The Budget

As a pastoral counselor one of the things I often talk to couples about is their finances. In those conversations I always suggest that they develop and follow a budget. Often that suggestion is not received very well. Let me put it like this: Such a suggestion is often followed by looks and statements that sound like I had suggested that they sacrifice their firstborn to some volcano god. “Horrors! A budget? You must be kidding. Why should we live restrained by a budget? It is our money and we should be able to spend it as we please.”

 

Allow me to explain what a budget is. A budget is a plan. It is you taking control of your money instead of allowing outside sources and pressures to control your spending. A budget is you telling your money where to go instead of the opposite. A budget is being thoughtful about your investments and spending so that you end up where you hope to go. A budget doesn’t restrain you; it frees you to make choices that are good for you.

I am thinking about budgets because we had our annual congregational meeting last night where we considered and passed our annual budget. We also voted on who our leaders for the coming year will be, but we don’t care much about that. It is all about the money. When we opened the floor for discussion of the proposed leadership no one had anything to say – no questions to ask and no comments to make. Then came the budget and here came the questions. I’m not complaining about or knocking people asking questions about the budget. They were good questions and the budget is an important church document. It is my belief that the annual church budget is, in reality, the church mission statement and the church’s basic theology with wheels. It says clearly what is important to us, what we want to accomplish and where we believe God is leading us. What concerns me is the lack of questions about the people we are proposing lead our church.

As odd as it seems, because it is a significantly smaller budget than our 2013 budget, I am very excited about our 2014 budget. It is not the perfect budget, but it is a giant leap forward. An honest look at our 2013 budget as compared to our congregational giving was very upsetting. Basically we were spending 100% of our giving income on staffing, administration and property. In very plain terms, we were spending all of our income on us. We existed as a church just to exist. No matter your theological leanings, this is not a good idea. The church does not exist to just continue being the church. The church exists to share the awesome message that God is real and alive and loves us. We exist to tell the world that this awesome God can forgive us and heal us and bring meaning purpose to our lives. The church exists for the people who have not yet come to the church.

The church I am a part of has a powerful and exciting opportunity in the coming year. Instead of existing to serve ourselves, we can make an about-face and choose to exist to serve others. We can switch from being a consumer church focused on meeting the needs of the church members over to being a missional church that is focused on impacting our community and world with the love and power of God – or not. Most protestant churches in North America need to make this same shift. Many, if not most, are unaware of the need to change and continue to wonder why they are not growing and are not appealing to unbelievers. Others have done the research and see the challenge but choose to not take on that challenge. They choose to remain in the comfortable rut they are in until the ends fall in and the rut becomes their grave. (A grave is just a rut with the ends closed in.)

In 2014 we have a profound opportunity to make an important choice. Knowing it or not, we have made an initial choice by ratifying the 2014 budget. We will have multiple opportunities to support this choice throughout the coming year. Every decision we make concerning how we invest our resources will either support or weaken our decision to become more and more of a missional church. Like most changes we have to make; first is the initial commitment followed by the hour by hour, day by day, and week by week decisions we make to implement the change.

Pray for us. We are off to a good start be we have many, many decisions to make. Pray that we make good, Godly decisions.

Copyright © 2014, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved