The Wilful Sunflower

Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today writes:

The color of Christmas may be red ink this year for many of the nation's churches.

Experts blame 6% unemployment and sinking investment income for pummeling budgets of congregations great and small, black and white, urban and suburban. Adding to it: scandals, controversies and rumors of war.

Many religious institutions finished November at 10% to 20% below the usual level for the year to date, says Jerry Butler, executive director of the Willow Creek Association, a national network of 4,800 evangelical megachurches. "The word you hear everywhere is 'cutbacks.'

"Churches will cut activities and programs, maybe give fewer youth camp scholarships. They will cut equipment."
– link via Clarity Amidst Chaos

You know what? This is horrifying. Oh, it's not horrifying because churches are having/will have to make do with less money than usual.

It's horrifying because we are starting to talk about the church and her budget like as if she were any other huge secular corporate organisation.

What makes us any different? Like any other business, we have a shrinking budget; we expect cutbacks and staff lay-offs. Missionaries are being recalled.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod laid off 17 people, including nearly 30% of the missions department, just after Thanksgiving, and last week called home 20 missionaries.

"Going out into the world is one of the key goals of any Christian church," says spokesman David Strand. "It breaks your heart to do this."

Hudson Taylor and his contemporaries would have fainted. What happened to the faith that if God calls, He will provide? What happened to "do not worry about tomorrow" and "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

Next you're going to tell me that I shouldn't take the Bible so literally, that God gave us common sense and an ability to plan.

Yes, but what happened to the idea of committing our plans to the Lord and asking Him to tell us what He would like us to do? Making ministry decisions based on a budget (or projected budget) feels to me like we're cutting God out of the picture. We can't do this and we can't do that because we don't have the money... and whom did you say your God was again? Would that be the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and calls the stars by name? (Psalm 50:10, 147:4)

When your appreciated stocks are under water, "it's not so easy to write a check for $100,000," Strand says.

Quite. I believe that's why it's called "living by faith, not by sight". (II Corinthians 5:7) Hello!!! Do you or do you not trust in a living God??!!?!?!!

Of course, things like this don't help:

Today's dollar in the collection basket is divvied up differently, as well.

About 85% stays home to run the church operations, and in some cases pay for worship services that rival commercial pop concerts with theater seats, lavish sound and light systems and more. It was 79% in 1968.

Meanwhile, the portion allotted to gifts called benevolences, for needs beyond the local church such as missions and evangelism, sank to a record low. Says [researcher Sylvia Ronsvalle, who tracks church giving nationwide]: "Philanthropy is being redefined as personal comfort."

She said it, not me: About 85% stays home to run the church operations, and in some cases pay for worship services that rival commercial pop concerts with theater seats, lavish sound and light systems and more. Good grief!

Then there's the other side of it: we are the church. Are we giving?

At most churches, even longtime members aren't as generous as their Bible recommends: Only about 10% "tithe," or give 10% of their income.

But sometimes that's because we see 85% of that tithe being spent on unnecessary luxuries at home, instead of being used to meet greater needs.

The article lists three non-economic factors that are probably affecting giving:

1. Outrage over church scandals
2. Annoyance over denominational infighting and disunity
3. Obliviousness to the church's economic needs

The first two are – dare I say it? – the church's own fault. If she's hurting her own budget, she has to clean up her act. Once again, I'm going to ask: Where is God in all this? Not only is He not invited to be involved in the planning, it seems like He's not allowed much involvement in other aspects of church leadership and governance, either! Ouch.

As for the third... "People come to a big church and they think the place must be swimming in money and their contribution isn't critical," says Lon Solomon, senior pastor of McLean Bible Church in McLean, Va., where more than 8,000 people attend. "But when people see what work we are doing or they read about the downsizing in the bulletin, they think, 'I had better step up,'" he says.

That's your solution. If the church needs money because she is trying to meet a need, and if she is open about how much she receives and where the money is going to, people will be willing to give. Christians are sometimes afraid to give to churches because they don't know what's being done with their money. I know Mom sends cheques directly to two missions organisations every month. She knows what the money will be used for. At least she's assured that 85% of it won't sit in the church and make us more comfortable whilst millions out there live in poverty and famine!

Churches have to be transparent about how they handle money. And, while I have no proof that the leaders don't pray over the budget and the decisions that are based on the (projected) budget, I still think God should be invited to play a bigger role in all this. What am I saying?! He should be playing the MAIN role!! And if He wants the missionaries to stay, they stay – even if the budget has a deficit the size of a blue whale!

We cannot run the church like any other secular business organisation! We are a church, not a corporation! What on earth could we have been thinking?!?!!