Money

Last fall, your finance committee met and painstakingly put a budget together. Every department was asked to either cut costs somehow, or at least not add any costs. Times are tight, you know. Stewardship kicked off their fall campaign, and urged everyone to step up their pledges so the budget could be met. However, the pledges were less than the year before. Times are tight, you know. Churches generally figure that the pledges represent about 70% of what actually is donated, and when the total of the pledges plus the anticipated 30% don’t add up to the budget requirements, folks start talking about stepping out in faith. The budget gets adopted, no one loses their job and ministries continue as planned. However, as the new year progresses, the reality sinks in as the expenses exceed the income and red ink covers the financial report. The budget is in shambles. Times are tight, you know.

Does this sound like your church? I don’t know of any churches where the situation has been much different. It is especially true this time of year as attendance falls off and folks don’t pay as much attention to their giving. For some churches that have few reserves, the situation can be critical as there is not enough money to pay the bills and keep the ministries going forward.

Stewardship is uniquely in the hands of the laity. It is not up to the pastor. It is our church and our responsibility to give sufficiently to keep the ministries going. How can we approach money issues in a healthy way? Like everything good that we do, we turn to Scripture. From a Biblical perspective, we are to offer our first fruits to God. Not the surplus, not the leftovers and not the stuff that we would otherwise just toss out. We give the first and the best. The reason is clear. If we are to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind, our offering has to reflect that kind of love. We can start with the Old Testament, but quickly remember what Jesus had to say on the subject. Jesus reminded us many times that we are not to hoard money and possessions, but rather store up treasures for heaven. We are not talking about St. Peter’s ATM either. We are talking about the joy and blessing we have from supporting God’s work. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” That is pretty clear.

You might be saying, “Yes, Bill, I know that. But how do I find money in an already lean bank account?” Betsy Schwarzentraub has written a little article that is posted on the GBOD website under “Stewardship” called “First Fruits Living”. Betsy writes about attitude and spirit, and how we might prioritize by offering first fruits to God, and let all else follow, especially the blessings that come from such an attitude. This style of living is not so much about money as it is about how we spend our time and what relationships we build. Here is an example. I used to play golf just as often as I could. By the time I slipped out of the office, (or played on the weekend), hit some practice balls, had a quick sandwich from the grill, played the round and then hashed it over and settled the bets in the 19th hole, 6 hours were typically gone. If we played an out of town course, it was more like 8 hours. With the cost of the round, golf balls, constantly updating the equipment, a desperately needed lesson now and again (not counting the lost wagers—I was not very good), I spent some money. I also developed relationships with my golfing buddies and even structured vacations so that I could play some nice courses here and there. You can see that golf was a priority that had nothing to do with first fruits living. It did not make me a terrible person, and the guys I played golf with are real good people. But if I was playing golf and spending my time, money and relationship building doing that, the church and my family were getting second best from me. I finally realized that if I was going to get serious about serving God, I had to take a hard look at my priorities. I have some old golf clubs in the garage if you need some. I cannot honestly say that I have fully developed a first fruits attitude, but I sure am more intentional about how I spend my time and money.

Changing attitudes takes some time. One of the quickest ways to help the church and yourself get through the financial doldrums of the summer is to emphasize electronic funds transfer (“EFT”). It is really simple. Your church should have a little card whereby you direct your bank to automatically withdraw a set amount each month and pay it over to the church. No searching for checkbooks on Sunday morning and no worries about making an offering while you are on vacation. The money, your first fruits, comes right off of the top each month. The church knows that it can depend on you just as surely you know that you can depend on God. Studies show that churches that offer EFT have a steadier and better rate of giving, especially during the summer. The lay leaders can have an EFT campaign any time of the year.

There is quite a temptation for the lay leadership to go before the congregation and point out how far behind we are in the budget. We get focused on the church’s need for money and lose focus on our need for the church’s ministries. People tend to give generously to causes they believe in. It is up to the laity to make the church a cause that folks can get behind. We do that by reminding the congregation of how our church does ministry that changes lives. We use the offertory call as an opportunity to celebrate ministries. Stewardship is a year round discussion and is not reserved for the fall campaign. Moreover, it is a festival of God’s work through and in our church.

If the budget has been a wreck so far this year, then it is time to celebrate how much we love God and our church. Give everyone an EFT card and help them understand how that little piece of cardboard can be an expression of a first fruits attitude. Talk about the ways your church has changed lives in the community and in the congregation. Develop an attitude of abundance, not of scarcity when it comes to the work of the church. Don’t treat the finances of the church like a wake, but rather have a fiesta as we give generously, even extravagantly, to do God’s work.

Joy!

Bill