Foreclosures Don’t Spare the House of God
I would guess this is just the tip of the iceburg in terms of what lies ahead for congregations.
At a previous church where we were members, the leadership wanted to take on a huge fundraising campaign to raise over $1 million dollars to build on land that had been given to the church. If I remember correctly, the plan was to raise enough to start building and then take out a mortgage for the balance.
This was a very middle class church with lots of blue collar families and lots of younger families. Raising that kind of money would have been a big challenge. When the deacons came to meet with us to answer questions and encourage us to make a pledge, we were flat out honest with them and said no. We were not on board with this decision at all. I told them to take the number of members and divide it into a million dollars. Let’s say it was around 150 actual members. (More than that attended but weren’t members.) That comes out to $6,667 each. That is the responsibility of each member. So a couple would be on the hook (so to speak) for $13,333. People don’t think of it that way, but who is responsible for paying for that mortgage? The members.
Of course the thinking is that a bigger church will bring in more people and so on so more people will contribute. But there is no guarantee this will be the case. We said no that we were not on board. After we were totally honest, I got the distinct impression that the two deacons weren’t totally on board either. And the church has not been built yet about eight years later.
Anyway, these huge buildings are going to become a big liability to many congregations in the next few years both in terms of mortgage payments and keeping them heated/cooled and maintained.
2008 Election Wrap-Up: Vent, Cry, Throw Up, Or Otherwise
oooooooh, this is eery. My husband and I were just having this exact discussion at the kitchen table following our morning devotions. We were reminded to increase the prayers for our church’s leadership.
We’ve recently faced a similar situation in our congregation. A sect of the church leadership wants to build a larger facility. They’re belief is that a capital building campaign fund will increase overall giving and the new building will attract more attendees/members. We, along with a group of others, are SO not in favor of this. Going into debt for a building we don’t need? Unwise! Trying to manipulate people to increase their giving? Deceitful. And, shouldn’t the Truth and the teaching of Truth, as well as community outreach, be what attracts new members… not a sparkly new building? I think so.
Thankfully, so far, the counsel of the deacon’s treasury board has prevailed. However, if things were to change I expect that we would have to seriously consider how we (my husband and I) would respond.
Our church is trying to pay off the last of the mortgage for the new remodel from a few years ago. Although, our denomination is usually known for it’s giving and discipline for this sort of thing. But we’re feeling the pinch too, as younger families do not see the duty in tithing. It’s more like a option in life. Like a tip. Which will be the undoing of many a church as the older generations die out and younger grow up with the notion that church serves them. They see themselves as a consumer, and not a participant in the church life.
A few years ago, the church I was attending at the time took on a remodeling and addition project. It was a small building, and just about bursting at the seams. But the leadership and the members went through a LONG process before committing to it. First, in evaluating what the church really needed, in terms of its mission to the community. They actually brought in a church consultant that looked at the physical building, the history of the church, the demographics of the congregation and the community, etc. and made recommendations. I thought the consultant’s report was quite helpful, but in some ways too much like secular market research. Then, there was a LOT of discussion and debate and question-answering. Eventually almost everyone was on board, and the congregation voted to begin the project. Only after that did they do the pledge thing. The pledges covered about half of the project cost, and that helped a lot in obtaining financing for the rest. I think they managed to pay off entire project within five years.