We know very little about how the early church funded itself. We know that the apostles had a common purse and that Jesus sent the apostles to get food from a village which, presumably, had to be paid for. We know that Barnabas sold a field and gave the proceeds to the apostles, in contrast to Ananias and Sapphira who kept funds from the apostles (and met a dreadful end). We know that Paul spent money on travel across the Empire and brought funds back to the apostles in Jerusalem. And we know that deacons gave money to the poor and bought food for widows and orphans. Clearly, the church in its earliest days needed money to accomplish its mission. Abundant and undaunted faith, passionate and engaged preaching and teaching, and raw courage were more important, but throughout its history, the church has needed money to bring about its part in building up the kingdom of God. We may hate to talk about money, we may wish we never had to raise a penny, but we cannot be church without a source of some money for some things.
I have been privileged to serve on the Budget and Finance Committee of the Diocese of Olympia and I have seen the long and careful process of building a diocesan budget. It takes ten months of work to do that and involves many people, many meetings, and, frequently, difficult choices to get to a balanced budget. If you have ever done this for your own congregation, you know how hard this work can be. Since most of this work takes place outside convention and is often dry and tedious, most people are unaware of the budget until a favorite activity or project does not get funded or a favorite person no longer works for the Office of the Bishop.
I offer here some observations to the larger community of faith about budget building, about where we stand in 2014, and where I believe more change will be needed if we intend to continue being the Body of Christ. People are expensive. Since we are an incarnational faith, we depend upon people to do the work of being church. We depend mostly on volunteers who are not paid but in the diocese and in most churches, we employ people – full or part-time – and pay them to do certain tasks. A full-time professionally-trained clergy person costs about $100,000/year once we add in health and retirement benefits. Relative to other professions, clergy are inexpensive, but for a congregation, it can be hard to raise that kind of money every year.
At the diocesan level, in recent years, several staff positions have been eliminated or reduced to half-time. The remaining positions have been reduced as much as is practicable so it is unlikely more cost savings can be made through reducing staff. As at the diocesan level, more congregations will need to consider other structures – bi-vocational priests, Total Common Ministry, imaginative use of retired clergy, shared positions, and other as yet undeveloped means of having clergy to lead the faithful in ways that are financially sustainable.
Real estate is also expensive, particularly old buildings with deferred maintenance. Congregations are prone to balance budgets by “kicking the can down the road” and deferring maintenance “one more year.” Eventually, that translates into major expenses or loss of use. Our diocese may be asset-rich in that it owns property but it also has to maintain said properties – even when congregations no longer can do so. While some have argued the church should not own any property, we do own property, and churches are legitimately “third places” where people of faith and of no faith can gather to meet, to worship, to share, to pray, to have fellowship. Walking away from properties purchased in faith by prior generations creates its own difficulties and challenges. Imaginative uses of existing properties will be crucial to the future of the church. That said, it may not be possible for diocesan funds to “rescue” congregations in financial trouble in future years.
It is clear that some congregations can sustain themselves for many years with small budgets. Total Common Ministry congregations can flourish on remarkably small budgets. Other congregations have worked out imaginative arrangements with staffing, building use, and collaborations that provide a stable financial base so that they can focus on ministry and mission. It is also clear that some congregations cannot continue to function under “business as usual.” They cannot grow membership fast enough or increase their stewardship enough to get to financial sustainability even with some help from diocesan funds. They must change or die. Moreover, the amount of help diocesan funds can provide to unsustainable congregations is going to be less rather than more as costs rise and income flattens at the diocesan level.
That change we all have read about so much is here now. We will adjust because someone did “move our cheese.” We can adjust intentionally and with rejoicing in where God is nudging us or we can go kicking and screaming. We might hold it off for a year or two more; but the trend lines are growing ever clearer. A few congregations may close; more congregations will change their fiscal and organizational structure; other congregations will grow or continue as healthy, vital places of worship and service.
The Office of the Bishop will continue to refine its mission and activities to be as lean as possible while continuing its particular ministries. And through it all, people of faith will continue to bring the offerings of their hearts, minds, souls, and bodies to the altar in thanksgiving for the grace and blessings received and for the building up of God’s kingdom. We give thanks for Barnabas and all the saints who have gone before us and gifted us with amazing resources. We are called to ensure that the saints who come after us have sufficient resources to do the work they will be called to do.
With God’s help, we will do so.
Author: by the Rev. Dr. Dennis S. Tierney, Saint Barnabas, Bainbridge Island, & Chair, Budget and Finance Committee, Diocesan Council
