Will our churches be able to work if our budgets shrink?
As our cultural moment changes, and we move into an increasingly post-Christian world, our church budgets are likely to be affected. Various taxation relief and special concessions currently given to churches and ministry workers will possibly be removed, forcing churches to re-evaluate how money is spent and potentially diminishing their ministry capacity. There may be other reasons our church (or denomination) finds it hard to meet its budget: large donors may cease their donations or congregations could struggle to make ends meet for any number of reasons leading to pressure on the church budget. This is not good news. Yet, the same principles of growing our generosity and trusting God to minimise our anxiety prevail.[1]
Not a new situation
In 1662, in England, the Great Ejection of Puritans meant that they became illegal, couldn’t raise money and had to find new ways to do things. While this might at first glance this may have seemed at the time like a death blow to the Puritans, yet it served to unify them and transform the way they did ministry.[2] Being removed from the established church freed them from needing to compromise their convictions and to some extent called them to think and act creatively in order to work together for the gospel. It was not the end of the Puritan movement that many might have predicted.
There are any number of similar examples throughout the history of the church, and in our own time. Yet, God’s generosity to his church and commitment to his people is shown in his constant, unstinting provision. Sometimes in place of money, he provides people (as he did in the early church).[3]
It does not mean that this will be easy for us if this does happen. We can expect people to walk away from the faith. Lack of funds will create occasions for conflict as hard decisions are made regarding what to do with the funds that are available. Anxiety and greed will be part of the story, as they were even of the earliest Christians.[4] Yet, there are practical and wise ways we can plan to meet the challenge that may face us.
Practical Preparations
One way we can determine to meet the challenge is to turn away from the idea of ‘tithing’. Although at first glance, tithing might appear to be biblical, this was revitalised and interpreted by the American church in the 1800s specifically to raise revenue.[5] This Old Testament principle applied rigidly to our context today means we could adopt an inflexible approach to giving and so avoid reflecting on how we might grow in our generosity as the New Testament teaches us clearly in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7. If we give our 10% mindlessly, we avoid thinking through whether we could give more or should give less in order to meet our obligations. We may even be tempted to become more transactional in our relationship with God: ‘I have given my 10% and now God should provide for me’, as we often hear from prosperity gospel preachers.
Instead, we can start to think prudently preparing our churches in practical ways. We could start to think through how we use our money and whether there are alternatives we could move towards. Are there other ways we could pay our clergy? How might a ‘tent-making’ type model work realistically? Do we need different structures within our committees, or different committees within our denominations to look at ways to safeguard what we do have to make it last longer for ministry? Do we have resources we might be able to leverage to generate income (such as car park space, etc).[6] There may be useful, relatively simple creative solutions to a possible future short fall that we could explore. Far from being negative, this kind of pro-active thinking is often best done before a crisis.
If we use our time wisely to think through these issues, we will be more able to understand the options we have should the need arise. Often, we have people in our churches who do this kind of thinking professionally and could be encouraged to bring their expertise to bear on the church’s situation. With this kind of forethought, we could have a good understanding of how a restricted budget will affect our staff, our building maintenance, our sound systems and other features that could impinge on the quality of our church experience. This situation is likely to cause us to reconsider our priorities as congregations, which is always good for us to do, and has best outcomes as pre-planning rather than responding to a crisis. This kind of thinking could also mean our churches become more flexible and creative about raising the money we might want to achieve certain goals and be clear about why those goals have priority over others.[7] We need to approach this challenge for our churches with prayerfulness, generosity and confidence, knowing that God will provide for our needs as individuals and churches.
Spiritual Preparations
Part of this preparation will involve us speaking about finances within our congregations by providing solid biblical teaching that will establish us in our faith. If the government is going to take steps that could impoverish churches, we need to be clear that we must continue to pray for the government as we are instructed. We also need to be encouraged to treasure what we have in heaven (not earth). We will need to be reminded that we are to give sacrificially, and this is not to be feared, but this call to generosity will help us grow in our relationship with God and cast our cares on him.[8] If we are in paid ministry, we will need to remember that we are free to not charge people to whom we minister (like Paul), but can explore ways to support ourselves.
In order to do this spiritual preparation, we will need to overcome hesitations in church to preach or have conversations together as Christians about money.[9] If we can normalise the need to preach about the temptation to love money and the need for Christian discipleship in this area, we will have much more fruitful conversations. This affects us all, regardless of whether we are in paid ministry or not, whether we are rich or poor (and how we think about that). The awkwardness around ministers (who are paid by their congregations) speaking to their congregations about how they give to church needs to be set aside. Instead, taking our cues from God’s word, those of us who preach regularly to our congregations about following Jesus in all areas of life, from daily prayer through to lust and adultery, need to address this issue also. Further, we need to be encouraged to speak to each other within our congregations: as men and women who need to hold each other accountable and encourage each other. This practical, spiritual preparation will enable us to face an uncertain earthly future with the certainty of the gospel central to our hearts and minds.[10]
Conclusion
As congregations, we look forward to an uncertain future together. However, we have God’s declaration of faithfulness to his people, which we can further reflect on through 2000 years of church history. God is as unbothered by funds and the lack thereof, as he is by unco-operative political systems.He will do as he plans and will always provide the resources. As his people, we are not at the mercy of uncertain economic systems but live as the objects of his love and concern. In Christ, he will always provide for us.[11]
[1] The Gospel in Society Today committee is grateful for the time and expertise of Dr Andrew Bain. Andrew is QTC Vice Principal, Ethics lecturer, and economist. Although any errors remain the responsibility of the writer, the wisdom he provided will be reflected throughout these articles and from time to time will be directly referenced.
[2] Conversation with Dr Andrew Bain.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Acts 5:1-11, for example.
[5] (Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices by Victor V. Claar and Robin J. Klay; IVP: Downers Grove, Illinois 2007),pp 85-86
[6] The Coming Revolution in Church Economics: Why Tithes and Offerings Are No Longer Enough, and What You Can Do About It by Mark Deymaz with Harry Li (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2019), p.141ff.
[7] Ibid., p.128ff.
[8] 1 Peter 5:7
[9] Conversation with Dr Andrew Bain.
[10] Ephesians 4:25-29
[11] Westminster Confession of Faith, XII
Study Questions
Read 1 Peter 5:1-11
- Describe the job of the elders in verses 1-4. What relationship do they have to Christ? How does he reward them and hold them accountable?
- What attitudes should we have to our elders? (v 5)
- What expectations should we have of God? Of the devil? (v6-8) How does this shape our expectations of how ‘easy’ church will be for us and for our elders?
- What might Peter mean by ‘suffering’ in verse 9? Who does he say ‘suffers’? How does this relate to our expectations of what our church experience might be like? How does resisting the devil relate to knowing this?
- How does Peter comfort his readers (and us) as we manage this suffering? (verse 10-11)
- What expectations do you have of going to church? Should you have to think about how it all works? Why or why not? How does thinking about the elders and suffering relate to how you might calibrate your expectations?
- Are you an elder? How do you want to grow to be more like your heavenly Shepherd?
- Are you not an elder? How do you want to get better at being an encouragement to your elders? (see Hebrews 13:17)
- In what concrete ways can you contribute to the wise preparation of the church for potential financial hardship?