ddhr.org - Church budget and faith

It's Sunday, so I'll write about churchy things. Today, my pastor said an interesting thing about the church budget. He said church budget planning needs to include an act of faith. In other words, you don't just say, "Well, we have X amount of money, so we can do the following Y things." Instead, budget planners should have faith that God will provide more than they can plan for.

It's an interesting idea, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I agree that faith should be exercised in all areas of life. If you're gonna take Christianity seriously, you shouldn't do it selectively. This applies to marriage, friendships, work, and yes, money.

However, on the other hand, I feel like the church should use our (and my) money wisely. They should plan according to what they have, and make it work well. Instead of overbudgeting and then doing a series of sermons about money and tithing, they should budget like a company or a family and do it conservatively. When a family decides on a budget, they don't plan a few extra vacations and have faith that God will provide the means. I realize this is different than what a church does, but the idea is similar. #religion

Comments

Rus

Jan 21, 2008

I agree. Of course the other argument is that you are showing a lack of faith by not stretching the budget.

Perhaps the budget should have buckets for "faith-based initiatives." These could be what church leadership feels they are being lead to do next, and are trusting that God will bring this money forward before they begin. Is this a lack of faith or prudent ministry?

We don't hear a leader say, "Associate Pastor John feels like he is being led to be a senior pastor in an existing church, so we are going to adjust the budget with the idea that God will lead him to this church by the end of this fiscal year and therefore free up his salary for other endeavors." We tend to measure church health on attendance and tithe. Not on how many people are active in ministry and spiritually growing or moving away from being church consumers, or how many other churches have been planted. We run it corporately. We tend not to plant churches in areas of need for concern that the loss of staff and funding by some members who feel called to move to the new area. We don't frequently see this sort of faith based planning when it comes budget time.

Dave

Jan 22, 2008

I'm definitely showing a lack of faith. I guess my main problem with the church budget is that it seems to get brought up quite a bit. When there's a series of sermons on "stewardship" and "tithing" it gets a little annoying. And when the church budget and weekly tithes are printed in the church bulletin every week, I feel like my nose is being rubbed in it. However, it's a solid fact that tithing increases after such sermons. Also, if the church was always ahead of budget, people would see no reason to give. So there's a good and a bad.

And I agree with the bucket idea. It's like saying, "We have X amount of money, so we can do the following Y things. And if we get more than X amount of money, we'll do these other things."

bible.curious.learner

Apr 4, 2008

Hey guys. Thanks for the opportunity to give a few humble thoughts.

I'd like to respond to a few sentences from above ...

"I feel like the church should use our (and my) money wisely ..."

FYI - "our money" is not 'our' money. Its the Lord's. In fact, the whole earth is the Lords. The word conservative was also used. That's pretty hard for someone with a strong desire for and/or a skillset toward evangelism. For anyone with a sense of ministerial call to live out the great commission each day, they may find it difficult to be 'conservative.' You're pastor sounds like he has a heart for the lost. I hope that is the case anyways.

Also,

"they should budget like a company or a family and do it conservatively."

With a company (especially) or a family, the bottom line at the end of the day is the dollar. However, with the body of Christ, the bottom line is giving glory to God through obedient discipleship of the world - not exactly the best comparison.

Lastly,

"When a family decides on a budget, they don't plan a few extra vacations and have faith that God will provide the means. I realize this is different than what a church does, but the idea is similar."

I find it hard to compare the 'great commission' with a week sight seeing in Europe.

I commend you for your transparent writing. It is refreshingly honest. We need more of that. Thanks again for the opportunity to share in dialogue.