Talking about money in church is always an interesting conversation, interesting used in the ancient Chinese curse sense. It is not that Jesus doesn’t have some pointed and meaningful things to say about money. Things like “and I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Lk. 16:9 ESV)” Neither is it that our use of money isn’t an expression of Spiritual values. For it explicitly is. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:21 ESV)” The interesting part is that talking about money in church feels like making public what we’d rather be private. It is shining the light of the gospel into areas that we’d rather keep in darkness (John 2:19, 12:46). The apostle Paul’s final direction in regards to money is that each one must decide in his heart how much to give. And not to give reluctantly or in response to pressure, but cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7). But doing so means that our giving has to be intentional. You don’t decide in your heart on a moment’s notice. And it is that prayerful consideration that shines the light on our own hearts. It is that prayerful consideration that we are attempting to form this year.
Pastor’s Corner in the coming weeks is not going to be given over completely to monetary things, but over the next couple of months there will be at least a couple of stewardship related meditations. From what I’ve been told, the pastoral office at Mt. Zion has never talked about stewardship, nor has there ever been some of the practices (pledges) that we intend to introduce this year. What the rest of this Pastor’s Corner is going to run through is some information, a calendar on important dates, and a start on the spiritual purpose.
Some information. The numbers I am using all come from our treasurer and have been accepted by the church council. Over the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 the church income (mostly from offerings) has been between $221K – $246K. The expenses for those years have been between $246k – $279k. Mt. Zion has run a consistent $24k deficit. Mt. Zion was able to do this because of a generous bequest. And my understanding is that this pattern has been typical in prior years as well, with refinancing of the mortgage occasionally being used. The trouble is the current year. Our deficit for 2024 is already at $34K. And this deficit is not caused by running over budget. Expense wise we approved a budget of $268k. Over the prior 12 months (Sept 23 – Sept 24, not the budget timeframe but a full year) we have only spent $248k. The trouble is that our offerings over those same 12 months have only been $204K. There are some concrete reasons for that. There are also some understandable background reasons. But the light that is shining I believe is two-fold. We as a congregation can’t operate with that type of deficit indefinitely. The timing on such a deficit would be a couple of years maximum. And what that brings up is a question. Do we want to be a congregation? Or maybe more specifically, do we want to be a congregation that looks roughly like what Mt. Zion has historically?
With that question, I’m going to turn to the calendar. The council has reviewed a proposed budget and on Oct 10th will meet to give its final collective approval to present it to the congregation. The Congregational budget meeting will be on Nov 17th. We will publish some form of that budget well prior for your consideration. But as the council agrees, there are no gold bricks hiding the budget. Nobody is vacationing in Tahiti. It represents the costs for the utilities, insurance, upkeep, the mortgage, and your Pastor. Over that same timeframe that we as a congregation are setting aside to think about the proposed budget, we are going to pass out pledge cards on Oct 20th and collect them starting Nov 10th for three weeks.
Finally, a bit about spiritual purpose. The big question stated above is do we want to be a congregation that looks roughly like we do? A vote for such a budget should also come with a pledge to support that budget. But following the apostle’s advice, I do not want your pledge given in response to pressure. If you read the fullness of 2 Corinthians 9, the context of Paul’s advice, he is putting forward the collection for the Jerusalem church. The opportunity to support the work of the gospel done by Mt. Zion is what is being presented. Maybe your heart’s answer is that Mt. Zion should look substantially different. Maybe the answer in your heart is your current support is what you can give. Maybe you can cheerfully support at a higher level. We the council hope that enough of you might answer yes.
I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but Mt. Zion monetarily has been something of a minor. It has been graced with a building and substantial contributions from those largely taught the way elsewhere and from those maybe little known to the current congregation. I don’t think I am trespassing on anything recognizing the generosity of Gene Ockrassa, but there are others. But all minors must eventually become adults. And that is the question of this budget and pledge call. Are we collectively willing to come into our inheritance as a congregation of Christ? Are we willing to accept both the gifts of his grace and the responsibilities? And are we able to take them on cheerfully? The Kingdom of God will certainly come without our help, but in this we are being offered it amongst us in a bountiful way (2 Cor 9:6).