Toolbox For Faith

We just finished a retreat with our congregational council and we used an idea that I read about over a dozen years ago that has really helped create action. Over the years, I have been the pastor of congregations that set what I thought were excellent goals but nothing, absolutely nothing, happened. I kept wondering what we were doing wrong. I’m sure that many of you can identify with that problem.

The idea that I have been using centers on creating active language in expressing goals. They key is expressing goals in a “How to…so that…” format which creates action. The statement begins with “how to” and continues with “so that.”

The church I am serving as interim noticed a drop in attendance at Sunday School and several leaders responded by observing, “Our attendance is dropping.” I noted that this was not a goal but simply an observation. They then stated their goal, “We need to increase attendance at Sunday School.” The goal sounded good but was so vague that it did not create any action. Finally, they expressed their goal in the “How to…so that…” format–“How to make our Sunday School exciting and fulfilling so that people can’t wait to come to their classes!” Expressing the goal in that format helped them realize that one of their weaknesses was how unexciting and predictable their Sunday School had become. The plan is to have a series of activities and events to create excitement and increase attendance. When the members of the Sunday School become excited about the program, their enthusiasm spreads to others. The “How to…so that…” format is already resulting in action.

An old proverb says: If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else. The action format lets you know exactly where you are going rather than having a vague statement of your destination and ending up somewhere else.

See if it works for you. Express your goal in a “How to…so that…” format. Action will follow!

About 18 months ago, St. Michael started a backpack feeding ministry.  The concept is very simple, but the impact is tremendous.  In every school, there are students who depend on a school breakfast and a school lunch for their main nutrition.  Over the weekend, these students often receive very little to eat.  Backpack feeding programs provide six healthy weekend meals to these students.  The food is placed in an ordinary backpack and given to a student as they are leaving school on a Friday afternoon.  The ministry is a partnership between St. Michael, other community churches, local organizations and the schools.  We started delivering 5 backpacks per week at one school and now deliver a total of 56 backpacks each week.  If you want more information about our backpack feeding ministry or would like help starting a backpack feeding ministry at your congregation check out: Micah’s Backpack. (www.micahsbackpack.org)

I was doing some work for a presentation and came across some helpful resources for small congregations. I haven’t read all the books listed on this page, but they looked interesting, so I thought I’d share.

http://www.congregationalresources.org/ShowCat.asp?TC=108

If you can find a copy, another interesting book is, “24 Effective Ideas for the Small Membership Church” by Steven M. Murray. The book is a little dated, since it was written in 1996, but it still has some good suggestions. Here’s an article by the same author: http://www.gbod.org/evangelism/programs/offeringchrist/small_church.html

The best book on the topic I have read is “Small, Strong Congregations” by Kennon Callahan. If you are serving a small congregation, it is immensely helpful.

Every congregation sends out annual giving statements at this time of year. At St. Michael, we put a thank you note in each statement which tries to connect the individual’s gift to the ministry which is taking place. The format of the “Thank You” note always stays the same, but the ministry picture changes. This year we created a half-page thank you note. On one side is a photo collage showing ministry throughout the year, while on the other side is thank you with a description of the 2010 Ministry Funds. I have posted each side of the insert below for you to see.

Thank You Note with Photos - Jan 2010
Thank You with Fund Summary - Jan 2010

Like most churches, St. Michael has several different ministry funds. For years, gifts to support our Spending Plan for Ministry have gone to a fund which is called the “Current Fund” by some people and the the “General Fund” by other people. This year we decided to change the name of this fund to the “Core Ministry Fund.” In today’s world where people are often more interested in giving to specific, designated funds, we thought it was important to make it clear that donations to the Core Ministry Fund are not just general donations, but in fact support the core ministries of St. Michael - worship, shepherding, education, youth ministry and senior adult ministry. Hopefully, this will help people make the connection between their generous response to God’s love and the ministry that their generosity makes happen in the world.

I woke up yesterday morning worrying about finances. Like many ministries, we were counting on a strong December to fully support our 2009 spending plan, but harsh weather required us to cancel one service and dramatically reduced attendance at three others. Unlike Rick Warren, I did not, and cannot, put out a plea to raise $2.5 million dollars in a few days, so we finished 2009 with a deficit in our Core Ministry Fund. We have reserves to cover the shortfall, so we aren’t in trouble, we simply aren’t where we want to be. We have done excellent ministry in the past year - completed a facilities expansion, expanded a community feeding program, served more people in ministry than ever before. When you include designated giving, our overall giving was as strong as ever, but still I worried about dipping into the reserves.


Now I have often heard it said that God acts in many and various ways, but Sunday morning was the first time in my life that God ever acted through the words of a song from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. As I was doing a little work between services, I started thinking of a song from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat where Joseph is telling the Pharaoh that his dream means that seven good years will be followed by seven years of drought. Joseph instructs Pharaoh to save food during the good years and then use the stored food during the lean years (Gen 41:25-36). Now I certainly hope that St. Michael’s ministry doesn’t experience 5 financial lean years following five strong financial years, because we didn’t save as much as Pharaoh did, but Joseph’s wisdom helped ease my mind about tapping into our reserves. God’s people gave generously and allowed us to build up an appropriate reserve over the last five years and now when we experienced a lean year, we were blessed with the ability to continue our ministry uninterrupted because of that generosity and stewardship. As Joseph counseled Pharaoh centuries ago, being a good steward when you are abundantly blessed can prepare you for those times of scarcity.


Now let me be clear - I am not advocating hoarding cash. As the Israelites discovered when they started hoarding manna in the wilderness - hoarding stinks. In fact, once we reached a level of reserves that we were comfortable with at St. Michael, we used any extra giving at the end of the year for extra benevolence gifts. I am suggesting, however, that it is wise for congregations to maintain financial reserves and, here’s the important part, to be at peace about using them when needed.