Pastors and denominational support

Since I served as a bivocational pastor for twenty years I understand the time constraints bivocational ministers have.  There were many denominational events I could not attend simply because I was at work.  I understand why I don't see a lot of bivocational ministers at some of the events our region hosts although we try to be sensitive to their schedules and needs.  What I don't understand is why so many pastors do little or nothing to support the denomination their church is affiliated with.

I recently had a phone conversation with a member of one of our churches.  During the course of that discussion I mentioned a ministry our region offers lay leaders.  He had never heard of it.  This ministry has been active for ten years, and we've had well over 100 people go through it, but his pastor had never promoted it.  Think about that for a moment: here is an opportunity to get quality leadership training for the lay leaders in his church, and he's never offered it to them.  In discussions with this same pastor I have mentioned other things our region was doing, and he was unaware of them.  We spend a lot of money every year sending out information on the various ministries in our region, but he evidently never opens them or reads the e-mail announcements we send out.  Unfortunately, he is not alone.  The same could be said of many of the bivocational ministers in our region, and some fully-funded ones as well.  This pastor is not hostile towards us; he's just apathetic, and his church and our region pays a price for that apathy.

Our small church promoted every special mission offering our denomination offered because I promoted them.  We gave a large sum of money to our regular mission support for a church our size because I felt it was important to support our denominational missionaries.  I made sure our church was informed of the events our region offered so they could attend if they wanted to.  Most did not, but it was not because they were not aware of them.

Like most denominational bodies, our region is going through major transitions regarding staffing.  People retiring are not being replaced.  The workload is simply spread out among those of us who are left.  When churches have complained to me about that I simply tell them that it is a reflection of the financial support we've been receiving for the past few years.  It is certainly not our desire to reduce staff and our ability to be connected to our churches, but we are dependent upon the financial support of our churches, and if that support isn't there then we have to make tough decisions.  Interestingly enough, some of the churches who provide little to no support are the ones who often seek the most assistance from our region, and leaders of other denominational groups tell me the same thing is happening in their world.

My experience has been that a church, regardless of size, is likely to support its denomination or district at the same level of commitment as its pastor.  Several years ago our denomination was involved in a large capital funds campaign.  When a denominational leader asked a group of pastors how many of their churches were committed to the campaign a number of them responded their church was not interested in supporting it despite their best efforts to convince them to do so.  The leader then asked them where their gift was!  He explained that if they (the pastors) made a gift, their church would be on record as supporting the campaign.  The room got real quiet!

It takes little effort for a pastor to promote ministries and programs the district or denomination is offering.  It also takes little for the pastor to support the mission giving programs of his or her denomination.  What it does take is gratitude for the efforts the districts and denominations make on the behalf of their churches and pastors.  Some of these pastors would not be in their positions without the recommendation of their judicatory leaders, and these same leaders are the ones these pastors will turn to when problems arise in their churches.  If your church is not supporting its denomination and district ministries and mission work you may need to check your own level of gratitude for all these leaders do for your and your church.