BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

There was a scary, but insightful, article in Saturday’s Winston-Salem Journal.  It was written by Tom Ehrich, and I just want to share his pertinent points with you.  The headline read,  “A RECESSION WOULD FORCE MAJOR CUTS BY CHURCHES.”  The only change I would make in that would be:  THE RECESSION HAS FORCED MAJOR CUTS BY CHURCHES!

Ehrich also noted that “belt-tightening comes hard for churches” because most are already tight, but there comes a time when cutting back can be self-defeating.  Do we get out and work harder, or do we circle the wagons and simply take care of our own?  In our congregation, we get a lot of requests for help with power bills, medical bills, even water bills, and for the last 15 years, at least, we’ve given some help to everyone who has requested.  That is not true anymore.  Because our budget is so tight, I have decided that we must help our own church members first, then if there are any funds left, to spend them in the community.  This was not a decision hastily made, but one made out of necessity.  There are only so many dollars to go around.

Later in his article, Ehrich says, “Most members see church as a voluntary society that meets their needs, or else they walk…we tend to please people, rather than guide them across wilderness…we tend to accept marginal giving, rather than lead people, as Jesus did, to self-sacrifice and gratitude.”  Ehrich has diagnosed the situation correctly.

Most people ask, “What can the church do for me?”  when the proper question should be, “How can the church use me and my talents to spread the good news of Christ and work for his kingdom?”  I can promise you, if the latter ever became our posture, we would not be worried about tightening our belts.  We would be building new facilities to teach, train, and disciple the new people who would be showing up every Sunday.

In difficult financial times, we need to nurture community, being there for each other when “each other” may be all we have.  But we can never forget “the least of these,” because of their supreme importance to God.  In order to do both, those of us who can will be required to make some sacrifices…maybe like not eating out, or missing a movie, or traveling less. 

Maybe if we as individuals will restructure our priorities, the church won’t have to compromise its mission.  Self-sacrifice and gratitude are what following Jesus is all about.  I’ll go first.  Will you follow?

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday