Not for a couple of churchgoers at Genesis United Methodist Church in Cary.

On a recent Sunday evening five people started a four-session financial planning course offered by the church. Biblically based, the course is designed to make people “financially free,” so that they can devote their hearts to God instead of constantly stressing over money matters.

“The idea is to help you manage and control your finances,” Mark Denning, the course’s instructor said at the start of the class.

The class was being taught from the Good Sense course, a collection of videos, booklets and other materials that teach people common sense financial principals intertwined with Christian thought.

Mostly middle-aged, the participants at Genesis had similar reasons for seeking out the course — which costs $15 and covers course materials — for church and nonchurch members.

“Basically I make too much money not to be saving more,” said Peggy Schmidtt, 49, who works in IT at GlaxoSmithKline.

Her six-figure salary has allowed her not to think too much about budgeting, but she knows it’s something she needs to think about.

Part of what the course talks about, besides practical matters such as how to budget and save, is the more abstract matter of the pull of the American culture — which often says you need the new car, the new house, the latest technology, Denning said.

The first course was an introductory class.

Denning said this materialistic cultural pull is especially seen in a wealthy communities such as Cary, often contributing to people with large salaries ending up in debt.