How would ministry priorities change
if we didn’t rely on offerings to fund ministry?
So much of church life revolves around talk of mission. Who should we serve? What causes might we adopt?
However, we serve no one without offerings. Maintaining the offering base can quickly replace our lofty mission plans.
We camouflage this search for offerings with rhetoric. The “D” card is played—demographics. When church leaders talk about demographics changing they mean that the people who are most likely to tithe are gone. There may be twice as many people living in the zip code, but they are not seen as offering givers. Better to close the church than reach out to new demographics. If those people of the new demographics actually started coming, they might cost us more than they give. We can’t have that.
We really don’t want to reach new people. We are looking for people like us or like those who are gone.
The first thing offerings go toward is funding the structure for the collection of offerings— the weekly church service, the passing of the offering plate, and the annual pledge drive.
Consequently, we fund ministries which we think will guarantee offerings. Often they benefit only the people funding the offerings. We tend to think this is families, but we are probably wrong about that.
In most churches, the percentage of offerings that actually go toward mission work is very small. Some even rely on special offerings or fee-based Vacation Church Schools and mission trips.
We set out with the best of intentions to change the world. We end up working to keep our collective heads above water.
What if there was a way to fund ministry without offerings?
We’d still expect people to give, but we might start looking at our members differently. We might restructure staff and priorities. We might see people for their skills, passion and talent. Our ideas of ministry might change in major ways.
It’s a question worth asking even if it’s unrealistic. How would your church minister if money were no object?
But what if it actually might be realistic?