Supporting mission work

 When I began serving a small, rural church as their bivocational minister I soon learned they did not have a lot of money. Their budget was very small, and they weren't meeting it. But one thing I learned surprised me: they gave 10 percent of their offering to our denomination's mission fund to support mission work around the world. I was not only surprised; I was elated. One of my firm beliefs is that God supports churches that supports missions. Even when money was tight, we tithed our offering to the denomination's mission work.

God did bless us financially, and a few years later I asked the congregation to consider increasing that support to 15 percent of our offering. We would do it one percent a year over five years so it would not be such a big jump at one time. They agreed to do that, and when I finally left that church to begin serving in a judicatory role that little church of 55 people was giving over $12,000.00 a year to mission work plus we were supporting all four of the special mission offerings our denomination had. In fact, a year after I left, the church gave $14,000.00 to mission work while building a $200,000.00 addition to the building without borrowing a dime! Before you decide that this church must have consisted of a few wealthy people let me assure you that was not the case. The majority of our congregation were retired or blue collar workers. Few had a college education. To my knowledge there was no one in the congregation that would be called wealthy.

I might add that we also supported local mission work. We gave money each quarter to the Salvation Army for their food pantry. That made more sense than us trying to offer a food pantry where we were located. As I told the congregation, I will be comfortable recommending people to the SA food pantry if we are helping support it. We also made a quarterly contribution to the local youth shelter which provided a place for troubled youth rather than sending them to jail. We saw that as an important local ministry.

If a church is going to teach tithing, it must model tithing. I can think of no better way to do that than to support those who serve in mission fields around the world and the US. While our denomination still takes mission offerings, it also requires our missionaries to raise their own support. Many churches now support individual missionaries which makes a lot of sense. When they come home on furlough they are available to speak to those churches who are supporting them. That can make an important connection between the missionary and the supporting churches.

As I close, I am going to challenge you. If the small church I served can tithe its offerings each week to their denomination's mission work, so can every church. Does yours? Are you teaching your people to tithe but not tithing what your church is receiving every week? Our missionaries deserve our support, and I would encourage you to provide it. Remember, God blesses those churches who honors missions.

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.

A vision that goes beyond the four walls of your church

Several individuals from the church where I currently serve as Transitional Pastor returned last week from a church that we help support in El Salvador. They had gone down to be with that church as it celebrated its 25th anniversary. Yesterday morning one of the people who went reported some of their experiences in both of our worship services. It was an amazing report of what God is doing through that church.

In addition to supporting the church, we also help support the education of some of the members. While our team was there last week some of the graduates told of the difference their education was making in their lives. One had recently completed his engineering degree, another had graduated from law school, and I believe a third was now a doctor. I believe there are others our church is supporting who are either in school or have graduated. The individual who gave his report to our church said no one from our church who went had a dry eye as these young people shared how much the support from our church meant to them.

This church I'm serving supports a number of special interest missionaries around the world in addition to this church in El Salvador. Many of these missionaries are related to our denomination, but a number of them are independent missionaries who have some connection to the congregation. Plus, this church sends a large sum of money each year to our denomination's overall missionary effort.

As I listened to the report given about the church in El Salvador I could not help but think of the world-wide impact our church is having for the Kingdom of God. We are a church with an average attendance of around 200 people in a county with a population of around 32,000 people. Yet, through our support of mission work world-wide we are impacting the lives of countless tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people for Jesus Christ.

So many churches have no vision for ministry that goes beyond the four walls of their building. Virtually their entire budget is directed at activities and needs of their own church with little to nothing given to ministry outside the church. Most of these churches will claim their giving is poor and they do not have the funds to give to mission work or even to ministries within their community. Money is not the problem. A lack of vision is the problem.

Two things are at work when a church suffers from poor giving. It either has no vision for ministry or the church needs teaching in biblical stewardship. If a church is only going to use its offerings to meet its expenses, that is all that will come in. But, if a church has a vision for ministry that goes beyond its four walls, it will see its giving increase IF the people have been trained to tithe and be responsible stewards.

As an Area Minister I had many pastors serving in financially-strapped congregations tell me they were not allowed to speak about money from the pulpit. I always told them they were in a church that most needed to hear about stewardship, but few of them were brave enough to go against the mandate they had been given. As a result, the church continued to struggle financially which continued to result in little to no ministry being done outside the church walls.

I can't take credit for anything the church I'm currently serving is doing with its support of mission work. They were doing this long before I arrived, and I pray they will continue to maintain their vision for doing ministry around the world through their support of various missionaries. I have always said that God will honor a church that honors missions, and this church is a great example of that. I pray your church is as well.

You can only cut so much

When the economy tanked in 2007-8 it finished off a small business we had owned for 15 years. Sales had been down for a couple of years before the economy went south, but the recession finished it off. I do not blame the economy. A poor economy only points out the problems that exist in an organization that a strong economy hides. I have written an e-book that I believe will benefit any small business owner who wants to avoid the mistakes that can cost him or her the business they've worked so hard to build. The name of the book is Mistakes: Avoiding the Wrong Decisions That Will Close Your Small Business. It's a bargain at only $4.99, especially when you consider that it can save you thousands of dollars if your business folds.

One of the lessons I learned through that painful process is that you can only cut costs so much. We had reduced expenses as far as we could and remain open. While reducing expenses in a down economy is often necessary, it's not enough to sustain the business. You also have to find ways to increase income.

It can be tough trying to find a way to increase sales in a slow economy and it's not always possible to maximize profits. In fact, to get the sale you may have to reduce your profit margin. The one thing you can't do is ignore cash flow. Cash flow is always important, but when money is tight it is king. When you're out of cash, you're out. Believe me, I know!

What does all this have to do with churches? Many churches have not seen their giving improve since the recession. Although I'm retired now from my judicatory role I still talk to numerous church leaders. Some report their giving is strong, but the majority has seen a steady decline in giving since 2007-8. Many of them have cut their budgets almost every year since then, and they are still not reaching their budget requirement.

In most smaller churches the biggest component of the budget is the pastor's salary and benefits. Some pastors have been forced to become bivocational if they wanted to remain at the church. Others are trying to support families on salaries that have been reduced. There is only so much that can be cut from the pastor's salary and benefits if the church wants a quality pastor.

Larger churches can cut staff and reduce programs. Smaller churches do not have the ability. Many of them have minimal funding for their ministries, and if they cut those they eliminate the limited ministry they are offering. If a church offers no ministry, how does it justify its existence?

By the way, denominations are struggling with reduced funding as well. Many have significantly reduced staff, cut back on missions work, and offer reduced resources to their churches. Some have restructured their financial systems to reduce the amounts going to regional ministries and increased the amount going to the national denomination.

Churches and denominations need to realize they can only cut costs so far. Cutting costs alone will not enable some of these organizations to survive long-term. They have to find ways to increase revenue if they want to continue to have productive ministries.

Increased funding will come when the church does a better job of teaching sound biblical stewardship principles. Casting a vision for ministries that capture the passion of the people will also result in increased giving. We are far removed from the time when people gave just to keep the denominational wheels greased. They will give to a vision for ministry for which they feel some passion. They will be generous towards ministries that are making a difference in people's lives.

It's time church and denominational leaders stop avoiding the elephant in the room and realize the current financial reality many of them are facing. It's time they begin to address this reality and take the necessary steps that will result in increased giving. In fact, it's long past time.

What are you teaching the church about giving?

In a meeting with a group of men one of them began to talk about the giving in their church. Thirty years ago the church was nearly broke. A new pastor came to the church and slowly the finances began to improve until giving nearly doubled the budget needs of the church. This church was able to become a significant support of mission work in its denomination as well as do some incredible ministry locally. After several years this pastor left. Today, the church's giving has declined significantly. It gives almost nothing to mission support. When I asked the individual why the church had such a financial roller coaster he responded it had to do with the pastors and their teaching on giving.

The one pastor presented a biblical view of giving which included tithing. He was not afraid to preach sermons on stewardship, and he backed his teachings with his own faithful tithing. The pastor taught that a church does not take up an offering but receives an offering as part of its worship experience. As money came in it was wisely invested in Kingdom work. In time, giving improved dramatically in the church.

When this pastor left the new pastor told the church that tithing was not taught in the New Testament. He eliminated receiving an offering as part of the worship service and put up a collection box in the back of the sanctuary where people could put their offerings if they so chose to do so. Many of the new people who came into the church under his ministry did not have a biblical view of stewardship and did not support the church financially at the same level as before. As a result, the church is financially unable to minister as it had been doing.

As I've often written in this blog, everything rises and falls on leadership. This is certainly true in the church. After about three years the pastor's ministry philosophy and theology will become that of the congregation. If a pastor has a poor understanding of some aspect of biblical teaching it won't be long before many in the church shares that same understanding.

If a pastor wants his or her church to be an evangelistic church, then he or she better be evangelistic themselves and need to teach people how to share their faith with others. If a pastor wants a church with a biblical understanding of stewardship then he or she better be tithing and teaching biblical stewardship to the congregation.

What is the giving like in your congregation? What does that pattern say about what you are teaching about stewardship?

Render unto Caesar

The Bible teaches us that Christians have an obligation to be good citizens. We are to render unto Caesar what is his and to God what is His. The past few days I've been rendering unto Caesar. Yesterday I voted in the Indiana primary, and the day before I paid my property taxes. On April 15 I mailed in my income tax payment. Last week I paid the sales taxes from the preceding month's auction's sales.

In addition we are taught in Scripture to pray for those in authority over us. I admit that following this one can be difficult at times, but I remind myself that I am to pray for the office and the person who occupies that office. I may not personally like or admire the person, but I am to respect the office he or she holds, and it is out of that respect that we are to pray.

When I turned 18 this nation still had a draft system in place due to the war in Vietnam. Knowing that I was getting close to being drafted I decided to enroll in the Navy instead. This nation enjoys the freedoms it enjoys today because brave men and women have been willing to serve in the military to protect those rights. I was not going to burn my draft card or run away to Canada to avoid serving my nation as some did, and I look on those four years in the Navy with a great deal of pride. I appreciate the opportunity to have served our nation in that way.

However, we must never forget that as Christians we hold a dual citizenship. We are both citizens here, and we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We are called upon to also render unto God what belongs to Him. That includes our ultimate loyalty and faithfulness. Any time the state asks us to do something or accept something that is contrary to the clear Word of God we must obey God.

Sometimes people will say they would suffer the consequences if needed to obey God rather than the state. I have to admit that I wonder about that because there are many things in the Bible that we are commanded to do as citizens of God's Kingdom that most Christians do not do.

• We are commanded to share our faith, but few Christians have ever led anyone to faith in Christ.
• We are taught to tithe, but the average Christian gives less than 2.5% of their income to the church.
• We are commanded to gather together for corporate worship, but for many Christians today attending church on Sunday is something they do if there's nothing else going on.
• We are told that we are to grow in our faith, but many Christians have never grown beyond their initial salvation experience.
• We have been given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of ministry, but few Christians can tell you what their gifts are or how they are using them for ministry.
• We are told to pray without ceasing, but many Christians admit to seldom praying unless they are facing a crisis.
• We are taught to honor and care for our spiritual leaders, but many pastors and other ministry leaders often struggle financially. Clergy abuse accounts for a large number of clergy persons leaving the ministry every year.
• We are commanded to work for justice for those who are oppressed, but how many Christians or churches can you name who are doing that?

The list could go on and on, but I think this is sufficient. Most of us are faithful in rendering unto Caesar what is his, but that is often due to the fact that if we don't we break the law and face penalties. We are often less likely to render unto God what belongs to Him because we don't see an immediate penalty if we don't. We forget that there is a day of judgment coming for each of us.

But, we should not be motivated by the fear of God's judgment to do the things He has directed. Our motivation should come because of our love for Him and our appreciation for all that He has done for us. We should seek to be good citizens of the Kingdom of God because we are the recipients of Gods grace, not because we fear His judgment. We should desire to obey Him because blessings come through obedience, and those blessings are not only ours to receive but will also be experienced by those whose lives we touch on His behalf.

Who will fund your church ten years from now?

There is an elephant in the room that many churches are trying to ignore. It has to do with their future finances. Many small, struggling churches survive financially today because of the faithful giving of people in the past. When churches were full of the Builder generation the giving was strong enough to allow many of them to save significant sums of money. Now, after several years of decline, many of these churches regularly dip into those savings to pay current expenses. What happens when that savings is gone and the last of the Builders and Boomers are gone?

It's well known that the Builder generation strongly supported institutions such as churches. Even many of us in the Boomer generation, once we returned to the church, have been pretty faithful financial supporters. However, that has not been the case with many of succeeding generations. As younger generations have reached adulthood they have often been saddled with excessive debt, including student loans, and were facing a combination of shrinking wages and rising costs of living. Those factors, coupled with a lack of interest in institutions in general, have led them to give much less to their local church. Even those who are generous givers often split up their giving between their church and other charities and groups they want to support.

A few years ago I was speaking with a denominational leader whose primary role was to work with the churches of that denomination to help them realize what the financial future looked like for churches. He said most of the churches have no idea, and those who do want to pretend it won't happen to them. We can pretend all we want, it is the reality facing many of our churches, and now is the time to begin preparing for it.

What can churches do in light of expected reduced giving in the future?

• Avoid debt. Be sure you really need to build that new addition or undertake that capital project. If you do, cash-flow it. The Bible tells us that the borrower is slave to the lender. Churches are not the exception. The last thing you want if your giving drops is a large mortgage payment.
• Teach biblical stewardship. Many churches are very reluctant to hear sermons about money. Some have insisted their pastors never discuss money from the pulpit. Those are the churches that need to hear about stewardship the most. Many denominations have sound, biblical stewardship programs that you can use. Don't wait until the church needs money to talk about money. Stewardship is part of discipleship. Talk about it in that context.
• Invest in God's kingdom. As a pastor I often reminded our church that God honors churches that honors missions. When we had very little money we still gave 10 percent of our offering to our denomination's mission program. I told our church that we can't expect people to tithe if we as a church don't tithe. When our finances became stronger we increased that giving to 15 percent of our offering. The more we gave the more came in. We were never able to outgive God.
• Take a close look at staffing needs. In many small and medium size churches salary and benefits for pastoral staff often take up the majority of the church's income. That leaves little money for ministry and other expenses. Many of these churches are now looking to call bivocational people as pastors and for staff positions. Many churches are using more volunteers in some positions.
• Finally, accept the reality that your church could be affected by reduced giving in the future. Begin to talk about that now and take the steps appropriate to your church to counteract that possibility.

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!

Digital giving

A couple of years ago I was shopping with our son and paid my bill with a check. On the way out of the store he said that I was the only person he knew who still wrote checks. Like many young people he pays his bills online and uses a debit card when making purchases. he writes one check each month for his rent, and that's only because the rental company requires it.

I still use checks, but I've been noticing that more and more stores no longer accepts checks. At some time in the near future check writing will probably be a thing of the past.

Churches need to think about what that's going to mean for them. Even today many millennials struggle knowing what to do about giving to their church. With no opportunity to give online or a way to use their debit card they are forced to use cash or give nothing. Many choose to do the latter.

Some larger churches offer online giving through their website while others have ATM machines in their lobbies. I doubt that many smaller churches have such options, and it could be costing them. At a time when many churches are seeing a decline in their giving our churches need to make it as easy as possible for people to give.

This is probably something many small churches have never considered. We have been so used to our envelop systems and passing the plate that we've not considered that there are now two generations that doesn't fit this model. If we want them to participate in the financial life of our churches we have to offer them options that fit their lifestyles and habits.

Personally, I'm not sure that small churches need ATM machines, but there is no reason some method of online giving could not be offered. As I've promoted before in this blog, every church needs a website, and that site could include a method of giving to the church. Drop-down menus could be available so people could give money to the church, to missions, or to a special offering the church might be receiving. It may be that this option would not see much use at first, but as younger people begin to replace us older ones it's likely the church would also see a shift to online giving.

This may seem strange to some churches and perhaps even a little nonspiritual. But, over the centuries the church has had to make many changes, and each of them no doubt generated doubt and criticism. It's time churches began to consider offering different ways for people to give.

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.

Should a Christian be wealthy?

While reading some of the blogs I follow I came across a post entitled "Should Christians Be Wealthy?" I did not read the article. There are two points of view on this question that many hold, and I disagree with both so I moved on to the next post.

One view takes the approach of the Prosperity Gospel that claims if you have enough faith you can create great riches. Pray in certain ways, use the right words, and God is obligated to open up the windows of heaven and pour out riches upon you. I stopped listening to those teaching that when I questioned why they never took that message to Bangladesh or some other third-world country. Surely those folks would like to know the magic formula to become wealthy. It seems those teaching this philosophy preferred to remain in the states where people could afford to buy their books and tapes.

The other view sees wealth as something evil. In this view one can only become wealthy if someone else is becoming poorer. People holding this view believe that wealthy people must be punished with increased taxes in order to spread the wealth. As a bivocational minister I am not wealthy, but I strongly disagree with this view.

People who take risks have the right to benefit when those risks produce results. An entrepreneur who starts a small business that becomes successful should not be punished for that success. The government is ready to increase his or her taxes if the business succeeds, but does nothing if it fails. Besides, what is gained by punishing success? No poor person ever gave me a job so I'm thankful that people have succeeded and businesses have grown so that they needed to employ more people.

There is a third view on Christians and wealth that I find more balanced. I believe the Bible does teach principles that will lead to a Christian (and non-Christian for that matter) to enjoy financial success. One of the best resources I've found that addresses this is Rabbi Daniel Lapin's book Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money. Rabbi Lapin explains that one of the reasons the Jewish people have often been so successful is that they follow Biblical principles that promote wealth. Referring to the Old Testament and the Torah, he presents ten fundamental "commandments" that relate to both money and business.

One of these commandments is that people should believe in the dignity and morality of business assuming they are conducting their business in a moral and ethical manner. No one should apologize for making a profit if they are offering a product or service that benefits others. No one should apologize for doing a good job and being rewarded financially for doing so, nor should they be attacked by others for being successful.

Another commandment addresses tithing. Rabbi Lapin says that for thousands of years Jewish people have seen the connection between giving and increased wealth. We do not give in order to receive, but it seems that givers do receive far more than they give which enables them to give even more. Some of the most generous people I know are wealthy Christians who understand they are merely stewards of all they possess.

Rabbi Lapin goes into great detail explaining the principles and reasoning behind each commandment. I found the book helpful as both a minister and an entrepreneur and learned things I had never seen taught elsewhere.

I think you will find this a very interesting and inspiring book. I enjoyed the insights the Rabbi shared regarding some of the teachings out of the Torah as well as the Jewish understanding of some Old Testament stories. You don't have to preach a prosperity gospel in order to teach your congregation sound Biblical principles about wealth and money.

The need to reinvent

I was raised in a time when things were fairly stable.  Marriages were expected to last forever.  You went to work for a company, stayed there until you retired, and received a gold watch.  You could attend virtually any church in a denomination and would find the services would be amazingly similar, they would be using the same materials and literature, and offer the same programs.  I am a product of that kind of thinking.  My wife and I have been married for nearly 48 years.  At age 18 I went to work in a factory, worked 30 years there, and when I retired I received my gold watch.  While working that factory job I accepted the call to a small, bivocational church where I served for 20 years before accepting a call to judicatory ministry where I've now been for the past 14 years.  On the surface, it appears my life has been fairly stable, but in reality there have been many changes along the way.

My pastoral ministry looked much different when I left that church in 2001 than it was when I began there in 1981.  When I started it was not uncommon to make visits to church members unannounced, but by the time I left the church I visited very few people without an appointment.  When I started we would go door-to-door in nearby neighborhoods inviting people to worship services or VBS or some other special event we were doing.  We also ended that practice when we discovered that most people considered that an intrusion in the precious few moments they have at home.  My leadership style changed as our church went from being primarily a board-led church to a pastor-led church.  As I earned the trust of our congregation I was given more freedom to lead.  One of my favorite stories is that at my first church business meeting my plan to take our young people to a nearby amusement park was rejected by the members.  Several years later I made the decision, with input from three people who were with me, to purchase a new digital piano for our church.  After the piano arrived I called a business meeting to get church approval for the purchase, and it was approved unanimously.  What a difference a few years make!

I changed my preaching style three different times while I pastored that church.  When I began I stayed behind the pulpit as I was heavily dependent upon my notes.  A few years into the pastorate I began preaching from a manuscript.  That experiment lasted about 18 months when I changed to a simple outline.  That outline also allowed me to move from behind the pulpit so I could freely move around the platform.  I also began to incorporate more stories into my messages as I learned that people could often identify with the stories and connect them to their own lives.  One of my favorite comments people sometimes give me after I've preached is that I make the Bible come alive through the stories I use.  The Bible is alive, and one of my preaching goals is that people experience that.

At a meeting a few years ago with other judicatory leaders I mentioned that I feel that I enjoyed a good ministry as a pastor, but I did not believe that much of what I did during those two decades would be as effective today.  I could not pastor today as I did then; I would have to reinvent myself as a pastor if I wanted to have a productive ministry.

Working with the churches in our judicatory and with various denominations around the country I see many pastors still functioning as they did 20-30 years ago and wondering why their ministries are not more effective.  They're doing everything they learned in seminary in the 1980s not realizing that we live in a much different time.  The expectations people have of church has changed.  People move more often making it more difficult to have a stable membership.  Children's ministries have changed with the increased numbers of single-parent homes.  Children are often with their other parent half the year making them unavailable for your church activities.  As the Builder generation dies off churches see their giving levels drop because the younger generations go not financially support the church at the same level the Builder generation did.  Fewer and fewer people are available for Sunday evening and mid-week services so efforts to maintain those are sure to be disappointing in many churches.  As a pastor, you may need to take a serious look at your ministry and preaching styles and see if you need to make some changes.

The same is true for churches.  I continually talk to small churches who insist they want to reach new people, especially younger people, and yet are unwilling to do anything differently than they did in the 1950s.  Any attempt to try something new is met by a controller who pulls out the church constitution, that was often approved in the 1950s, who insists that their constitution does not permit that to be done.  I'm currently working on a new book with a working title of Straight Talk to Small Churches so let me give you some straight talk.  Your church will either reinvent itself or it will die.  If you are more interested in protecting the way you've always done things than you are in reaching the people Jesus died for, then you are irrelevant to the Kingdom of God, and God will raise up another ministry to do the work you should be doing while he allows your church to die.

Learning new skills and new ways of doing ministry are not easy, but nobody said ministry was supposed to be easy.  Pastors and churches must continually reinvent themselves if they want to successfully impact a changing world for Jesus Christ.

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.

Small church complaint #2 - Our people are on fixed income

Yesterday, I addressed the most common complaint I hear from small church leaders: We are a church of older people.  Today's complaint runs a close second.  In fact, I usually hear them in the same sentence: Many of our people are on fixed income.  That, in their minds, explains the financial challenges within their church.

My response to that complaint is that nearly everyone I know is on fixed income.  I've been on a fixed income all my life.  The only people who are not on fixed income are people who earn commissions.  Having a large percentage of the congregation on fixed income has nothing to do with the money issues many smaller churches face.

The reality is that smaller churches do not have money problems.  How many times have you seen a small church barely make it financially from month to month, and then raise $5,000.00 in a week's time to replace a furnace that quit working in January?  Most smaller churches have money available to them, so if those churches are struggling financially it is due to other reasons.  Those reasons are usually a lack of vision for ministry and/or a lack of stewardship training.

Few smaller churches I have worked with had any kind of vision for ministry.  They opened their doors each Sunday and hoped something good would happen.  The closest thing to a ministry vision they have is to keep the doors open, and that doesn't require much.  As long as they can pay their utility bills and give their pastor a token salary they can keep the doors open.  Not surprisingly, just enough money is given each week to allow that to happen.

People do not give to pay electric bills and keep the grass mowed on the church property.  However, they will give to vision.  Many times I have seen smaller churches respond quite generously to support a vision for ministry that has united them.  Shortly before I resigned as pastor of my church we began construction on a new fellowship building.  I had challenged the 50-member congregation to build the building without borrowing any money.  Several months later the building was dedicated and was completely debt free.  Our blue-collar congregation made up of many retired persons had raised the $200,000.00 needed to build the facility.  The treasurer told me that money had come in from places I could not imagine.  People had bought in to the vision of what that building could do for the church and its ministry, and they supported it with their prayers and their finances.

The second reason churches face financial challenges is a lack of stewardship education.  I once met with a pastor search committee who assured me they would pay their pastor more if they only had it.  I asked how long it had been since the church had any training in the area of stewardship.  The chair of that committee asked me what stewardship was.  I explained she had just answered my question.

Recently, I worked with some small church leaders and led them in an exercise to determine the tithing potential of their church.  I pointed out that the average church member in America gives 2.1% of his income to the church.  When we finished the exercise they learned that their congregation was giving less than 2% of its income to the church.  None of the churches present had done anything intentional in recent years to teach about stewardship, and none of them had a vision for ministry that would generate giving within their congregation.

People living on fixed income is not the reason why many smaller churches struggle financially.  The real reasons are a lack of vision and a lack of stewardship training.  When these are addressed most smaller churches will find they will have all the financial resources to do what God has called them to do.