Recession Lessons for Churches

What has the recession taught churches that evidently scripture couldn’t? There is an interesting article today about the way the recession has deeply impacted religious institutions in our country. Churches, schools, synagogues, all of us have been hit hard over the past two years. So what has this world wide economic collapse taught us?

Well if you look at the effects that the downturn has had, you find that institutions on shaky financial footing will not survive. You find that the bigger the church and the bigger the budget, the bigger the potential for economic crisis. Organizations that depend on the support of other religious institutions, especially within denomination and association circles, are learning hard lessons about dependency on those revenue streams. Staffs are shrinking. Buildings are being sold.  People are more in need than ever of support with bills, food, housing, and it is at a time when churches have less to share.

These are difficult days. For my own church the past 6 months have been really hard. They have been some of the most exciting days in ministry I have ever experienced, but the drop in giving has been crippling for some of our ministry efforts, and what is far more damaging, is that we have been unable to support our denominational connections and responsibilities. There is a massive gap from the first half of this year that we will never be able to make up. That means that we are not support churches around the world, Nazarene universities, and our own district’s initiatives. This reality breaks my heart.

So what are the real lesson in the mist of this recession? First, we need better stewardship in our churches. We need to stop acting like homeowners who are trying to get a sketchy mortgage to get the house of their dreams. A lot of churches have committed their resources to facilities that are too big and too nice and to staffs that are too large.

Secondly, we have lost sight of the fact that the church is primarily an organization of volunteers. There are too many people getting paid to do jobs that dedicated lay people can do. It is easier to simply hire someone and dismiss them if they don’t do well than to equip and manage a group of volunteers, but it is not always better. This has been a great lesson I have lived this year. Being the only full-time staff member for the first time in my ministry life I have had no other choice than to work through volunteers and to equip and mentor leaders. This has been such a life giving experience for many of our laity and for my own life as well. There is a beauty in working with volunteers that you can not experience in the same way with paid staff.

Third, there is a shift coming along denominational lines that is going to require a massive change in how ministries are funded. Denominational loyalties are not what they once were and a lot of ministries and organizations that have depended on support from the bottom up are simply going to have to find other business models to succeed. It has not just been denominational apportionments that have been sustaining many ministries, it is a greater sense of denominational loyalty that has brought in extra funding from loyal supporters within the denomination. That support base is eroding and frankly many ministries will have to experience deep change or they will perish.

Fourth, adaptability is key to survival in crisis. How dependent is your church’s success on a certain economic climate? If everything changes tomorrow will your vision still be relevant? John McCain learned the hard way that if your campaign better be able to adapt to whatever tomorrows crisis is if you intend be relevant when everything changes. Too many of our churches are too rigid or too tied into specific economic commitments of staff, programs, or facilities to make changes to thrive or at least survive an economic crisis. Too many of our plans have been built on best case scenarios.  These economic changes aren’t going away, things have changed. The economy will recover, and the recession may not last for an extraordinary amount of time, but we simply live in a different world now. If we continue to make decisions as if any moment a time machine is going to transport our churches back to 2003 when the money was flowing quick and easy and mortgages could be completed through a touch tone phone then we will fail. We must adapt our thinking to the new reality in which we live.

Most of all we have to realize how our stewardship affects the lives of those most in need. Just as I am writing this blog I answered a phone call from yet another person calling our church for rent assistance. I suggested some other organizations that might be able to help in the community because there isn’t a thing I can do. Our church isn’t in a healthy enough place to be able to address her needs. This saddens me. My prayer is that not only the church I serve, but a great many churches will commit to better stewardship so that we can thrive in a changed world and fulfill God’s mission for His church. That is a lesson that has been very painful to learn together.