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October 30, 2008
Mississippi's Mixon weighs in on church giving in tough times
During a financial crisis the world and our church members do not need to see the church express itself in panic, fear, or doubt. The church should express faith and trust in God. Here are a few suggestions to help you face this crisis.
1. Take an honest look at your promotion of giving. Ask your pastor, staff, and Finance Committee to plan an emphasis on giving the tithe. Your state stewardship office can provide you with free materials. You should develop an annual giving emphasis. The problem is that some churches do get lax from time to time, and they need a gentle reminder that the tithe belongs to the Lord. Wake up your church with a stewardship campaign and share with them the need of reaching your community and the world. The financial experts remind us that during tough times the faithful will continue to give. It is true they may have less money to give, but they will give. Your target should be the casual givers and the casual attenders. Casual givers give when they have extra cash. The casual attenders are those who attend once or twice a month and only give when present.
2. Take a look at spending practices. A purchase system should be set up to control unnecessary spending. All staff personnel should be cautioned to spend only for needs of ministry and delay all non-essential spending.
3. Begin to set aside a three-month emergency fund. Most financial crises are temporary and in time the crisis will pass. Your church should have enough money set aside to operate staff and ministry for three full months without any income from the members.
4. Reevaluate all of the programs and activities of the church. This evaluation should be in connection with your church mission statement. I understand that once you begin a program in a Baptist church, it is difficult to ever bring it to a halt. But frankly, many churches are doing things that are convenient for the membership but have little or nothing to do with the mission of the church.
5. Review your church's insurance policies. There may be some savings by changing companies. Another review may be of expensive literature orders. Many churches order materials that are still lying around and are never used. You might also think about controlling heating and cooling expenses by installing programmable thermostats.
6. Finally, and only as a last resort, consider trimming the budget. Our problem many times is that this is the first action we take instead of the last. The first item easiest to trim is the Cooperative Program (CP). It appears to be the least popular and the one with no face. No one will come from outside your church and make a plea to keep missions at the present level. Your church would never think of downsizing the Lottie Moon goal, but when you cut the Cooperative Program, you also trim funding for the International Mission Board (IMB). In 2008 CP funded IMB with 37% of her budget. That means that Lottie Moon only funded 52% of the total IMB budget. So CP gave only 15% less than Lottie Moon. When you cut your CP gifts, you place a greater burden on Lottie Moon, which has to make up the difference.
Once you have considered these suggestions, consider making a commitment to restore the budget to full funding as soon as possible.
Jerry Mixon is the State Stewardship Executive for the Mississippi Baptist Convention. He's managed to balance being a pastor, husband and stewardship expert with his love and passion for writing books and the occassional country music song. You can contact him directly via e-mail or by calling 601.292.3347. Read more by and about Jerry Mixon.
Posted by bstroup at October 30, 2008 11:15 AM
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