Money makes the Church go . . .

To sleep, or perhaps the loo, or even go home?

I hadn't been a Christian for very long before I found myself sitting next to an extremely old (they were probably about fifty and I was twenty!) 'time served' member of the Baptist church I had just come to faith in and become a become a member of. We'd had the notices, the opening prayers, a couple of hymns and had just finished the Bible reading when the Pastor stood up to preach. I can remember it now, the Pastor began with the words, "Jesus is God's gift to us, how can we respond to Him? . . . "

"Oh no," said the person next to me, "We're going to have a sermon on giving again!"  And with that they promptly closed their eyes and nodded for the next twenty minutes! Since then I have sat through endless sermons on the subject of giving and have found people doze off, write shopping lists, slide out of the pew (never to be seen again during that service) and play sermon word bingo (cards available from me on request).

Some of these have gone down the, "You can't outgive God," route - but as this is plainly true, what's the point of trying in the first place, here's a fiver, let's move on!

Others have tried the, "Man the pumps, we're sinking," approach; which causes one to search for. Lifeboat rather than throw money.

Others still have tried the, "Giving is a commandment, do as you're told or Jesus will know you're a naughty Christian, and you know what that means!" Yes indeedy, if all else fails, threaten and scare them with the bogeyman and the grim prospect of hell where there is a wailing and gnashing of teeth and England are always on the TV playing football.

My favourite has always been the approach favoured by former Pastor of Kensington Temple and leader of the Elim Church in the late nineties, Wynne Lewis. His approach was to proclaim that, "The Lord loves a cheerful giver," and pass round the bucket - and I think he might have been more on track than most of the other approaches I've suffered.

The words come from 2 Cor 9.7 and I like the way the Amplified Bible (once a sound engineer, always a sound engineer) puts it:

'each one give [thoughtfully and with purpose] just as they have decided in their heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion,  for God loves a cheerful giver [and delights in the one whose heart is in his gift].'

In the Baptist church in which I came to faith I soon learnt that we would get the 'giving' sermon every time the Treasurer found it difficult to pay a bill; as the need arose the people paid and when the storm abated the level of giving returned to whatever it usually was.

The problem is that we tell people that we have 'a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills' and yet all too often we live as if we have a god who is either totally unable to support the children he has fathered or has withdrawn his support (financial, spiritual and practical) from the body we call Church.

When I was a pilot I would pay my annual subscription and the bar bills and the additional costs for ground school, flying hours, and whatever else was asked because I wanted to be flying, and flying from that place. Seems that some people don't have the same attitude towards the place they haunt on a Sunday?

When it comes to giving, I am always drawn back to some words (Matt 6.19-2) that struck me as a twenty-year old new believer (and I'll use the Amplified Bible here too for consistencies sake):

'Do not store up for yourselves [material things] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; things on which your life centres, the things important to you] will be also.'

Aren't the words of the two passages here enough to help us to get a right perspective and work out how we can, cheerfully, give to God that which is right and proper?

I'd relish your responses, insights, anecdotal stuff and good practice regarding this area as I struggle to find a way that comes out of the people of God rather than is dragged out of them by stewardship schemes and the breaking of arms, hearts and trust.

Pax

Help and encouragement to give are always available upon request!

Hallowe'en and Pumpkins in Church?

The first response to this from any of those I know would have been, 'No Way!' and yet, I'd like to perhaps persuade you to change your mind on this for a very good reason:

A project from World Vision, looking to raise money for children in some of 'the world's hardest places' has challenged me to change my own view on the outside bits of the pumpkin (I will have already eaten the contents in one of the other half's wonderful pies!) and encourage others to do likewise. 

But I will let them speak for themselves:

  

'This Halloween – and every night – millions of children face a night of fear. It isn't fun or exciting and it isn't a choice for one night. 31 October is simply another night of facing hardship, loneliness, abuse, hunger or conflict.

World Vision is in the world’s hardest places tonight and every night. Right now, we are comforting children as they wake from nightmares of abuse, helping girls and boys forced into marriage or hard labour and protecting children fleeing bombs and disasters.

By carving a heart in your pumpkin and texting HEART to 70060 to donate £5 you will be showing you care and help us to bring hope to even more children.'

Click on the 'World Vision' link and take a look - perhaps use the stories or the video in one of the services or meetings you do?  And of course, you can always make one for your own home - eat the pie, carve the pumpkin and send the money (the important bit in this scenario) :-)

But I still don't do light parties ;-)

40 Acts - SENDING A BIGGER MESSAGE

"A person finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word!" Proverbs 15:23 (NIV)

I've written many passive-aggressive messages in my time, from scrawled notes to housemates pointing out how lovely it would be if we washed up occasionally to polite emails alluding to veiled displeasure at someone’s actions.

And I’ve received a fair number too. I can still conjure up the disproportionate rage evoked by seemingly insignificant Post-it notes or their technological equivalents, and cringe at time spent dreaming up witty come-backs to words which ruined my day.

Far better to dwell instead on messages which leave positivity in their wake.

I smile at the memory of my first job, single-handedly cooking for 40 students for weeks on end, and am so grateful to the person who arrived early to leave me encouraging little notes in the kitchen. I chuckle at the unexpected joy of finding funny pictures randomly stuck inside cupboards by a housemate.

I find pleasure in the pretty postcard received for no reason other than someone thought I’d like it, and in those ‘saw this and thought of you’ text messages. I appreciate photos of my new niece WhatsApped to me when her tired parents have every excuse not to be in touch, and remain thankful for that croissant on my desk in the run-up to Christmas from a colleague who knew me well enough to know that it would help.

How good, as the proverb goes, is a timely word!

Little communications, unnoticed by the majority, with surprising power to show their recipient that they are known, loved, and worth the effort. Timely Post-its, texts, cards and emails which – by choosing love, joy, kindness and the rest over criticism and passive-aggression – reflect in some small way the Word coming among us at just the right time and send a bigger message that another way is within our grasp.

Emily Bowerman

To see today's page - click HERE

40 Acts - SELFLESS COMMITMENT

“Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.” Deuteronomy 15:10

While on patrol with a small four-man team from my SAS squadron, out in the deserts of North Africa, we were waiting for a delayed helicopter pickup. A delay like that, when you’re nearly out of water and in the roasting heat of the desert, can be life-threatening. We were all severely dehydrated and getting weaker fast.

Every hour we would sip another small capful from the one remaining water bottle we each carried, carefully and methodically rationing the little we had left. To make matters worse, I was sick.

The call came in; our extraction would come at dawn, some 20 miles away. We loaded up and began our slow and tortuous shuffle across the mountains, weighed down by kit and fatigue. I was soon struggling, with each footstep a monumental effort of will.

My sergeant, Chris Carter, could see this. He stopped the patrol, came to me, and insisted I drink the last remaining capful from his own bottle. No fuss, no show, he just made me drink it.

It was his kindness, that extreme of practical generosity that gave me the strength to keep going when I had nothing left inside me. No ego. No bravado or show.

Simple goodness.

The kind of goodness that Jesus talked about when he told us to love each other like ourselves; putting others needs above our own.

Mother Teresa said: ‘Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.’ Carry that with you today and don’t underestimate the power you have to change lives, to show others a little glimpse of Jesus, as you give in practical and powerful ways.

Bear Grylls

click HERE to see today's page

Clergy - What should we pay for? [1]

The answer to the above questions, in my book,  is 'Absolutely Everything!'

Recent conversations with friends, colleagues, clergy and the bloke who stopped me and asked how long we got before the Bishop 'moved us' have all included (with varying degrees of knowledge)  the issue of the clergy vacancy. The expectations cover all stages from totally unrealistic through to, "Yeah, in your dreams," and yet some of the most unrealistic were from within the church and from those who should perhaps know better!

Some job descriptions stop just a tad short of including sending the poor cleric up the chimney and yet others, looking like a doable role, stun the poor soul reading the advert into something approaching catatonia when they see the dreaded 0.5. Just in case you think the 0.5 post is there for short clerics, let me explain:

There have been some interesting trends and some constructive thinking over the past few years. One involved asking clergy whether they'd be happy to note down the time that school work took and that which related to church schools was work and all other was effectively our hobby (I kid you not). This was repeated over a number of areas (church club = work, veteran's club = hobby and so on) and the end result was that a good idea of what should be paid for by the church and what was merely 'our personal interest' could be separated. When I was asked what I thought the Church should be paying for, the response was simple = everything!

The reasoning for my response comes from the fact that there are some who appear to be looking to reduce the role of minister to something that resembles the sessional youth worker! Where we have a service that demands the presence of a priest, which usually means that an epiclesis* is involved, we budget for one and in so doing restrict our priestly requirement to Communion, marriage and (for some places) Baptism**! So we pay for the presence of priest on Sunday and then, realising, we need one for the Wednesday midweek communion service and subsequent home communions to those who otherwise couldn't make it add another day to the pile.  This done, we add to the mix another day to enable hospital visits and other 'Vicar' type stuff (Vestry hour, meeting Wardens, parishioners and the like) and bingo, that's the 0.5 post put to bed.

I have been involved in some amazing conversations about paying our way where the mantra 'can't pay, can't have' has been paraded before an assembled clergy whose expressions said it all:

 And so, with that, I'll leave you to have a reflect on this first shot. A shot that builds nicely upon the question of giving to God that for which we have not paid and asks where is our treasure? For that is surely the key to much of this issue.

Happy Saturday :-)




* epiclesis - an invocation or calling down upon or blessing involving the Holy Spirit. This is the bit where we bless people at the end or consecrate the bread and wine or bless the rings or the couple or the water in which (or which will be poured over to enable) the rite of baptism.

** when I was ordained, baptism was not allowed until I'd been priested and so this was a 'priest's job' - that said I have found many handing this over to deacons and I've heard of some who have allowed their Lay Minister's to do the service too (which is still, as I understand it, wrong).

Spare some change mate?

Sitting on the pavement
harvesting the change
Changing the reality?
Not, really!

They sit clocking up the cash
To pay for drink, or hash
Or to feed some need that they don't need at all
You give them Platitudes!

You give them your change rather than change
The habits of a lifetime and
offering platitudes
revelling in gratitude.
You pay for the privilege of doing nothing!

Meanwhile a shadow away- a fingertip near
Stands the God made man
The bloke you claim to follow
who is leading the way.
But you're not looking that far!

"Doing it for the least of them means
You're doing it for me,"
But then you'd have to stop and give time
Give of yourself.
Just like Jesus did
But I'm a good Christian
I'm living under Grace.
That ain't for me
Is it?

Prosperity - Word of Faith - Heretics or Heroes?

I have to admit that I really struggle with so much of the flashy gold, sharply dressed, 'name it - claim it' brigade. Recently, watching a sermon by one (I didn't watch it all because I didn't want to pay the $$$ for the whole thing) I struggled to hear how all I needed to do was 'live in the triumph of Christ' and take the riches He has for me. Health, wealth, 'that job I've dreamt of' - all of them were mine - all I needed to do was claim them in the name of Jesus!

So I turned over to another channel and found a really slick performance going on. 'Let me have a BIG AMEN', they said - strutting up and down. They went on to repeat this little mantra:

'If you believe in your heart and say it with your mouth, it shall come to pass. God is Faithful'

Interestingly, or perhaps not, I know many who deeply believe stuff and proclaim it and it's never happened.

Perhaps God is unable to do what He is supposed (but being God, don't you think He'd know His job?).

Perhaps the people just didn't believe it enough (after all, belief is not the easiest thing to have now, is it?)

Perhaps they didn't say it enough and, like hits that generate money on a blog, there's a certain number of times that it needs to be said before you get it!

But fortunately the large gentleman in the shiny suit answered my question (perhaps God told Him I was wondering about it):

'And some of you do not receive because of your sin!'

Bazinga! There it is, the small print that says you aren't going to get it. That's it then - game over man, I know I'm a sinner and even though I've confessed it, repented of it and seek to sin less, it seems I'm not going to get what I want because of it. *

And because God was talking to him he heard what I have just written and continued:

'But you say to me, 'I've confessed my sins, why don't I receive?' and I have to tell you that what's getting in the way is your unconfessed sins, those sins you don't even know are there. They are stopping you from getting that job, From getting that house, From being healed.'

'Oh, no,' think I, 'There goes the farm! After all I have confessed, repented and work at living a right life (I haven't managed to rest in my redemption and celebrate Grace just celebrate yet), I'm doomed!'

And the bloke on the TV does it again:

'But you can give God your unconfessed sin and open the doors to the riches God wants to give you . . . let's pray ."

So he prays and they sing a song and I wonder whether the way forward is the next sermon in the series when, Hallelujah, I find the answer is already available and mine, all In need to do is send a donation and in return I will receive 'free of charge' the book:

 'How to confess stuff you never knew was there so you can get all the stuff you really deserve because after all that was the reason Jesus died - to make you healthy, wealthy and ....'

No, it's not the name of the real book (for that would tell you who this snake oil salesman was) and the final word of the title most certainly wasn't 'wise' either. Perhaps it should be, 'Look how rich He has made me!'

Now, can someone explain how on earth there is any integrity (worldly or Christian) in what I saw on my TV and how I can have any confidence in the proof texting, they hype and the misquotes?

As a pastor my desire is to see people in union with God, living for God because of the cross of Jesus, the Christ, and enabled by the Holy Spirit. I don't want to see people bound by law and weighed down by restrictions and demands upon them they can't keep. I know God provides and heals and blesses, but that, like Grace is a gift, not a right and I cannot comprehend a God who is a cross between Santa, the easter Bunny and the Genie from the bottle.

God meets our needs - and sometimes fulfils our wants too. In return he expects us to mirror Him and do the same in the world we find ourselves for Jesus came to bring peace to the earth - and He did - but we need to take it and share it because he opened the depot and filled it high, but unless we take it out and distribute it and help others to join the distribution firm, this world will live broken and out of control.

Now you don't need to send me money for that (but if you do :-)  )

I'll have to give it away!

Pax

*This would explain how, even though the Arsenal have been in the top spot of the English Premier League for longer than any club this season, they've fallen to fourth place - it's not Arsene Wenger's fault - it is my sin what took them there before it was accomplished!

Made me laugh: WCs - A new twist

I've always enjoyed the 'male, female and clergy' toilet signs and so the variant of WCs sign shown below was most definitely destined to make me smile, especially as I recalled another 'Dalek' poster from some time back:

I hope you find both of them able to help raise a smile on a day when they are in short supply across the world.

All Member Ministry - Spinning Plates

Back from holiday, picking up the pieces and looking towards the second half of 2013 I find myself, once again, faced with so many opportunities that it makes my head spin! There's Tamworth Street Angels, the Mission Shaped Ministry Course, Schools ministry and more besides.

There are so many opportunities in the community we serve and for a small church we are blessed to have some wonderfully committed and engaged members, not that this means all the bases are covered but we do have a high proportion of people doing stuff (and that's a real blessing). and have a few slowly progressing along the path to lay and ordained ministry too (which is a blessing and gift to the church and the wider Church too).

There's enough emails to keep me busy until Christmas and so many more requests and opportunities for us as a church to engage with that I can see there being even more plates to be added before long - guess we need to pray in more workers :-)

I've been amazed at the number of people I have engaged with over the past few weeks who have told me that they couldn't find a role in their local place of worship and have found the common element was that they were looking to be people with influence rather than people who influenced by doing. Not only that but they knew what they didn't like and what they didn't want but were less sure about what they did and all, almost to a person, was upset because they 'weren't listened to' or were basically unable to have their own way.

Interestingly it was the pastor or dogcollar that came in for the real stick because they, 'Just weren't listening to them!'

I rarely find a leader who is unwilling to listen, they just tire of listening to the same old stuff and the demands that are more often than not unaccompanied by offers of real help and engagement.

As we get nearer to the September rush into Christmas can I encourage all of us to stop, pray, read (the Bible), think and discern where and what God is calling us to do - what parts we are called to play (which might not be the same as desire to be) and having done so, let us get off our bottoms and get stuck in to the work of blessing one another, building each other up and getting the work before us done?

A sad, yet equally funny, quote regarding someone who was a 'good giver' (which some consider to be enough these days I'm afraid) who left a church went thus: 'If you lend someone a tenner and never see them again it was probably worth it!'

This is true also of those who think that their presence is justified on the basis of what they give and that should be a factor in how they are regarded by the rest of the church (and especially the leader), but this isn't the case - it's not what you give, but how you give it.

It's not what you give that counts - it's how you serve!

Add caption

How's your serve today?

Gift Aid Changes - Is your church aware?

The way that charities claim Gift Aid is about to change and it appears that there is some five months left to get things in place before this happens (September 2013). Hopefully those of us Anglicans will have some sort of diocesan support and guidance regarding this but there is still work to be done to ensure that all is in place regardless.

One of the biggest changes will be the provision of an online facility for claiming Gift Aid (bringing an end to paper systems and to many of the HMRC staff who do the work with it too I assume) but as always with technological solutions there are changes and challenges of the paper and organisation kind to be engaged with and sorted out! The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) have issued the following advice:

• Ensure the right people in their charity know about the changes and when they will happen.

• Read HMRC's guidance on Charities Online available on the HMRC website.

• Make sure you support your Treasurer and involve IT literate members to support and help decide which of three new options they will use:
Online claim form,
Database generated claim, or
Paper claim.

• Check which of the following steps you should take:
Register with the Government Gateway
Download and start using the standard HMRC spreadsheets
Speak to software suppliers or internal software development teams
Order the new paper forms from HMRC Charities (0845 302 0203
Get your Gift Aid claims up to date and check that the Gift Aid declarations remain valid.

• Ensure you are collecting all of the required information for a valid Gift Aid claim including a donor's postcode.

• Make sure your Gift Aid processes are robust as HMRC will be better equipped to check the accuracy of all and any Gift Aid claims.

• Check if you can benefit from the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme.

Not original information, but hopefully valid and useful for all those clergy, church councils and Treasurers out there.

Pax

Made me Laugh - Giving Everything!

Saw this and it made me laugh, especially as it made me think of a pastor who many years ago would always bring his sermons round to the punchline, "When you do anything, give everything you have!'

How I wish I'd a copy of this then - would have amazingly appeared on his study wall!

Happy Thursday

Church Report (3): sets low standard - fails to achieve?

I'd like to consider those churches who serve the poorer, needier and more deprives communities in our land for it often here than numbers and money combine to bring forth an inherited poverty that inhabits (and perhaps controls) both spiritual and physical worlds.

Confused (then, job done, perhaps I should stop now whilst behind)? No, of course you're not - well I hope you won't be:

A church I happened across was in an Urban Priority Area (UPA); one of those places that exists somewhere in every city, town and village. The people were lovely - they were the sort of either lived to work and worked to live or were what they called 'government artists' (a local euphemism for those who 'drew' benefits). Like many from churches that are in UPA or 'Estate' settings many of those who were drawn to gave more than perhaps their income or lifestyles might have led you to expect and not only did they give pound notes but they gave of their time and themselves too. This is a reality that makes some inner-city, UPA and estate churches such a blessing - people where living is hard and living as a Christian is harder still - and yet they do admirably.

So what am I talking about, because this billing doesn't appear to have anything to do with 'inherited poverty', does it?

I'm talking about the fact that even though they gave, many assumed that they'd struggle to pay their share and so, accordingly, they did! In fact that hadn't managed to pay all or much of the share for a number of years and when the issue was raised, so too were their voices as they said (in unison), 'But we're a poor church, we can't afford to pay!'  They were so convinced that they were poor and couldn't pay that this became something they tried to ignore - for rather than bless and be a blessing it became the hallmark of poverty and defeat.

What I think was going on was that the church was under a curse they had pronounced over themselves. This course was, of course, poverty and from this poverty they found themselves unable to pay which confirmed the curse they were under and one fed the other to leave them impotent as a 'poor' church.

They looked up the road to the big successful church (whatever happened to 'Giving as Ministry' ?) and saw in their success further confirmation of their inability to pay and of their poverty in terms of numbers (and yet, oddly, both were evangelical and occupied the same beliefs and attitudes) and ability to 'be or do' church.

Then along came a new minister. Not young and flashy, not full of tricks, gimmicks, buzzwords and a 'drop dead gorgeous and talented 'worship band' (isn't it ALL worship?) but committed to breaking the cycle of poverty that had limited the congregation. They set about paying their share and amazingly, they did!

Now this will have done many things:

i. It says to the people -'you are not chained by poverty but have been set free' (and free indeed!); now live like it,

ii. It says to the diocese - 'We are committed to being part of the diocesan family',

iii. Invites renewed (visible) commitment from the diocesan as they recognise the achievement, and

iv. It beggars the question of the other churches around it - 'Were you helping or praying when they were failing or merely content because you weren't? '

It is so easy for poorer communities to believe that they are too poor to reap the benefits of God's Grace and too poor to meet their church's commitments.

It is easier still for those churches with money (and numbers) to sit back comfortably and pay from what they have whilst celebrating the many people they have who are able and active and forget about the poorer church 'up the road/across town'. Because even though this is about them - they don't stand in isolation - Do They?

Malachi's entreaty that we 'bring all of our tithe into the storehouse so that none may go without' doesn't stop at our doors but continues to the whole family.

If a man falls into a hole and has no friends, he perishes; but if he has friends he will be saved.

Who's going to help break the chains that surround so many of our vulnerable and essentially placed churches I wonder?

No peace for the wicked!

But plenty of distractions though!

The daily office reading today leads us to Isaiah 48 and there we find that wonderful expression:

‘There is no peace’, says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’

What would we consider to be the greatest problems people have these days?

It isn't  jobs (although there's few enough of them about!);
It isn't relationships (and there are more than enough of them and not all are exclusive!);
It's not even money (and some will never have enough of it regardless);

The greatest need I encounter is that of  peace.

Now Jesus, in John 14, tells us that He gives us His peace. A peace that the world cannot understand nor overcome. The problem, for some, is that there is a bit of a catch in the words that precede this promise:

“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you."

Better still are the words that follow this promise though:

"I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Today, as the Church remembers the life and ministry of John of the cross I am reminded of these words:

“Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.”

Living in God's peace doesn't mean the stresses and strains of daily life are taken from us, nor does it remove us from the encounters and circumstances that trouble us, but (as 1 Corinthians says of love) it builds a habitation for us in the storms of life; a shelter where we can find that presence of God in our own little sacred space.

As Christmas rushes in and the pressures of buying presents pushes out God presence; and the strains of preparing for guests (or to be a guest) make their demands we think of those who will face their first Christmas without a loved one at the table; as we proclaim the prince of peace's coming we look and see a world where peace is a rare blessing (I have an answer for that though).

May the Peace of God and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit touch and bless us all.

Pax

Give until they leave

I thought this was one of the funniest clips relating to giving in church that I have seen for a while, so I thought I'd share it with you all.

But the Church is rich! (Part III)

The Church (of England) costs around £1,000M to keep the doors of our churches (13,000 of them) and cathedrals (43) open. The pretty graph below gives an idea of how the money comes in:

From it we can see that 21% comes from investments,

16% from Fees (Baptism, Wedding and Funerals), and

The rest (excluding 'other') pretty much comes from within (and the 'tax recovered' is a component of giving too!).

So - the reality is that we do have money but we aren't rich and the money we generate from it means we need to raise around £210m less from within (i.e. the members and churchgoers). The central organisation is therefore subsidising the operation leaving church members with their Parish Share to meet the rest.

That said, Parish Share is no small amount as can be seen with our  'church in a phone box and its need to find £65 every day of the year to pay it (and that's without running expenses) but it would be £100 without the 'wealth!'.

And what the communities we serve get is extremely good value for money and those who are Church (meaning CofE for this example) should be proud of what we are in the main doing and being.

Pax

ps. If you are a church member (and denomination or group) why not GiftAid your giving and maximise the power of your giving?