My apologies for the length of time since my last post, and, in fair warning, it may be some time before my next one.
I was asked today if I am active in my church. Of course I am; did you even need to ask? The person who asked me responded that they were no longer active in their church. That concerned me; I asked them why that was. They told me they had gotten frustrated with church leaders running the organization more like a business than as a church.
This is an easy trap for church leaders to fall into, particularly in economic times such as these. I have managed (so far) to avoid working in the accounting office of my church, but I understand a few things about finance. I know that in times of economic downturn, charitable donations tend to be one of the first casualties. It shouldn’t be; most of us know that when we are suffering financially, the institutions that we normally support are suffering as well, but it’s easy to think that somebody else will pick up our slack. So, when church leaders are trying to make financial decisions, and bills are coming in, but offerings are not, at least, not the way they used to, the question is inevitable, “What can we do to make ends meet?”
The obvious answer is to make the congregation aware of the needs of the church, and ask that they would collectively dig deep into their pockets to support the ministry. Unfortunately, whenever church leaders do that, people become suspicious. It’s not difficult to start thinking that this person or that person is pilfering from the offerings of the church. Having said that, let me caution you that may be exactly what is happening. There have certainly been a number of instances in the past where various churches have suffered embezzlement at the hands of the very people that were supposed to be the trustees of God’s money. On the other hand, as I said earlier, everyone’s expenses have gone up of late, even, dare I say, God’s. When the price of gas goes up, it costs more to run the church bus, and it costs more for the pastor to do visitation. When the price of food goes up, feeding the hungry or running a soup kitchen becomes more expensive. Should we then abandon the work of God, because it just plain costs so much?
Another route that some church leaders follow is to start alternate fundraising efforts. Those sometimes work, and sometimes don’t. I have heard of churches starting day-care facilities with the idea that they could get volunteers to do some or all of the work, and bring in some much-needed capital, and at the same time give a break to some of the working mothers in the church. Maybe even bring in some children from families outside the church, and possibly give those families a little exposure to the gospel that they might not have had otherwise. It sounds like win-win, except that you don’t always get as many volunteers as you thought you would, and the government has a funny way of finding little problems with your facilities that require expensive corrections, and any for-profit business, even if it is on church grounds, still has to pay taxes. Sometimes such attempts to increase cash flow end up causing a bigger hole in the existing finances.
The real answer is for everyone involved to pray, and to trust God. The church leaders should understand that if they are doing the work of God, then He is not going to let their efforts come to naught. The members of the congregation need to understand that when times are tough, they need to trust God and make supporting the church their first priority. Let me rephrase that: The Bible says, seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness…” so, supporting the church should always be your first financial priority, but, if anything, in tough times, you need to be even more careful to maintain that standard of giving.
In 1st Samuel, King Saul found himself in a situation where he wasn’t sure what was going to happen next; he and the army of Israel were out in the field, preparing to attack (or be attacked). He was supposed to wait for Samuel the prophet to come, but he started worrying about what might happen if the Philistines attacked before they made a sacrifice to God, so he, “forced himself” to sacrifice an animal to appease God. Samuel arrived, and asked what that was all about, and Saul explained his thinking. Samuel told Saul that he should have simply waited on God. The bottom line is, Saul was in trouble because he didn’t trust God. Now, we know that God expects us to support his work. If you aren’t sure that the church that you are attending is actually doing God’s work, then that is something that you should prayerfully consider before forking over any more money (maybe you should be praying for direction in choosing a new place of worship), but, if it is, then you are only hurting yourself by not doing your part. Queen Esther once found herself in a situation where she wasn’t sure that she could trust God, but she was told that if she didn’t do her part, God was still going to do His part, she just wouldn’t be a recipient of God’s blessing. You see, you may think that God doesn’t need your offering, and you’d be right, but He desires to use you and to bless you, but you have to do your part.
Disclosure: If you click on the link to the upper left and make a purchase, I do receive compensation. For what it's worth, I think that is a very fine Bible, or I wouldn't be advertising it. And, you know, times are tough. Thanks for understanding.
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