How does a fully-funded pastor become bivocational?

 Several years ago as I was serving as a Region Resource Minister with our judicatory a pastor asked to meet with me. He felt that due to the financial situation in his church he might soon be asked to go bivocational or find another church to serve. We met for lunch to discuss his situation. His concern was that he had gone directly into ministry after college and seminary. Other than summer employment he had never done anything other than pastoral ministry. He had no idea what he might do outside of ministry if he was forced to become bivocational.

I learned that he went to college originally to become a teacher. It wasn't until he was in college that he felt called to the ministry. I suggested that since he had an interest in education he might pursue that as his second job. Most school systems need substitute teachers which would give him flexibility for his ministry. We discussed some of the other training and skills used in ministry that might be needed in a second career. By the time lunch was finished he had a good list of potential jobs he could pursue if he needed to become bivocational. It turned out his church's finances remained solid, and he continues to serve that same church as a fully-funded pastor.

We are already seeing pastors who are leaving their churches due to the financial struggles their churches are having due to the pandemic. The finances are just not there to support the pastor and his or her family. In some cases, the church finances are so bad the pastors are leaving without having another place to serve. I believe we will see even more pastors pursue bivocational ministry, either in the church they currently serve or in another church.

Like the previous pastor, some may wonder what they would do. I would suggest that you sit down with a denominational leader, a coach or someone you trust to explore your options. Look at your skill sets and see where in the work force you might best fit. What were your majors in college? That might point you to a second career. Have you seen jobs that would have interested you if you had not been doing ministry? Maybe this is a good time to check out those jobs. Despite the unemployment numbers the media feeds us every week, there are numerous jobs in nearly every community that are going unfilled. This is a great time to be a bivocational minister!

Beyond the job search there is another component to consider when transitioning from being a fully-funded to be bivocational. That is your own sense of self-esteem. Too many pastors still consider bivocational ministry as something less than what they do. Some will feel they will have failed their calling if they become a bivocational minister. Actually, being bivocational enables you to fulfill your calling, especially in these financially difficult times for many churches. It allows you to supplement your income so you can provide for your family while remaining in ministry.

A third element to consider is how the church will respond to having a bivocational pastor after being served by one that was fully-funded. Sometimes, a church wants to go bivocational but still expect the same level of ministry as they knew when they had a fully-funded pastor. That is an unreasonable expectation. Before making the decision to have a bivocational minister the church needs to have a serious talk with their denominational representative or a consultant who understands bivocational ministry so they can develop more realistic expectations of what the pastor will be able to provide.

It's not always easy for the church or the pastor to suddenly have its pastoral leadership have a second job. This represents a paradigm shift that will take time to work through. Many churches and their pastors need to consider how they will handle this change if it does occur as I believe it will happen in many churches in the next 18 months.

Church closures after the pandemic

The Christian Post recently published an article stating that as many as one in five churches could close in the next eighteen months due to the pandemic. This comes from research done by the Barna Group. The study found that although many churches handled things well when the pandemic started, things have not gone so well since the churches were able to open. Even when the doors opened, many people did not return. David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, said in the article that "the relationships that they thought were much deeper with people were actually not as deep as they expected."

Kinnaman notes that online attendance has increased and is likely to remain strong for the near future.  Digital ministry appears to be the wave of the future. However, this has an impact on churches as well. One impact is in the financial support churches are receiving. The National Association of Evangelicals have reported that nearly two-thirds of churches have seen a drop in giving since the pandemic began with nine percent of those churches experiencing a drop of 75 percent or more. Churches will have to look at more ways to receive tithes and offerings than merely passing the plate. For many of these churches, if they are to remain open and continue to offer the ministries they have offered previously, they are going to have to look at providing online giving opportunities.

Another impact will be felt as churches try to fill volunteer positions. With fewer people attending services there will be fewer people to serve in the positions traditionally found in many churches. Churches will have to examine new ways of structuring that will allow necessary ministries to continue with fewer people. This will likely force many churches to reduce the number of things they are doing and focus on doing only those ministries that are most productive.

With fewer people attending in person it will force churches to take a new look at how it disciples people. People who are not attending worship services are also not attending Sunday school or in-person small groups. These have been the primary instruments by which many churches have done discipleship. If churches are going to take the disciple-making element of the Great Commission seriously they will have to find creative ways of doing so.

Right now it is difficult to provide pastoral care in the ways it has traditionally been done. In most cases, pastors are not allowed in hospitals or nursing homes. Many people do not want visitors, even family members, in their homes. Telephone calls, text messages and emails are the primary means by which we can do pastoral care right now.  That may not change much for our online congregations even when things open up more. It will be easy for people to disappear unnoticed. Churches will have to work harder to stay in touch with members in order to know how best to serve them.

Those serving in staff positions will also be impacted by the increased numbers of online congregation members. With a decline in giving there is less money for staff salaries and benefits. With fewer people participating in person there is less need for people to provide leadership for youth ministries, music ministries, educational ministries. etc. What we may see in the future are staff persons serving as discipleship coordinators for the online congregation or people serving in positions we haven't even thought of staffing before. I believe we will definitely see more staff ministers serving bivocationally.

These are just some of the ways an increased online congregation will impact our churches. For those churches that cannot make the adjustments, many of them probably will be forced to close in the next few months. 

Church giving and the pandemic

 A fellow minister posted on Facebook last week that their church was experiencing financial shortages due to the pandemic. He had asked the church for permission to begin seeking part-time employment to supplement his salary. He did not say if the church had reduced his salary due to their financial situation or not. The church allowed him to seek that employment. He lives in an area with a lot of jobs available so he should not have a problem finding one. The challenge will be whether the church can make the shift to being led by a bivocational pastor.

Most of the church pastors I speak with tell me their churches are doing OK financially during the pandemic. Although their giving is down a little, their expenses are also down. I suppose the ones who are struggling the most are those churches whose budgets consist mostly of pastoral salaries and benefits. If 80 percent of a church's budget goes to the pastor and/or staff there is not a lot of room to cut expenses without impacting the minister. Denominational leaders may want to study how many of their churches were forced to allow their ministers to become bivocational due to financial giving issues related to Covid. It might serve as a predictor of the future for those churches.

Unless a church has a number of people unemployed due to Covid there really is not a good reason there should be a significant decrease in giving. Those members of the congregation who are not attending services due to the pandemic are not prevented from mailing their giving to the church. The giving of our tithes and offerings should not be limited to just when we attend services in person. Every church with a web presence should offer online giving options to make it even easier for people to give. When the pandemic started many churches found how easy it was to begin offering their worship service online, and they will find that it is just as easy to make online giving available.

As I wrote last week in this blog, things are not going to return to "normal" any time soon, if ever. That includes the way we receive the offering. Many churches, rather than passing the offering plate, now place them in the back of the sanctuary. That's a different way of doing this for many people, and new things are easily forgotten. There is nothing wrong with reminding people occasionally of those offering plates. Just this past Sunday I realized I still had my offering in my shirt pocket when the treasurer came to collect the money from the plate near where I was standing. People start talking with one another, as I was doing, and simply forget the offering plate is there.

If providing online giving options and reminding people of the offering plates in the back of the church doesn't improve the giving in your church, then it's probably past time to preach on stewardship. This should be part of your annual sermon planning anyway. Despite what some people believe, there is nothing wrong or improper about sermons on stewardship.

Giving our tithes and offerings is part of our worship the same as our prayers, singing and other things we might do in our worship service. We should never be embarrassed about inviting people to worship God through their giving.

Financial challenges for churches during the crisis

This past Sunday marked the second one that many churches did not have live services but broadcast the service over social media. While some churches continue to gather each Sunday, in many states that is not permitted due to the coronavirus and the states mandating that no large groups are allowed to meet. In a few states people have been ordered to stay in place.

No one knows how long these quarantines will last; therefore, we don't know how long it might be before churches can once again gather together for Sunday worship. Many churches have never live streamed their services and do not have the equipment to do so. Some are trying to videotape messages from their pastors to share over their social media pages, but in some cases churches do not have social media pages and in others they do not have anyone with the knowledge of how to do this. Smaller churches, especially, are being impacted by these challenges.

Regardless of the size church, many are reporting a drop in income has already been experienced. Since many churches have no way for their members to give electronically, they must rely on their congregation to send checks through the mail. The churches still holding live services report much smaller attendance and reduced offerings. In addition, churches are losing income due to day care centers and other groups who may be renting facilities in their churches canceling their services. This is putting a financial burden on churches who must still pay staff, utilities, and maintain many of their ministries.

To make the problem worse, we know that lost revenue in churches is not often made up later. After the economy tanked in 2008 many churches experienced a sizable drop in offerings, and, in many cases, those offerings never returned to pre-2008 levels. Although the coronavirus emergency may correct itself within a few months, the income lost during this time is unlikely to be recovered in many churches.

What can churches do to help themselves financially?

1. Don't be afraid to remind your members that the ministries of the church and regular expenses such as utilities, salaries and other expenses continues even though the church may not be able to physically meet. It's not necessary to beg like some televangelist, but do not shy away from talking about finances during this time.
2. Recognize that some within your congregation have lost their jobs or seen their hours cut back substantially. They are going through financial hardships right now and may be reluctant to donate. They are having to cut back. It's important that churches cut back some of their unnecessary spending as well. This will show people that you are in this with them. This is not the time to buy a new sound system for the church and ask people to increase their giving to pay for it.
3. Every church needs a social media page. I've been preaching this for years in pastor gatherings, but I still get push back from small church pastors. They insist they don't have the skill sets to set up such a page. If you have a junior-high age person in your church you have all the skill sets you need to create and maintain a social media page! These pages are the best way to stay in touch with your congregation during a time such as this, and is a great way to remain in contact with them when things return to normal.
4. Every church needs a way for people to give online. I realize many older people will not use this feature, and that's OK. Younger people will. In fact, for some younger people, if they can't donate electronically, they probably won't donate. You may be surprised to find many of your senior saints will use this feature, especially if they are away during the winter months.
5. People are going to need financial assistance during this time. Even though your church may experience a financial short-fall during these next few months, be prepared for increased requests for financial help from those who have lost jobs or seen significant decreases in their own personal income. Tap into your reserves if necessary to provide this assistance. Just like this is not the time to be hording toilet paper, this is not the time for churches to be hording their financial reserves. This is a time to minister to the real needs of people.

The church has always been at its best when going through crisis times. With a little wisdom and a lot of grace we will get through this time just fine and have the opportunity to show people the love of God and the care His churches have for the people they serve.

Your church does not have money problems

In early 1981 I sent a resume to Hebron Baptist Church, a church in our area that was seeking a pastor. Before I was contacted by the church a person called and introduced himself as the Area Minister for our region. The church had asked him to interview me before the pulpit committee did. The interview went well, and he recommended the church interview me. A few months later I was the pastor of that church where I served for the next 20 years.

During the interview he explained that the church had numerous problems one of which was financial. However, he quickly pointed out that people in the church had money. They just weren't giving much of it to the church.

I soon discovered the reason why. There just wasn't much happening at the church. There was no real reason to give money because there wasn't much to spend it on. Besides, there was a question if the church would even remain open much longer. There's no reason to give money to something that's about to close.

Like many small churches, they had money problems because the church lacked any sense of vision for ministry and many of the people had not been taught how to be stewards of their possessions. Financial problems are never the real issue in a small church; they are merely the symptoms of larger problems. Often, these larger problems are the lack of a vision and the lack of sound stewardship training.

There's not space here to talk about specifics, but within a couple of years we began some projects that required special giving on the part of our people. We began small, but each time we succeeded in raising the money needed for the project. At the same time, we saw an increase in our regular giving. Sometimes we even amazed ourselves with the money that came in.

The projects got bigger and bigger, and we were always able to fully fund them. Our regular giving continued to climb as well plus we soon raised our mission support to the denomination from the ten percent we had been giving to 15 percent. Since our mission giving was tied in percentage-wise to our regular giving, our mission giving continued to climb as well.

About a year before I resigned as their pastor we began building a new fellowship hall for the church. I challenged the church to fund the building themselves and not borrow the money. I believed if God was truly behind our vision for this new addition to the church that He would provide the money. Several months later the building was complete and was debt-free. That small congregation raised an enormous sum of money for its size in two years and built a debt-free fellowship hall. To make it even sweeter, that year it also gave more money to missions than ever before.

Small churches are often quick to point out their limited resources, but the reality is that most of them have far more than they realize. However, to tap into those resources requires vision and solid stewardship training. It's OK to begin with small challenges. As you see them achieved you will be setting the foundation for bigger ones later, and you will be amazed to see what God will do!

The problem of small churches and too much money

In yesterday's post I discussed the problem of smaller churches and their often heard complaint about not having any money. Today, I want to address another financial problem sometimes found in smaller church; the problem of having too much money.

One small church that averages about 12 people each week told me they had over $100,000 in savings. An even smaller church has nearly double that amount. A third small church was struggling a few years ago to find a pastor. I told the search committee that they needed to increase the salary they were going to offer if they wanted a pastor. The committee chair finally admitted to me that they had a "rainy day" fund. Although he wouldn't tell me an amount, from the way he said it I felt it was fairly sizable figure. I responded, "Look outside. It's pouring. The church is going to have to use some of that money if it is going to attract someone to serve as their pastor."

I realize that fear drives a lot of this. People see their attendance figures and giving going down. They are afraid their little church may have to close so they reduce their expenses to a bare minimum and start stockpiling money. Maybe they had a building fund they've converted over into a savings account, and they hold onto those funds with clinched fists.

Unfortunately, those clinched fists do more than hold onto the money. They also strangle the ministry of the church until it's no longer even a church. It's reduced to a small wealthy club that provides services to its members.

This is poor stewardship of God's money. That money was given in the past by faithful members of your church to support the ministries of the church. There is nothing wrong with a church having money in savings. There is much wrong with a church having large sums of money it never intends to use for any purpose other than ensuring its own existence. Such an attitude dishonors the purpose for which it was given and dishonors God.

There is a second problem with small churches having inordinate amounts of money in savings. People stop giving. They see no reason to give their hard-earned money to a church that has lots of money it's not going to use anyway. Since the church has demonstrated it's OK to hoard money the members believe they should hold onto their own money or at least use it for their own pleasure.

We teach stewardship by our actions as well as through sermons and lessons. Because the church I pastored believed in and taught people to tithe we demonstrated that in our church budget. Ten percent of our offerings went to our denominational mission support program. After I served the church for a few years and we became a little more financially sound, I encouraged the church to increase that to fifteen percent. We did that by increasing our mission giving one percent a year for five years. As our mission giving increased so did our general church giving.

If you are in a small church with a large savings account you're not using, you need to do something with that money. If you're not going to use it for Kingdom work, then give it to a ministry that will. Pay your pastor a decent salary. Give part of it to your denominational mission program. Support local mission work even if it's being done by other churches or ministries in your area. This money was given for ministry, and it needs to be used in that way.

Small churches and money

As I work with smaller churches a frequent complaint I hear is their lack of money. When we begin talking about ministries they might consider or the low salaries they pay their pastor they often insist they don't have the finances to do new ministries or improve the salary and benefit package of their pastors. My response is always the same: Small churches don't have money problems. They may have a vision problem or a stewardship problem, but they don't have money problems. Money issues are just a symptom of the real problem.

If a church has no real vision for ministry they are merely doing maintenance work, and that is the level of financial support they are going to receive. When a church does nothing but pay utility bills and a small stipend to the pastor, there is no incentive for people to give any more than what's necessary to keep the lights on. People don't give to pay the light bill, but they will give towards a vision.

A few months before I resigned my pastorate our church voted to build a new fellowship facility. Our architect told us what we wanted would cost us about $250,000.00, a large sum of money for a church that averaged about 55 people each week. Still, we felt this would provide us more ministry opportunities so we voted to build the facility. We scheduled a Commitment Sunday to see how much we could raise in one service. We raised about $52,000 that Sunday.

When asked where we should borrow the remainder of the money I challenged the church to trust God to provide the funds. Some were skeptical, but we proceeded to build as the money came in. About 18 months later the building was dedicated and was debt free. People give to vision.

I've seen this happen when churches want to begin new ministries. People get excited and give more than usual to help fund these ministries. If God's people have bought into a shared vision they will financially support it.

However, this is only true if they've been taught stewardship. Some pastors are so scared to talk about money their people have never even heard of the tithe. They don't know how to give to the church. We are told to preach the whole counsel of God, and you cannot do that if you never talk about money.

I've had pastors tell me their church doesn't allow them to talk about money and giving. Those are the churches that need to hear it the most. I absolutely would not serve a church that spent all its time poor-mouthing and demanding that I not talk about money. Life is too short, and there are too many churches looking for a pastor to lead them to waste time in such a place. We must teach sound, biblical stewardship principles or we are cheating our congregations of the opportunity to grow in that area.

With very rare exceptions, your small church has plenty of money available. As church leaders our responsibility is to teach them about healthy giving and keeping a vision before them worthy of their support. If we do these two things, God's people are often very generous.

Planning 2016 around the church's vision

Earlier this week I had the privilege of working with a larger church on its vision for ministry. I met with many of the leadership in this church for a conversation around the importance of vision. This church has a good vision statement. My challenge to them was to live into that vision rather than just let it lie on a shelf gathering dust. On my way home after the meeting it dawned on me that this is a good time for all churches to have this conversation.

Many churches will soon be preparing their 2016 budget and planning their ministry calendars for the new year. The budget and calendar will always reflect the true vision of the church. Regardless of what a church claims its vision to be, its vision will always be found in its budget and calendar. We will spend money and time on those things we consider most important.

As your church begins developing its budget and ministry calendar I would encourage you to do so with a copy of your church's vision before each individual involved in these discussions. What would happen if you asked how each line item in your budget enables you to better accomplish your God-given vision? What if every calendar item went through the same filter?

My concern is that many smaller churches basically look at their budget, add a few dollars in some categories to adjust for increased costs, and submit it to the church for approval. There is very little discussion about whether or not this budget reflects the church's vision for ministry. Believe me, I've sat in many of those kinds of budget meetings, and I've seen it happen time and again. My guess is that it happens in some larger churches as well.

The same concern exists for the church's calendar. Many churches have done the same things for so many years that they are just expected. No one ever asks if these things are actually effective or if they do anything to help the church achieve its vision.

Of course, all this assumes that the church has a vision for ministry, and for many of our smaller churches that would be a false assumption. The closest thing some of them have for a vision is to survive another year. That is not a vision that honors God.

In fact, I've told several churches and pastor gatherings that God really isn't concerned if your church survives or not. He is very concerned about whether your church is doing effective ministry that makes a difference in people's lives. If it is, He'll take care of the survival. If not, He will raise up another church in your community to provide such ministry.

As you begin your planning for 2016 I encourage you to do so with your vision in mind. Make sure your budget and calendar reflects that vision. If you do, you'll find that 2016 will be an exciting year of ministry for your church.

The danger of building church facilities with debt

Yesterday was an interesting day. Earlier I had a conversation with a lay leader of a church whose church is struggling with numerous issues. As a result, their attendance and giving are both down and has been this way for several months. The church is without a pastor, but their giving level is barely meeting their budget without having to pay a pastor salary and benefits. There are several reasons for this, but a major reason is the church has a large debt on an addition they built a few years ago. When their attendance was strong they were actually paying ahead on their debt, but now they would struggle making their regular payment and pay a pastor.

When I finished speaking with this individual I thought of another church that decided a few years ago to relocate. That decision was not without controversy and some people left the church when the decision was finalized. I feel certain that some believed that a new church facility would attract new people, the "build it and they will come" mindset. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and the church has struggled financially since moving.

About an hour later I was driving and listening to a Dave Ramsey podcast that had been downloaded on my I-Pad. Each day someone comes on the program to do a "debt-free scream." It's almost always a family who has followed Ramsey's plan and has gotten out of debt. However, this time the caller was the director of a church camp.

He shared how the camp board and others decided that they needed to pay off their mortgage to free up money for ministry. They challenged the churches in their denomination to support that decision. They were able to raise the money in less than one year to pay off their mortgage and become debt free. The director was delighted at how much more ministry they could now do without this debt hanging over their heads. It was quite a contrast to the two churches I had earlier been thinking about.

There are many good reasons for a church to build new facilities and even to relocate. I'm not sure there are any good reasons for a church to go into debt to accomplish that. We always enter into debt when things are going well, and we seem to forget that churches also have times when things are not going so well. In the good times we may not have any problems making our payments, but each payment is less money we have available for ministry. When times are tough, we may struggle keeping current on our payments, and in those times we often find we really have to cut back just to stay afloat financially. The things that we usually cut back are ministries, staff salaries, and mission support.

Some may argue that they are stepping out in faith when they borrow money to build. Such people reason that God will help see them through if times get tough. I'm not sure that is faith or presumption. If we can trust God to provide the money to pay off our debt, why can't we trust Him to provide the money up front and avoid debt?

When I was pastoring our small church we decided to build a new fellowship hall. We had outgrown the old fellowship hall, and we felt we could increase our ability to do ministry with a new facility. We spent months talking and praying about building this addition before finally making the decision to move forward. The only problem was that our architect estimated the cost of this building would be about $250,000. That was a lot of money for a church that averaged around 55 people.

During the time we were discussing the building we had raised about $30,000 towards the new facility. After we voted to move forward we had a Commitment Sunday and raised another $52,000 at that one service. We decided to begin work immediately. The building committee asked where I suggested we borrow the remainder of the money. I said we should let God finance it. We believed He had given us the vision to build this, and I felt we should trust Him to provide the necessary funds. I challenged our church to see what God would do.

Several months later the new fellowship hall was completed debt-free. Our treasurer told me that money came from places I would not believe. There was so much money left over that the church had all new furniture put in the kitchen and dining areas.

Proverbs 22:7 says, "The borrower is servant to the lender." This applies to churches the same as it does to individuals. Debt can be a heavy burden and can severely limit what a church is able to do. If God is leading a church to do something, He can certainly provide the means to allow it to happen. It may take a little longer than we would like, but that's because our timing and God's timing isn't always the same. But, when the project is done debt-free we are free to go about serving others without having to worry if we'll have the money to make our payments.

A modern day parable on giving

It's been some time since I've seen this parable on giving, but my friend Terry Dorsett published it yesterday on his Facebook page.  I thought it was so good I needed to share it.

The treasurer of a congregation resigned. The church asked another to take his position, a man who managed a local grain elevator. He agreed, under two conditions:

1. That no report from the treasurer be given for one whole year.
2. That no one ask him any questions during this one year period.

The church gulped, but finally agreed, since he was a trusted man in the community, and well known because most of them did business with him as manager of the local grain elevator. At the end of the year he gave this report:

The indebtedness of $250,000 on the church was paid.
The minister’s salary had been increased.
The mission quota was paid 200%.
There were no outstanding bills.
There was a cash balance of $12,000.

Immediately a shocked congregation asked, “How can this be?”

Quietly, he answered, “Most of you bring your grain to my elevator. As you did business with me, I simply withheld ten percent on your behalf and gave it to the church in your name. You never missed it. Do you see what we could do for the Lord if we were willing to give the first tithe to God, who really owns it all anyway?”

Wow!  The average Christian gives less than three percent of his or her income to the church.  That's why I never believe a church when they tell me they don't have the money to do this or that.  Few churches truly have money problems.  Their problems are most often related to a lack of vision that challenges people to give and a failure to teach sound stewardship to the congregation.  The results in the above parable could be duplicated in nearly every church if the people were tithing.

Incidentally, Terry has an excellent book called Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church that I highly recommend for bivocational ministers and the churches they serve.  I think it is a very good resource to help these churches better organize themselves for ministry.

God continues to do great things in small churches

This past weekend we held our region biennial.  Part of the program included leaders from three of our churches telling how God was using them to impact their communities.  Two of the churches were smaller.  One speaker was a bivocational pastor whose church had 24 people on the first Sunday he preached there.  Today, it runs about 130, and he is still bivocational.  However, the stories were not about numbers; they were about ministry.

We heard stories of these churches identifying needs in their communities that were going unmet and their resolve to meet those needs.  One pastor told of how his church began a clothing give-away several years ago and about the truckloads of used clothing that was distributed.  Today, that has evolved into giving new clothing to kids who need clothes to begin school each fall.  An interesting thing about this ministry is that it could be expanded but no other church in the community wants to assist them.  We heard about a church that provides free food at special events in their community and prepares free meals monthly to help feed its community.  We heard how a church that had gone through significant conflict learned a process for making decisions that has helped them go through transitions without such conflict.

Each of these churches were in different geographic areas of our region, they were different sizes, their pastors had different levels of theological education, and they were each serving in communities that differed from one another, but each had one thing in common.  They had become very intentional about what they were doing.  They had identified needs in their communities that other churches were not meeting (and had little interest in meeting), and they did something about it.  Not everything they tried worked, but at least they were attempting to make a difference.  Some of their initial efforts worked but needed to be improved.  As they evaluated their efforts they were able to identify ways to improve those efforts allowing them to serve even more people.  Too many churches open their doors each Sunday hoping that something good is going to happen.  These churches are very intentional about their ministries in the communities, and good things are happening.

Another common theme was that the funds became available to meet those needs.  Church leaders often complain about the low level of giving in those churches, but that is often due to the low level of ministry that exists in their churches.  One of the churches is beyond full on Sunday morning and needs new space.  They have designated one Sunday's offering to be set aside in their building fund, and they chose the first Sunday's offering, which is the largest in many churches, to go to their building fund.  This has not hindered their ministries because people are excited to attend and give to a church that is making a difference in people's live.  Another church reported that 20 percent of their income is now going towards mission work in the denomination and in their community.

My prayer is that those in attendance came away from this meeting looking for ways to minister to their communities.  Any excuses they may have had in the past is no longer valid.  If these churches could do the things they are doing, so can any other church.  So can your church!  All it requires is taking the time to look around and find ministry opportunities that exist around you, spending time in prayer asking what God would have you do, and then taking a step of faith to minister to those needs.  Your initial efforts do not need to be perfect.  Just begin, and then you can make adjustments later to improve what you are doing.  You will probably become very surprised at what God will begin to do through you.

What can I do if I need to become bivocational?

Every few weeks I receive a phone call from a pastor who is concerned about the finances of his or her church. This concern is often centered on the prospect that he or she will be asked to become bivocational. The pastor usually has some questions about what that looks like. It's not uncommon for the pastor to state that he or she really doesn't know what else they can do. In some cases, ministry is all they've ever done.  After high school they went to college and then on to seminary to prepare for ministry. Other than summer jobs they've never worked in anything but ministry-related work.

Sometimes I am able to help them identify some ministry skills they have that might be transferable to other employment. One pastor told me his major in college was education and his original career choice was to be a teacher until God called him into ministry. I asked him why he couldn't become a teacher if his church did ask him to be bivocational. At the very least, he could probably find steady work as a substitute teacher, and if this was something he enjoyed it could work out very well for him and the church.

Although it doesn't work for everyone, being self-employed can be a great option for a bivocational minister. It certainly allows the minister to have more flexible hours that allows him or her to be more accessible to the church when needed. The articles I post nearly every day on Facebook are usually divided between being ministry related and small business related. The reason I do this is that I am interested in both subjects, and I know many of my readers are owners of small businesses.

Often, a bivocational minister will find that a hobby or interest can become the springboard to a successful small business. For several years I have enjoyed going to auctions and buying antiques and collectibles that I resell on E-bay or in my booths in a local antique mall and in a flea market mall. That interest led me to become a licensed auctioneer, and I now have an auction business in addition to my ministry.  I would caution anyone thinking about turning a hobby or interest into a business to read The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It. This classic will explain some of the challenges that small business owners have to overcome when starting a new business. You may also want to read an e-book I wrote titled Mistakes: Avoiding the Mistakes that Will Close Your Small Business.   That book describes the mistakes I made that forced us to have to close a small business that we owned and the lessons I learned from those mistakes.  After reading these two books if you still feel ready to start a small business you are more likely to be successful.

While transitioning from being a fully-funded pastor to a bivocational one is never an easy transition it will give you opportunities to meet new people and minister to them in ways that serving in a church will not. For instance, a lady called me one evening saying she had to hand over the keys to a house she had sold in a few days and could not move everything into her much smaller apartment. She didn't know what to do and was advised to call me. I was able to take her extra items and sell them at auction. Not only did she not have to worry about what to do with her extra furniture, she also received a nice check to help with her moving expenses. During the course of our conversation I had the opportunity to let her know I was a minister. The very next week I was asked to be the auctioneer at our local United Way annual meeting to kick off this year's fundraising effort. My introduction to a large group of people I had never met included my previous pastoral ministry and my current role in judicatory ministry. What a great opportunity to connect with some of our community leaders!

If you believe your church may ask you to become bivocational, don't panic. Take some time to look at your skills and gifts and see which ones might transfer into a secular position. You may want to seek some guidance from someone who has already made this transition or you may want a coach to help guide you through this transition. Don't look at it as a negative but see it as a new opportunity to connect with and minister to people who may have never come into your church.

A radical thought about ministers and salaries

I read a blog post over the weekend that challenged business owners to charge what their services or products are really worth instead of always low-balling to get the business.  The article especially singled out consultants, speakers, coaches, marketing people, and web designers.  The blog writer pointed out that sometimes large corporations will choose a higher priced marketing group or speaker over one who charges less simply because they believe the higher price must indicate a higher quality of service.  Small business owners often struggle with knowing what to charge because if they charge too much they fear they won't get any business, and if they charge too little they run the risk of not making a profit, and without a profit they won't be in business very long.  It truly is a balancing act.  The article was an interesting read, but I couldn't help but begin to think of how this plays out too often in the church world as well.

When I was in pastoral ministry I interviewed with a few churches who were seeking a new pastor.  I never went to any of those churches believing after the interviews that God was calling me to remain in my present church.  As a judicatory leader I have worked with dozens of pastor search committees.  In virtually every case, the deciding factor for the church was whether or not the candidate was willing to come for the salary and benefit package they offered.  Most churches did inquire about the candidate's theology, education, and other aspects of his or her life, but regardless of how qualified a candidate might have been, if he or she could not accept the financial package the committee continued to look elsewhere.  In some cases, the minister accepted the package knowing that is was not sufficient to meet his or her family's needs which usually created problems within a year or two after arriving at the church.

The thought I had after reading the blog post mentioned above was what would happen if pastors begin to insist that churches pay them a salary and benefit package commensurate with their education and experience and refused to continue to subsidize the poor level of stewardship found in many of these churches?  We all know of many churches who continue to fool themselves into believing they have a fully-funded pastor even though if the pastor's spouse did not work and provide income and insurance that their pastor could not continue to serve there.  As I have worked with some of these churches in their search for a pastor I have challenged them on this.  I must admit it makes for an uncomfortable discussion, but I think it is one that needs to happen in many of our churches.

Pastors are often their own worst enemy when it comes to advocating for a decent salary.  A few years ago a pastor asked me to stop referring to full-time pastors as fully-funded.  He felt it was improper because he did not feel his church paid him a sufficient salary for him to be fully-funded.  He wanted me to return to the old titles of full-time and part-time instead of fully-funded and bivocational.  I told him I would not demean bivocational ministers by calling them part-time ministers, and if he didn't think his church was paying him a decent salary then he needed to talk to the church about that.  That conversation never happened.

I understand the reluctance of pastors wanting to talk to their churches about their salary.  In many churches the pastor is not even allowed to be in the room when the finance committee discusses this as a part of their budget proposal, and often the pastor must leave the business meeting when the budget is voted on.  That was my experience, and I always felt it was a shame that grown Christian people had to resort to secrecy when it came to any discussion about the pastor's salary.  Complaining too much about one's salary can lead one to be unemployed, but there are other ways to make a living that would also provide opportunities to minister to others.  If these churches were challenged often enough maybe they would begin to realize they need to do something different than they've been doing. 

The Bible is clear that a workman is worthy of his hire.  Maybe it's time denominational leaders begin to be more assertive when it comes to what churches pay their ministers.  I understand some denominations do have certain guidelines their churches must follow, but in most congregational churches it is up to the congregation to determine the salary and benefit package for their ministers.  Still, there are some things that denominations can do to make pastoral salaries more equitable, and this is something that needs to be explored.

Mistakes churches make when making their budget

This is the time of year many churches are setting their budgets for the upcoming year.  Many of these churches make some common mistakes that affect their ministries.  My experience has been that these mistakes occur in all size churches but are most prevalent in smaller and mid-size churches.  It may be too late to redo your 2014 budget, but it is not too early for church leadership to begin to discuss how to improve the process for next year and avoid these mistakes.
The first mistake these churches make is to simply go through their budget line items, add a little to each one to cover anticipated increases, and present the budget to the church for approval.  This is a time to discuss how effective these items have been and if any of them need to be eliminated or changed.  The finance committee does not usually have the authority to make such changes, but they can discuss with church leaders their concerns and recommendations.  In a perfect budgeting system, the leaders of the various ministries would present their budget requests to the finance committee after having already examined the programs and ministries for possible changes.  However, I know how it really works in smaller churches, and any such recommendations are more likely to come from the finance committee in most churches.  Regardless of where this occurs, prior to setting a budget for the upcoming year is the perfect time to evaluate every thing that is happening in the church.  Possible changes can be identified and the budget set to reflect those changes.

A second mistake many churches make is closely tied to the first one.  They set a budget without the church having any sense of vision for ministry.  What does God want to do in and through your church in the coming year?  Until you can answer that how can you set any kind of realistic budget?  The majority of smaller churches I know operate year in and year out without any vision for ministry.  They open their doors each Sunday hoping something good will happen and close them following their services wondering why it didn't.  They have no vision, no goals that would help them achieve that vision, and no purpose beyond coming together each week.  They are merely drifting from week to week, and their budget reflects that drift.  A budget should reflect the ministry plan for a church, and it does.  What it reflects for many churches is that they have no plan for ministry.  Before your church develops another budget it should have a clear sense of God's vision for the church and a plan for how you will achieve that vision.  Many churches will find it helpful to invite a denominational leader, a consultant, or a coach to come and help them discern that vision.

The third mistake often made is that a budget is made without any idea of what the anticipated income will be.  Many churches assume their income will be rather flat and will often base it on what was given during the past year.  That is one way to almost guarantee your income will be the same as last year.  If people are not being challenged to give more why should they?  Without any kind of stewardship training people will often just do what they've been doing.  Depending on whom you read, the average giving of Christians in the US is reported to be around 2 percent of their income.  That is a far cry from a tithe.  Most Christians in the US can do better than they are doing when it comes to their giving, but if they are not challenged to give more and are not taught sound stewardship principles they are unlikely to do so.  I recently served as an outside speaker for a church that did a very intentional stewardship campaign, and slightly over half of the pledge cards that were turned in indicated they were increasing their giving for 2014 over 2013.  That is a good start, and I expect if that church continues to use this campaign over the next few years they will see a significant increase in their income.  To set a budget using last year's giving levels is too safe and demonstrates a lack of faith on the part of the church and a very low bar of expectations for the congregation.

A fourth mistake often found is that most budgets are focused on the inner workings of the church.  For smaller churches an extremely high percentage of their income is often spent on salaries, building upkeep, and the things that the current congregation needs.  In a way, this is all tied into the previous mistakes.  Without a vision, there is no real plan for ministry to those outside the congregation.  Nothing is being done to increase the giving levels of the members.  Whatever money comes in is spent on keeping the doors open and the congregation satisfied, and little is left for outreach and ministry to the unchurched in the community.  These churches may claim they want to grow, but their budget says otherwise because without the ability to do ministry outside the church little growth is likely.  This mistake will continue to hamper the growth of the church until the first three mistakes are addressed, but now is the time to begin correcting them for a better budget and more ministry in 2015.

Because it's ministry we shouldn't be paid?

Yesterday I posted an article on why people think it is OK to ask creative people to work for free.  If you didn't see the article you can read it here.  We need to ask why the same thing is often true for those of us in ministry.  I lead workshops and conferences on small church and bivocational ministry.  I cannot tell you the number of times I've had requests to lead a conference and was told that the organizers didn't have much money and would only be able to provide a small honorarium plus expenses or ask me to do the event for free.  One organizer put a cap on the expenses he would cover about three weeks before the event was scheduled which meant I either had to accept that limit or cancel the week long series of seminars.  Guess who would have been blamed for the cancellation?  That limit did not cover my expenses so I had to cover them myself from the already reduced fee I had previously agreed to.  I was away from home for a week, lead three six-hour long workshops during that week, and got to pay for the privilege out of my own pocket.   But, after all, it's ministry so it's OK...right?

I have friends in the Southern Gospel Music industry.  Most performers in that industry work jobs throughout the week and travel on the weekends to various churches and events to sing.  These include not only local groups but also some who are well-known nationally.  They have to work in order to provide for their families because their music ministry won't pay the bills.  I've been told of churches that agreed to receive a love gift for the group, and when the pastor saw how much had been given decided it was too much.  He kept some of it for the church and gave the group what he thought was fair.  Some have told me after spending a weekend on the road away from their families they didn't receive enough to even pay for their fuel.  Yesterday, I saw an advertisement for a upcoming event for a country music performer.  Tickets were $69.00 and $87.00 each.  I've heard people complain when organizers raised their ticket prices to $15.00 to hear 12-15 different Southern Gospel Music groups perform on the same night.  But, after all, they are doing ministry so they shouldn't expect to be paid much...right?

I know very few ministers who receive a decent salary and benefit package.  If the average income of their congregation was determined, in many cases, the pastor's compensation would be well below that average.  And, if church income drops what does the finance committee begin looking at?  Since in smaller churches, especially, the pastors salary and benefit package is often the largest single expenditure on the church budget, that is where many of them look to make cuts.  Little thought is given to urging the congregation to increase its giving; it's easier to make cuts, and since the pastor is doing ministry it's OK...right?  GOD will take care of the pastor and his or her family...right?

If you haven't guessed, none of these are right.  Scripture clearly teaches that churches have an obligation to provide financially for those who minister to them.  If music and seminar organizers don't have the funds to pay for their singers and speakers, then don't host the event.  If churches cannot provide responsibly for those who provide leadership, then use lay leaders or close your doors.  It's time that churches, denominational bodies, and others stop thinking it is OK to use the gifts and talents of people for free just because what they are doing is ministry.

My main concern here is for pastors.  The fees I charge are very small, especially when compared to most secular speakers, and for some groups I discount that even more, but I have the flexibility to decide whether or not I'm going to speak to some group.  Most pastors do not have that flexibility.  Their financial futures are sometimes at the whim of a small controlling group in the church who still believe that it is not necessary to provide fair compensation for ministry.  That is a mindset that needs to end now.

What's stewardship?

A few years ago I was working with a pastor search committee to help them begin the process of searching for a pastor.  When we began to discuss the compensation package the committee chair apologized for how poor it was but explained the church had been having financial problems.  I explained that churches normally do not have money problems, but they have vision problems and/or they have stewardship problems.  I asked the committee how long it had been since any stewardship education had been done in the church.  The committee chair looked at me and asked, "What's stewardship?"  I responded, "You just answered my question." 

I'm afraid too many people in our churches could ask that same question because a lot of our churches are unwilling to teach biblical stewardship principles to its members.  In fact, I've had pastors tell me they are forbidden by their church boards to say anything about stewardship.  It is often these very churches that struggle so much with money issues.  For most churches, money issues is a symptom, not the problem.  The problem is a lack of vision (people will only give so much to pay the utility bills, but they will give to a vision in which they have ownership) or there is a lack of stewardship training (people don't know to give and why they should give.)

Another of the churches I serve is doing a Consecration Sunday next month as a way to teach stewardship to its members.  I've been invited to be the outside speaker which requires me to lead two training/encouraging sessions to the team leading this and speak at the Consecration Sunday.  We've already had the first team session, and I'll lead the second session this Saturday.  Consecration Sunday will be held the following Sunday.

What makes Consecration Sunday such a positive experience is that it is not about raising money to meet the church budget.  It is about teaching giving from a biblical perspective and asking the question, "What percentage of my income is God calling me to give?"  All the weeks leading up to the Consecration Sunday and the day itself stresses the spiritual growth benefits of asking that question.  It is about discipleship, not raising money.  The program is based on the book by Herb Miller entitled New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program with Guest Leader Guide & CD-ROM: Revised Edition.  This is the first time I've led this program, and I must say I am very impressed with how detailed the book lays out everyone's responsibilities.

I'm also impressed that this church is willing to use a program like this.  This is the first time in years, if ever, that this church has done such in-depth, intentional stewardship training.  They are going about it in a positive, healthy way and following the program the way it is laid out.  I think they will be very successful and it will prove to be a valuable learning experience for the entire congregation.

The fall of the year is when most churches begin preparing their budgets.  For many, it is a time of deep concern as they look at their giving patterns in recent years and realize they cannot continue to fund everything at the same levels as before.  I'm already hearing from some pastors that their church is cutting staff and taking a hard look at the benefit packages they offer.  One pastor has told me their new budget has cut virtually everything it can before impacting him, so he knows any further cuts will reduce his salary and/or benefits.

As some of you know, for several years our family owned a small business.  When the economy began to tank it affected our business like many others.  We cut and cut trying to stay open, but eventually we had to close.  It was a very difficult and painful decision.  One of the many lessons I learned from that experience was that an organization can only cut expenses so far before it can no longer operate.  To do well the organization must find ways to increase revenue.  Too many of our churches have not learned this.  They continue to see their giving patterns decrease so they think the only thing they can do is to reduce expenses.  However, eventually reducing expenses also means that ministry is reduced as well, and the church finds itself in a downward spiral.

I would suggest that a church would be much better off to seek a compelling ministry vision from God and begin regular discipleship training that includes biblical stewardship training.  Consecration Sunday appears to be one good option, but most denominations have stewardship training programs available for their churches.  Many of these are developed for specific size churches so smaller churches are not merely trying to make something designed for a much larger congregation work in their church.

What is your plan to offer stewardship training to your congregation this fall or in 2014?  Your discipleship training will be incomplete if you do not include teaching about biblical stewardship.

When your church is seeking a new pastor refuse to settle for who's available

A significant part of my work involves working with search committees as they search for a new pastor.  This can be a very exciting time as well as a frustrating time in the life of a church.  It is not uncommon for a search in our region to take 18 months or more.  Some churches do not want to hear that.  They can't stand to be without a pastor and will try to rush the process.  The churches that do that often regret it later when they find they now have a pastor who is not what they needed.  When that happens it often does not end well for the church or the minister.

Two things often happen when churches get in a hurry.  The most common one is they call someone without spending time thinking about what they really need in a pastor.  One of the things I urge these search committees and churches to do is to spend some time discerning where God is leading their church.  It's called visioning.  It takes time and is often messy, so many churches don't want to do it.  But, as I explain to these churches, if you don't know where God is leading your church to be in the next five years how do you know what gifts and skills your next pastor needs to have that will help lead you there?  They seem to hear that, but too often it doesn't slow them down.

This is very unfair to the prospective pastors this church may call.  I've seen the following scenario played out too many times.  The church is not unified around a God-given vision.  They call a pastor because they liked his or her trial sermon and seemed quite personable.  The individual accepts the call, spends a few months getting to know the people and the church, and suddenly the church decides it wants to move in a direction that is totally outside the pastor's gift mix.  I resigned my church after serving there for twenty years because I realized it needed a pastor with different gifts than I had.  I had taken that church as far as I could, and for it to go to another level of ministry it needed someone with gifts God had not given me.  It's one thing to realize that after twenty years in a church; it's something else entirely to recognize this a year after going to a church.  Suddenly, a good church and a good pastor finds they are not a good match for one another and difficult times are ahead for both.

A second thing that causes churches to get in a hurry is finances.  I will spend time working with a search committee to help them begin the process when I get a call from the chairperson wanting to know my thoughts on the church calling someone local who has contacted them about the position.  Perhaps they've invited this person in to fill the pulpit one Sunday and everyone enjoys the message.  People start asking why can't they just call this person and move on.

I get these types of calls too often.  My first question to the caller is usually what do you know about this person?  What is his or her background and denomination?  What are the theological beliefs of this individual?  Not once has any caller been able to answer those questions.  What they do know is the person is local and the church can probably save some money by calling him or her to the position.

Talk about a recipe for disaster!  Maybe the person is the right person for the position, but why not let the search process determine that?  I get very nervous when people come out of the woodwork wanting to pastor a church.  Sometimes it works well, but it can also create major problems in the church that can take years to resolve.  Calling someone to pastor a church should require more than some folks liking one or two sermons the person has preached.

Calling a pastor will impact a church for years, and even decades.  It is not something that a church should do without much discernment and prayer.  A church should definitely not settle for someone just because they are available or willing to work cheap.  You're not hiring someone to paint a room in your house; you are looking for a spiritual leader for your church.  Take the time to do some vision discernment and then begin looking for an individual who can help lead in the fulfillment of that vision.  Find out as much about your candidates as you can.  Check references.  Ask questions.  Keep praying.  This all takes time, but it is time well spent. 

Avoiding problems before they happen

I was part of an interesting Facebook discussion yesterday about church treasurers.  A question was raised about how a church can have accountability with its treasurer.  Several people suggested having a regular audit of the books, and others pointed out that often leads to treasurers being offended by their perception of people not trusting them.  One pastor told how their small church lost three primary families when an audit was suggested for the books.  In my pastorate we lost two families partly because I made a suggestion that would have eliminated a financial officer whose work was redundant.  They perceived my suggestion as a statement of my distrust of the individual, and no matter how much I tried to explain my position they were not satisfied.

The vast majority of church treasurers are honest people who often protect the church's money more closely than their own.  However, anyone can make a mistake.  Who hasn't overdrawn a checking account because of a mistake?  The most honest treasurer may be inept.  One church learned their treasurer had not balanced the checkbook in years, and when that individual stepped down it cost the church a lot of money and time to go back and bring the accounting current.  No one would accept the position until that was done, and I don't blame them.  And, unfortunately, there are a few who are dishonest.

We need to remember that we are dealing with God's money.  People have given their tithes and offerings to the church in the belief that they will be used for the ministry of the church.  It is an act of stewardship on the part of the church to ensure those funds are properly accounted for and used for the purposes for which they were given.  It is also an integrity issue.  I speak to numerous pastors who have not seen their church's financial statement in years and claim they cannot get the treasurer to produce one.  That is unacceptable.  In a situation like that I would either have a copy of the statement or a new treasurer regardless of how many families the church lost.  In the small, bivocational church which I pastored we had a treasurer and a financial secretary who produced a four page financial statement for every business meeting.  I have never seen such a detailed statement in any church I have visited, and when one read the statement there was no question that every dollar given and spent had been accounted for.  We left copies of the statement on a table in our entrance so anyone attending our church could pick up a copy and see how we handled our finances.  We wanted complete transparency.  For our church it was a stewardship and an integrity issue.  There were no trust issues with either our treasurer or financial secretary; they were some of the most honest people I have ever known, but we wanted to be completely open with our finances and they were not afraid of being transparent with their records.

However, I also know that asking for the financial records of a smaller church can sometimes lead to hurt feelings and loss of members.  What I suggested in yesterday's discussion is that between treasurers is a good time for a church to develop a policy that would require an annual audit of the books and an additional audit any time a treasurer resigns.  This does several things.  It establishes the audit as part of the expectations of the position.  Anyone accepting that responsibility knows ahead of time that an annual audit by an outside firm will be done.  In case of problems, it protects the outgoing treasurer from any allegations of misconduct, and it assures the incoming treasurer that everything is correct before he or she assumes responsibility.  Finally, it assures the church and anyone interested in the workings of the congregation that everything is being done openly and with integrity.

Good systems in place with documented policies can protect a church in so many ways.  If your church does not have such a policy in place, talk to your treasurer and ask his or her feelings about an audit policy.  Explain how it will protect him or her from allegations of wrong-doing.  If you are not comfortable with such a discussion, at least implement such a policy in between treasurers.  If the treasurer opposes such a policy, you may want to keep a closer eye on the books.  A good rule of thumb might be that the more angry the treasurer gets over your suggestion the more apt it is he or she is hiding something.  It may be that the loss of a family over such a policy might be a small price to pay to assure financial integrity.