4/7InkzHVUEQeEdU9vpc1tikzEhChrKmPfvXI-FSDBrBQ

Church Budgets

The Death of the Offering-based Church

The church has always relied on offerings from followers for survival. That reliance has meant different things in different ages. In Jesus’ time we know that there were followers, many of them women, bank-rolling the disciples and later the apostles.

As the Early Christian Church grew, the contributions became expected. Failure to contribute whole-heartedly was even a death sentence in one Bible passage.

As the church grew across different cultures, contributions took on different forms. Some contributed by going off to war to fight the infidels. (If successful, they might be rewarded with land and title!) Farmers and tradesmen contributed to feeding the large number of clergy and maintaining property. (If successful, their standing in the community would grow.) Artisans donated their talents. (If successful, they might find a patron and their art would preserve their names forever.) 

Monetary tithes were never enough to keep church leaders comfortable and hence by the fifteenth and sixteenth century, church leaders had instituted a turnkey financial model. Pay to play or pay to pray. Indulgences. That incensed one young monk and the Reformation was on!

This was happening at about the same time as a bountiful mass of new land was discovered across the ocean. For the first time, there was someplace to go to escape the oppression of the church. Protestants began leaving in droves. Fresh start.

For years, many American churches copied the same model and congregations contributed their skills and work product to the maintenance of a parsonage and clergy. Monetary offerings were only part of the typical church budget.

Today’s clergy often laugh at these days, although there are few alive who actually remember them! They seem to forget that the contributions were made with love and sacrifice. A chicken given to the pastor was a chicken not available to feed the family.

In the most recent decades, clergy have been less likely to accept parsonage-based or non-monetary pay. Small congregations which thrived on non-monetary model through economically lean times were fairly suddenly priced out of existence. We are still experiencing the fallout from this shift in economic model of the modern church.

This doesn’t mean that things cannot change again.

2×2 believes that any church that relies solely on monetary offerings is scheduling failure. It may not happen for ten or twenty years but the path is fairly certain.

We have studied the statistics of congregations in our own denomination and regional body. Failure is the norm. It is almost universal. Large churches are in decline. Medium-sized churches are in decline. Small churches are the first to feel the pain. The others will follow. Survival is so tenuous that it outranks mission in budget priorities.

Redeemer—the congregation Bishop Burkat decided to close to make up for declining contributions to the regional body—was one of the very few congregations with positive numbers. The numbers presented to the Synod Assembly in 2008 and 2009 were fudged. And no one questioned them. No one.

In our next post, we will tell you how Redeemer had positioned itself to meet the economic challenges of this new ecclesiastic age.

24 Jan 2013

More Pastors; Fewer Preachers

Let’s face it. One of the biggest challenges for small churches (and that includes most churches) is meeting the costs of professional leadership. Salaries and perks are the bulk of the budget.

At the first sign of financial distress, what do most churches do? Call a part-time minister.

What is the priority of every part-time solo minister? Preparing for worship and Sunday morning.

Often, that’s about all a small congregation can negotiate from their leaders. It is the frequent source of conflict.

Sunday morning preaching alone does not grow a church, especially when the sermon is delivered to only a few dozen part-time listeners. But the pressure on congregational lay leaders is to grow and transform or else, while all the congregation’s resources are tied up satisfying the salary requirement for a requisite pastor—whether that pastor is helping the congregation grow or not.

This must change.

Education is coming to realize that the responsibilities of teachers are changing. There is no longer any need for thousands of biology teachers working to craft a lecture on photosynthesis when just one expert educator can thoroughly cover the topic online, complete with visuals and links to enhance the lesson. This role can be competitive to ensure quality, but duplication in every school district is no longer necessary. The old model for education, born of pre-Information Age traditions, will soon be obsolete and recalled as quaint.

It is projected that the typical class day will flip. Listening to lectures will be the homework. Class time will be spent with instructors facilitating discussions, problem-solving and projects—what used to be called “homework.”

Similar changes will benefit the Church. Small churches do not have to devote scarce resources to pay theologians to craft a sermon on the same topic as a several thousand other pastors. This model belongs to the ages.

It may once have been necessary when information was harder to come by and many members were illiterate. As the economic model of Church shifted to totally monetary compensation, it has been pricing small churches out of existence. This is a shame. Small faith communities still hold the greatest number of total denominational membership. People like small churches. Soon, only the privileged will be able to afford to live in Christian community. The Church will have defeated its own cause.

Today, we need more pastors and fewer preachers. We need comforters, advisors, peacemakers, innovators, advocates, teachers and leaders. Knowledge of scripture and church teaching is still important in performing these roles. But the expense of dedicating one full salary to every congregation for the primary purpose of filling a Sunday pulpit is imperiling the entire Church.

If small churches are to return to prosperity, they need hands-on pastoring more than expensive preaching. Just as in education, the Church must turn its priorities upside down. Thoughtful preaching can be provided online and delivered by anyone who can speak well. Professional staff will free a day or two for hands-on interaction in the community.

This is already beginning to take shape. Luther Seminary’s online preaching helps (www.workingpreacher.org) is a resource that covers each Sunday’s lessons from the Common Lectionary. Many seminary professors from varying traditions comment on the lessons, helping to free the time of hundreds of pastors. 2×2 fashions both its Daily Devotion and the weekly object lesson from this online discussion.

Meanwhile, online preaching is being honed to an art. The temptation for many preachers is to post their ten-page sermon manuscript on-line. These do not fit the habits of online readers.

Online preaching must conform to the new rhythm of modern life. Pastor Jon Swanson broadcasts a short devotional reading daily and elaborates more fully in his blogs. 7×7 (very short daily devotion) and 300 words a day (a longer—but still short—daily blog lesson). He is growing an enthusiastic following — including 2×2.

All of us pioneers in the social media world have analytics at our fingertips. We can test and hone our skills, using actual data. Pastors preaching in sanctuaries have to guess and wait a week to correct their course.

The role of ministers must change if ministry is to remain affordable to most congregations.

Now would be a good time to start.

23 Oct 2012

Why Worship in America Is Only for the Rich

Most people who attend church never stop to think of what the average Sunday morning costs. Many put a dollar or two in the offering plate — satisfied they’ve done their part. If they thought about it at all, they would probably compare their offering to the cost of a movie ticket. It’s about the same amount of time invested, and there are no expensive movie stars, stunt men or cars to blow up!

Here’s what a typical Sunday morning church experience costs (actual costs will vary):

  • First there is the cost of having a sanctuary. Let’s assume that an annual property budget includes at least $20,000 for keeping up the church building. That’s roughly $55 for the day.
  • Air-conditioning in summer and heat in the winter probably cost about $50 for the day. It all depends on the size of the sanctuary and type of heat.
  • Hospitality facilities must be included. Let’s add $50 per Sunday. That will cover the kitchen, coffee and paper supplies.
  • Then there’s the organ. Those organ maintenance contracts can knock the organist’s socks off— about $40 a week, whether or not you turn the power on.
  • We’ll assume the hymnals and choir music were purchased a long time ago and we never have to invest in new music.
  • The bulletins, probably cost $2 each with paper and toner and copier maintenance. If we have 100 at worship, that’s $200.
  • Now we come to the really expensive part—the minister. We won’t count the day spent planning the service and writing a sermon. A supply pastor costs roughly $150 for a one-hour service. A called pastor costs more. At a modest annual salary of $40,000, the Sunday part of the salary costs $109. But we have to pay for the whole week.
  • Office help to put the bulletin together might cost $30, but we are betting the office help wants to be paid for a few other days a week as well.
  • The organist, let’s say $150.
  • The choir director, another $150.
  • The janitor who keeps the place clean and the side-walk shoveled in winter — let’s say $25.
  • We’ll assume somebody donated the flowers for the altar, and the wine and bread for Communion.
  • Thank God for the volunteer choir, readers, ushers, nursery help. etc. We’d be out of business without them.
  • We won’t add the cost of using multimedia. We’ll just stay behind the times.

So let’s add that up.

Our barebones church service, handled the way most churches handle a service costs $900.

The worship service costs about the same whether we have 50 at worship or 500. Only the bulletins and hospitality costs slide with size.

If we have 100 people in church, every one of them — man, woman and that cute baby — must put $9 in the offering plate.

And they are paying only for Sunday morning.

We have to collect that every day to pay for the other six days of the week. How many of your church members are putting $63 in the offering plate every week? That’s $252 for a family of four every week! Let’s hope no one skips a week!

This is just the cost of Sunday morning worship. Our sample church hasn’t begun to reach out, educate, provide social services or support a hierarchy yet.

This is just something to think about as we plan ministry.

Praising God should not be prohibitively expensive for any size church. The cost is making worship the province of large churches. Large church worship is of a different nature than small church worship and doesn’t appeal to many. Most people belong to small churches. When it becomes too expensive they are not likely to start going to large churches. They are likely to become unchurched. Perhaps this is part of mainline church decline.

How can we make praising God something everyone can afford?

Any ideas?

07 May 2012

Budgeting for Church Growth

Today’s Alban Institute Roundtable discusses church budgets — a topic we’ve addressed before.

We have long advocated that a church budget be used as a tool to motivate a congregation from Point A to Point B, instead of simply representing what was spent last year plus a bit for inflation. See just a few of our posts on this topic.

Budget Time! Does Your Church Have Money for Ministry?

Why Church Growth Is So Elusive

The Future Belongs to the Underdogs and Innovators

Structuring the Church for Change

The way we think about our money and assets will predict failure or success. If we approach our budgets as “hanging on” to the way we did things last year and the year before, your ministry will die. If you look to the future with a vision of where you need to be, and anticipate the costs of getting there, you have a fighting chance. That planning must happen before the budget is presented, but often churches do things the other way around.

This requires more than approval of a budget. That is a small part of the equation but it is often where ministry starts and stops.

The budget is a map. If it plans to go nowhere, your church will go nowhere.

Teach your budget. Preach your budget. This does NOT mean begging for money. It means showing people how their offerings can be put to work for the true reasons people are motivated to give to churches.

Do this and your budget will become a living tool—not a mirror of your past.

photo credit: moominsean via photopin cc

05 Mar 2012

Budget Time! Does Your Church Have Money for Ministry?

Churches need to rethink how they fund their ministries.It is unfortunate that church budgets are often prepared at the busiest time of the church year — Advent and Christmas — in preparation for congregational meetings in the early part of the following year.

Often they look at the current year’s spending and tweak the numbers here and there and wrap it up into a package for the congregation’s approval.

That’s why we are putting in a word now for congregations to think about budgeting for MINISTRY. That’s different than budgeting for a MINISTER. The minister and your lay leaders need money to do the work. Failure to provide money for ministry leaves your church leadership with three common conditions:

  1. Reliance on the paid pastor for all leadership, creating whatever ministry is within his/her interests and skill set.
  2. Constantly soliciting volunteers and trying to grow your church with whatever skills you can muster (which are ever-changing and likely becoming more difficult to find).
  3. Existing in the status quo, enjoying the talents that your current team has for as long as they can provide them. (Then what?)

The failure of church budgets to provide money for ministry is probably the foundation of a lot of church conflict!

This common budgeting scenario has many churches hog-tied. Whenever a ministry opportunity arises that requires funding of even a small amount of money or requires skills the congregation cannot find within its membership, church leaders shake their heads and say, “It’s not in the budget. Maybe next year.” or “We don’t have the people.” But next year the same thing happens and they still don’t have the people.

Consequently, congregations are forced to say “no” to the very activities which would would help them grow and fulfill their mission.

In a fast-changing world it is impossible to forecast every need and opportunity.

Congregations must look beyond satisfying their minister’s compensation package and the hungry demands of brick and mortar if they are going to have the flexibility and skills to provide ministry.

Churches should create a Ministry Fund that gets regular care and feeding. This Fund should be available to fund unexpected opportunities for mission. A good goal to be achieved over time would be to have an equal amount of money for ministry as you have for a minister. Start where you are and find a way to get there! If you are successful in reaching that goal, resist the temptation to use the money to hire a second minister. A church needs working capital and many skills. Hiring one person will use your resources and limit your ministry to his or her skills. You want as many hands working at ministry as possible!

Perhaps the congregation can start such a fund with seed money and then fund it with a percentage of offerings. Create guidelines for requests and use. By all means, work within the governing rules of your congregation, but find a way to fund the work of the church.

Knowing there are resources to work with could energize your ministry! When someone in the congregation learns of a promising program, training session, or ministry opportunity, your leaders can nod their heads and say “We can help.”

21 Oct 2011