| Type | Non-profit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Christian Finances Financial Planning Debt Relief |
| Founded | 1976, merged in 2000 |
| Headquarters | Gainesville, GA, USA |
| Key people | Howard Dayton, Co-founder Chuck Bentley, CEO Ron Blue, Chairman Larry Burkett, deceased Co-founder |
| Website | www.crown.org |
Crown Financial Ministries is a nondenominational, evangelical Christian ministry with the mission of equipping Christians around the world to learn, apply and teach financial principles which they claim are based on the Bible.[1] The ministry's goal is to teach 300 million people by September 2015.
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It was formed in 2000 by a merger of Larry Burkett's Christian Financial Concepts, (founded 1976), and Howard Dayton's Crown Ministries, (founded 1985). However, Burkett focused his ministry on mass media, (his radio show, Money Matters and a number of books), while Dayton focused on activities within churches.
The two had met in the 1990s and quickly became friends; they considered the merger logical due to the near-identical mission of their two groups. Burkett was chairman of the board of the combined entity until his 2003 cancer-related death; Dayton was CEO since the time of the merger until 2007 when Chuck Bentley became CEO.[2]
Its message is similar to the message given by financial talk show host Dave Ramsey, claiming that getting out of debt and controlling one's expectation of living are two important parts of Christian discipleship. In fact, Dave Ramsey credits the late Larry Burkett as one of his mentors who helped him get out of debt and form his thoughts and ideas on finances.[4] While they acknowledge there is no direct admonition in the Bible against assuming debt, they heavily discourage taking it on.
Some Christian financial planners, such as Gary Moore, criticize Crown for what they consider an aversion to taking on debt.[5]