Crown Financial Ministries


Crown Financial Ministries or Crown is a nondenominational, evangelical Christian ministry with the mission of "equipping servant leaders to live by God's design for their finances, work and life... to advance transformation".

Background

It was formed in 2000 by a merger of Larry Burkett's Christian Financial Concepts,, and Howard Dayton's Crown Ministries,. Burkett focused his ministry on mass media,, bible studies, seminars, and building a volunteer coaching ministry, while Dayton focused on small group studies.
The two had met in the 1990s and quickly became friends. They considered the merger expedient due to the missions of their two groups, and Burkett's health. Burkett was chairman of the board of the combined entity until his 2003 death from heart failure. Dayton was CEO since the time of the merger until 2007 when Chuck Bentley became CEO.

Activities

The message is similar to the teachings of financial talk show host Dave Ramsey that getting out of debt and controlling one's expectation of living are important parts of Christian discipleship. Dave Ramsey credits the co-founder Larry Burkett as one of his mentors who helped him get out of debt and form his thoughts and ideas on finances. While they acknowledge there is no direct admonition in the Bible against assuming debt, they heavily discourage taking it on.
Christian financial planner Gary Moore criticized Crown in 2006 for what he considers an aversion to taking on debt.