is more closely aligned to them in their faith.

Another theme is the negative power of debt — particularly lifestyle debt rung up on credit cards, as opposed to debt based on an asset such as a mortgage on a home.

“Jesus very specifically warned us about debt; there are references in the Bible about not being a slave to money,” Kupecz says. “Debt can create this slave relationship.”

A Christian advisor also can help a client determine how much wealth is enough. “It’s a pretty hard race to run when you don’t know where the finish line is,” says Kupecz, who adds that Christian advisors can help prevent clients from falling into the trap of the never-ending striving for more.

Advisors with Purpose, which has 70 advisor members, requires that CFC applicants be properly registered in their financial advisory profession — whether they are investment advisors, financial planners, accountants, mortgage brokers, etc. — and that they be a member in good standing of Advisors with Purpose.

Kupecz says that Advisors with Purpose exercises care and caution in directing a potential client to a Christian advisor. “We’re certainly not recommending that Christians who have an existing relationships with a trusted advisor dump that advisor for someone in the Christian faith. That’s not our standpoint,” she says.

Instead, the CFC program is intended to help existing advisors who want to provide Bible-focused advice and prospective clients who want to determine if an advisor is right for them.

@page_break@“What we’re looking for in our membership,” she says, “are those individuals who have made the leap in understanding what God’s purposes are for the gifts and talents that He has given them. And they’re willing to be accountable to living their faiths with their practice.” IE