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October 27, 2008
3 steps to position your church to address an economic crisis
As the impact of the economy continues to to impose itself upon family life and church family life, it's critical that churches be positioned as a resource. We have been handed a golden opportunity to provide Biblical, relevant solutions to families who are hurting and suffering from the loss of their jobs, homes, etc.
Here are three things that you need to begin doing (if you haven't already):
1. Name the fear. As one of my communication professors once said, "Until you speak it, it's not real." Get it out in the open. Name the pink elephant in the room. The economy stinks, and like it or not we've got to make some adjustments to weather the storm.
If you choose to ignore it, you'll be the ONLY one who does. The people in your pew need to hear from you. They know that their financial reasoning for the most part is flawed, but they also aren't sure how to correct it.
The other risk you take by keeping silent is that your decision makers could step in and take control. And they may choke the ministry right out of the church in an effort to survive.
You are the spiritual leader. Own your role. Talk about it. It's less scary and managable once you put it into words.
2. Host financial workshops. Getting out of debt programs are a great place to begin. What about leading a community session on mortgages? What about a job skills fair? There are wonderful ways to bridget the work of the church into the community, one full of people in need.
Get some good financial practioners in your church together and create a series of events that help people deal with real issues and offers practical solutions. Quit talking about being relevant and offer something that will change/transform people forever.
3. Prepare for an increase in benevolent requests. Maybe you reallocate resources in your 2009 budget? Maybe you take a special offering to fund additional needs from members of your church and community.
One church where I live actually reallocated an additional $40k to benevolence because it recognized that more people would be coming to the church for help, and it was their responsibility to be ready to help.
Do you have a process in place to quickly respond to needs? If not, now is the time to do so. It shouldn't be an act of congress or a dehumanizing experience to request help from the church. Jesus talked a lot about the poor and spent most of his ministry with them. Aren't we supposed to follow his example?
The difference this time and in this moment in our history is that requests for help will be coming from the family we've sat next to in the pew for years as well as the homeless.
This is a time for action. How are you best positioning your church to be salt and light to a world in need. What we interpret as tragedy, God can transform into an opportunity for ministry.
Are you prepared?
Posted by bstroup at October 27, 2008 5:03 PM
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