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Urgent Needs Discussion: Money

How do I communicate budget problems with the congregation?
Total Responses: 7Add your own comment

 Displaying 1 - 5 of 7 matches.Page: 1 2     Show All 

Richard   (Guest) Posted: August 19, 2008
We just made such an announcement on Sunday morning. We told the congregation that all of our "congregational health issues" were good except our giving. Attendanceand membership is up, chidlren's mnistry is way up, people on mission trips is up - yet our giving is down. We acknowledged that the economy is down and some of our people are huritng. So we asked the church to pray and keep the church first. Its too early to see a major differnece in giving, but word so far from among the people is appreciation and agreement that the church needed to know the truth. We had failed to give monthly updates in our bulletin and this led to many epople feeling out of the loop. We have corrected this starting this month and plan to keep it up.


Felecia Smith   (Registered User)Posted: December 12, 2007
I think it is important to make the congregation aware of the need,but balance it with faith and believe that "with God nothing is impossible". I beleive that people have to be taught the importance of giving from the heart and should be shown the outcome of their giving, such as the tangible expansion of the kingdom of God. For too long money has been a taboo in our churches. Also, people must see their giving as an investment. Budget issues should be discussed before there is a crisis and sound strategies should be implemented to effectively use the resources that are available.


Abraham Ekebafe   (Guest) Posted: December 07, 2007
As leaders we must learn to properly communicate the burden, when this is faithfully done, the budget will become everyone's burden. With that done, communicating a budget issue would no longer be scary. In communicating budget, we must always show the size of the price!!!


Mark Hardgrove   (Guest) Posted: December 06, 2007
I think the one thing I would not do is come to the pulpit with a sense of desperation (even when it is desperate). Instead, I think the need can be communicated in a positive manner that expresses faith in God and trust in the faithfulness of the congregation. There is of course a need to strike a balance between expressing a need and appearing to be on the point of total financial meltdown. I'll never forget attending a small church where week after the week the pastor would take between 15 and 20 minutes to raise the offering. He sounded desperate and almost angry with the small congregation because we weren't doing enough. In fact, most of us were doing all we could, but the need exceeded our ability to respond. Frankly, the few visitors we had were very put off by the whole ordeal and rarely returned, which only exacerbated the problem. My approach is to remain positive, to make any adjustments that need to be made and to encourage the people to give out of love.


Hal   (Guest) Posted: December 06, 2007
It seems to me the congregation should have current, up to the month, information 12 months of the year. Then in weekly notes from the pastor, the celebration or need could become a regular event rather than a "let's call the fire department" meeting. It seems to me as the church grows larger the senior pastor disappears except on Sunday. But he does get stuck with presenting the budget. I like the other responses too. Maybe some day there could be a discussion around what does a church do with a surplus. (Or does that come right after Santa Claus?)

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