Removing the Mysteries about Church Finance. Jerry L. Johnson

last month’s bill, was $1100, I asked about just paying only for the last month. They allowed that.

       City Water

      City water was cut off the day my volunteer mission began. I hand carried a check to the city water department to get the water back on.

       Septic Tanks

      One septic tank was backed up and another required weekly pumping. There was no humor to be found here. Pumped weekly at $200 each.

       Air Conditioning

      Out of a bank of seventeen air conditioning units cooling the main building, three worked. The sanctuary was close to insufferable on Sunday morning, but the response was always “we’re getting it fixed this week.” The fans worked but, there was hardly any cool air. It gave a new meaning to hot sermons. It was to be a long hot summer.

      It would have been even longer, and hotter, if the electric company had really turned the power off, but they didn’t. The church was technically in default, unable to meet the obligations that it had incurred. Hour by hour each day I checked to see how much money was available to use. The financial issues were the obvious problems, but the real issue was much deeper.

      To gauge how information was passed, I asked various people in the church, “What’s going on with the church finances?” Some of their responses were:

      “What do you mean?”

      “Is something going on?”

      “Seems like repairs are not being done; gets awful hot sometimes.”

      “I don’t know but I guess the deacons know.”

      “I don’t know.”

      “The pastor knows about it.”

      “We leave that up to the deacons. They will handle it.”

      The real answer seemed to be they did not know what was going on and were not trying hard enough to find out. I will come back to this throughout this book but here is a clue: withholding information does not work and neither does ignoring problems until they become almost beyond recovery. Ignoring a problem produces the same result as denying that there is a problem. The tipping point may be closer than you think. A condition that exists over time creates a trend, and trends can be measurable. But first, the problem must be identified, framed and a plan of action formed.

      Too often though, symptoms are identified and “corrected” so that the illusion of effectiveness is maintained. This will lure the church into greater difficulty. It is much like attempting to cure measles one pimple at a time. This church was at the tipping point. Is the root of problems facing this church lack of resources, including shortage of money, or a Spiritual one?

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      1 Dictionary of Bible Themes Scripture index copyright Martin H. Manser, 2009. As Editor, Martin Manser wishes to thank all those who compiled or edited the NIV Thematic Study Bible, on which this work is based.

      SECTION 2 - REVIEW

      1. What does the Bible say about negotiations?

      Proverbs 16:7 - When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

      2. How were the individual issues impacting other issues?

      3. How would you go about deciding where to start making changes?

      4. Could any of the issues have been ignored?

      SECTION 3 – DEFINING THE PROBLEM

      LEARNING OBJECTIVE – How to look at disparate symptoms and determine underlying problem

      WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

      1. Differences among Symptoms, Problems, and Predicaments

      2. Approaching a problem with a plan

      3. Communicating the plan

      4. Setting action steps

      5. Changing the organization

      To look at what was going on with this church required expanding the focus. There were clearly numerous problems present but were being dealt with bit by bit. Systemic issues were not successfully addressed.

       Problems vs Predicaments

      There were numerous problems that, taken together over time, produced the financial predicament the church faced. Any one of the issues enumerated previously could be classified as a problem, which could be dealt with easy enough. But taken together, the church was in a predicament, meaning the problems were interrelated and resolution had to encompass them all.

      Thinking you are going to correct a problem before clearly defining it is akin to putting the roof on a house before framing the walls. Up to this point the church was trying to pay bills and coming up short each month and getting further behind. To complicate the situation, there did not appear ways to make things better. The church valiantly attempted to correct their situation without making significant changes. A turnaround plan had to be put in place. First task was to keep the doors open this week; then keep the doors open next week.

      I have guided hundreds of commercial companies out of similar predicaments. This was my first church financial turnaround. In order to get through this, I had to give the deacons and pastor a plan. There was plenty to be worried about though, and some supernatural leverage would sure help. I took complete control of the checkbook and everything financial.

      I loaded data that seemed reliable into a spreadsheet. It was necessary to find out what we had to work with and to make some calculations. In order to make any plans there was data needed:

      a. Average weekly tithe for the past two years, showing seasonality. (Some churches ask for pledges to project how much will come in; more about forecasting later.)

      b. Average weekly attendance in church services and Sunday school.

      c. Seasonality was important since there were a number of people who would attend only during the certain seasons. Of these, a few continued to send their tithe when they moved back to their original homes.

       Deacons Meeting

      At the deacons’ meeting, the chairman asked, “How does it look?”“The situation looks dismal. There is a generally consistent offering stream coming in but it’s not adequate for the current debt load and operating expenses. The church is steadily sinking. Each month the church is falling farther behind on payment of bills. The attendance is down, but there is a dedicated few who are trying to hold it together.”

      “What can we do? We have to get out of this crisis.” The chairman was seeing the picture. All it takes to create a financial mess is a charismatic leader and followers who acquiesce or condone reckless decisions. Nevertheless, to clean it up requires action, not acquiesce. The paradigm that created it will not be the same one needed to correct it. New tools and skills are required. Do people learn from their mistakes? Some do, but it is easier to justify results than it is to change behavior.

      For this church to face their enterprise future, they would have to do it with a changed paradigm. Otherwise the church would eventually slide back into the same hole.

       Two Ways to Cause Organizational Change

      Prior to this intervention, there had not been a willingness to change, an understanding of how to make the necessary changes, or even what changes they needed to face. There was a feeling of discomfort, unease among the congregation but not enough to create a groundswell. Voluntary change comes as a result of prolonged pressure for change within: (i.e. street marches by millions of citizens in Puerto Rico calling for the Governor to resign; he did). The other way it is imposed on an organization is by a significant external event that shakes the organization, such as bankruptcy. The main discomfort within the church seemed to be the lack of