Stewardship

A pastor called this morning heartbroken because his lay leadership told him yesterday that the church will no longer be able to afford to keep him as pastor after the first of the year. This fully-funded pastor has faithfully served this congregation for over a decade, and even though the church has grown numerically it has not grown financially. When I asked him about the church's finances he could not tell me because the church leadership refuses to give him that information. I know the salary package of this pastor, and very few fully-funded ministers would, or could, serve a church for the small salary this pastor is paid. In fact, I know bivocational ministers who are paid larger salaries.

The lay leadership gave this pastor a number of reasons why the finances were down, but the bottom line is that there is a huge failure of many within this congregation to be faithful stewards. The expenses of this church cannot be too great, especially when the pastor is told that his salary package is the largest expense the church has. This church does not have money problems; it has a stewardship problem. Every Sunday people in this church are robbing God by not paying their tithes.

Have they been taught to be responsible stewards? I can't answer that question. Some people do not tithe because they've never been taught to do so. Others are simply being disobedient to what they have been taught.

Every pastor needs to teach responsible stewardship to his or her congregation. If we are to teach the whole counsel of God then we must teach about finances which is one part of stewardship. If we fail to teach our churches then we should not be surprised if the finances of the church do not allow for a decent salary, proper upkeep on the property, and ministries to the community that will introduce people to Jesus Christ.