Hey friends,
Amanda and I are enjoying some time with family in Ohio! We have also dodged a few tornadoes and got to catch up with some of Amanda's High School friends who are super cool. I even had a bunch of fun jamming with some of Amanda's old band-mates!
This blog is about money and the flow of it in and out of church families. This is always a touchy subject because most folks don't want to talk about money. I thought and prayed about whether to bring up this topic and came to the conclusion it was pretty important and that this post might make a little difference in my sphere of friendship. I believe that money is only an uncomfortable subject to talk about if you are embarrassed. We generally get embarrassed about it for 3 reasons: 1. We are embarrassed about how much we have (lots or little) 2. We are embarrassed about how we procure it 3. We are embarrassed about how we spend it. Its also worth noting that sometimes we SHOULD be embarrassed about one of these 3 categories and are not because of ignorance or sin. Regardless of where each of us currently stands, how we spend money is generally a good indicator of what we care about most. I have found that this is not only true of individuals but also of organizations like churches too.
Churches exist to fulfill the great commandment: Love God and love people. Often times, money is a helpful tool to do this. The Bible teaches that Christians are to bring tithes and offerings to the church so that it may be used for ministry. Churches use money to do different things. Regardless if a church is 5,000 or 50, the deciding factor on how money is allocated should be "how do the funds we have been entrusted with functionally help us to love God and love people well".
Because every follower of Jesus Christ is a missionary and every church family is a missionary organization, every aspect of life, every word spoken, every moment spent, and every dollar invested is a proclamation of to whom we live for and who we trust. This means people, and church families, need to speak, spend, and live well to the Glory of God and the good of people.
I know some church families that have a high level of accountability in these areas and go to great lengths to filter everything through the great commandment. However, I have honestly seen a lot of failures over the years. Strangely enough these failures haven't been the kind that make the news like embezzlement or something. They have been "little"acts of dishonesty or greed.
If you are a church leader responsible for sub-contracting labor, it is your responsibility to use church funds well. Often times this is looked at as arguing down a contractor to the cheapest price to the Glory of God. Its a noble desire to save the church family money but one must count the cost of doing so. In the name of "being a good steward" I have seen church leaders pay sub-contractors sub par wages. A lot of contractors are happy to get in a bid due to the poor economy and will take the job anyway right now. Refusing to pay them a fair market value hurts their families and is a silent testimony that "we care more about our needs than your family's": This is not loving people. Its impossible to love God fully and treat people this way.
Paying contractors a fair wage is important. Its also important to pay them on time. Smart business contracts have clearly defined expectations, deadlines, and compensation. When a contractor meets his end of the bargain the church needs to meet theirs. I have often encountered an attitude among church leaders that when it comes to "business" they are some sort of exception to the rule. Churches are not only required to honor contracts by law but also because the way they handle business is a testimony to the community and other business leaders that thy love Jesus and because of that, value integrity, character, and people: one of the primary ways we worship Jesus is by valuing and caring for people! Church leaders and churches should set the standard for ethical business practices. When a contractor is not paid on time or paid unfairly, he may be unable to pay his bills on time and feed his family especially in today's economy. You can be sure that when a creditor calls him to account he won't be able to use "I'm sorry that church I did the dry wall for had a low offering last week and its summer so they are in a hard spot anyway." as an excuse for why he can't pay up........neither should we as church leaders. If you are a church doing a building project or putting on a big event, you need to have the amount set aside to pay in full before you begin. Jesus even told a parable about this once. If you can't afford to get something done and pay fairly for it, Jesus is not calling you to do it. Jesus is not about screwing over one group of people to help another.......thats not integrity.
Its also worth noting that just because a guy that does framing or sheet rock or is a plumber goes to your church, it doesn't mean he should do any amount of labor for your church family for free: this is how he provides for his family. I was once sharing the gospel with a contractor and ended up inviting him to church. He was not so much against the idea of Jesus and worshiping him but really didn't want to go to church. When I asked him why, he said it was because every church he went to in the past had always hit him up for a bunch of free work. Some church leaders hit contractors up for free or heavily discounted work with whom they don't even have a relationship. Doing this may result in shaving some serious money off of your building project but pushing a soul away from the kingdom of God! Some contractors have told me they believe they will be able to go to heaven on the merit of dollars and time they have invested into houses of worship. This is not the gospel and we have got to share some of the responsibility for this dangerous false assumption.
Similar problems arise between the church and service industry . Many of my friends who wait tables hate to wait tables on Sunday. They claim that "church people" consistently tip poorly or not at all and that this goes for pastors too. I recall delivering pizzas once to a big event a large downtown church was holding in a civic center. As a manager I took care of the whole order and gave them a very deep discount because I believed in their outreach event, even though I was not a member of their church. Their order total should have been somewhere around $350. I was able to get it done for a little over $200. When I delivered all the pizzas, the pastor smiled and gave me a $5 dollar tip. Thats 2.5% on $200! In the restaurant and pizza delivery world 10% and is considered a pretty bad tip.
During our time of transition Amanda and I are doing all kinds of odd jobs. We are thankful for the work. However, now being "sub-contractors" has shown us some real problems the church has relating to people. The other day Amanda received a sealed envelope with her check in it for playing at a church event (a church we don't normally frequent). When we opened the envelope later that evening it was half the agreed upon amount. I have had this happen to me several times before when I have played "homecomings" or "revivals" for small country churches when I was a college student at BCF. Right now I'm also still out a few hundred dollars from another church I provided music for recently. Jesus has been very kind to us and is providing for our needs, largely through the generosity of faithful churches like First Methodist Samson and The Dothan Vineyard who employ us and faithfully honor the agreements we have made together. Its a blessing to serve such great folks and their faithfulness in business is a testimony to their relationship with Jesus and their love for people.
The point I am making is this: the way we spend our money is a testimony to what we care about most. A church that cares most about people will not always get the best deal, but they will make the most impact for the Kingdom of God. A church that cares deeply about people will honor contracts and pay them out in a timely fashion because they know that this has an effect on the people they hired to do the job.
So if you are a follower Jesus, a church leader, Christian business leader, or contractor, do your job well, tip well, pay well, love well, worship well! The world will see how much you care about people by the way you treat them.
So what are some ways you have been able to care for people in the way you conduct business? Where do you draw the line when "getting a deal", "being a good steward", and paying a fair wage? How does quality of service affect your tipping? Do you tip bad waiters (why or why not)?
Gods Peace
+walker
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