The Church and Money

I hope seeing the word ‘church’ and ‘money’ in the title doesn’t keep you from reading this article. My guess is you already have reservations about reading it because of those two terms in the title.

We are currently budgeting for 2010. The consistory has reviewed a rough draft budget for 2010 and we briefly discussed it at our October consistory meeting. It was an interesting conversation and brought to the surface a couple things I want to address.

1. The church is not out to get your money. One of the most common perceptions of people on the street is that the church exists to get their money. Sadly, churches have at times promoted this perspective by begging, pleading and even guilting people into giving more. There is no desire on the part of the leadership to do this. We believe it contradicts Scripture and our understanding of why we give. It is not primarily for the church to function but instead to reflect our trust in God and our faithfulness to Him.

2. We seek to operate on a needs-based not wants-based budget. We really encourage those making requests for next year’s budget to do so based on their needs not wants. It is the church’s responsibility to make good stewardship decisions regarding the use of the resources given.

3. We wrestle with the balance between basing decisions simply on what happened last year and faith. Is the decision about budgets simply a common sense, logical decision that is easily made by seeing what our income and expenses were last year? How does God fit into the conversation? What part does faith and prayer and seeking after His direction play in this decision? Obviously, it is important we consider the facts and we then work out of our faith. But what does that mean in considering a budget for 2010?

4. Giving is an act of obedience to God not the church. Your giving is a spiritual issue between you and God. Giving reflects a trust in God to provide, a recognition of God being the source of our resources, and a commitment to offer our first fruits, not our table scraps, to Him.

5. We desire to give more away as a church. One of our vision statements says, “to love and serve those outside the church as much as those within.” We believe this means the stewardship of our time and money. We are not yet there, but we hope over time, CRC grows in being a church that can say with integrity that we are living into this vision. This means in a very simple way, that 50% of our budget ought to go to help those outside the church. We are currently between 15-20% of our budget going to those outside the church.

6. Giving more away will happen if we give more not as we cut more in the church budget. Because our budget is needs-based, we don’t have a lot of room to decrease. Yes, there is always some room, but that goes back to the issue of faith and not just math in making these decisions. But even if we focused on cutting, we could only increase our percentage of giving 10-15% on a very bare bones budget for the church. However, if giving is the means to give more away, there is no limit to how our giving can grow. The typical percentage of income a church-goer gives in the United States is 2.6%. During the Depression that number was 3.3%. We have a giving problem in the church in North America, and it’s so much more than a church budget issue, it is a spiritual issue.

7. Giving always includes money. Recognizing that times are very tight for many, giving is still always about money. You can give your time and you can rationalize that as your tithe, but that is not how God views giving. It always includes money. The baseline is 10%, but God desires that through our willingness to let go of our material possessions, we can better grab a hold of Him and see Him (and not ourselves and our bottom line) as the source of our security and hope in this world.

Many churches in this difficult economic time are forced to make difficult decisions about how they use the resources they do have. Numerous churches are choosing to cut their givings. They are sacrificing what they give away because they see it as the only way to keep their staff and their lights on. In no way am I making a judgment statement. It is just true. Churches are having difficult, even heart-wrenching conversations about what they can and can’t do.

2010 Budgets will be made available after the November consistory meeting. I hope you’ll look carefully at this document. I hope you’ll consider prayerfully what this says about who we are as a church. Pray for the leadership as they seek God’s direction regarding these decisions.

Giving does include a commitment to the church, but so much more than that it is a commitment to God. As you consider your own financial decisions, please seek after God’s direction. That has to mean seeking after His direction in Scripture. Please don’t simply give to the church because you perceive a need; give to Him and if you are not sure what this means, ask Him. Giving is an act of obedience not benevolence.