How do you handle a budget crunch?
October 1, 2001
Make necessary cuts.
We suffered a serious shortfall in 1999. Our three-year-old church "restart" was creaking under the combination of too much overhead and too few givers. For several months I contemplated my worst fear: firing staff.
As we met to finalize the budget, I was told we still needed to eliminate $100,000. Ministry line items were already cut to the bone. I told the committee, "As hard as this is, we must lay off two associate pastors if we are going to present a balanced budget for approval by the membership."
This decision caught everyone by surprise. Many members were frustrated that we didn't allow them the opportunity to increase their giving to prevent the layoffs, but we couldn't present a seriously unbalanced budget. The two staff members were gracious, but this was very painful. We lost a number of people whom they served.
We have rebounded, but even now, two years later, there is some lingering paranoia about hiring new staff. In the wake of this crucial decision, I believe we did what we had to do.
Teach and pray.
$1.65. That's what we had in the church's account. The number shocked the council.
Rural ministry is very practically minded. Our budget fits on one page. We make a list of the bills, and it all comes out of that one pile. When we fall short, the question isn't which ministry to cut, but which bill demands to be paid first.
I had tried to develop a stewardship program, but whenever I spoke to people about it, their first question was "Is there anything wrong?" If I said "not yet," they stopped listening.
Now there was something wrong. After nights of worry, I prayed, "Okay, God, what's your plan here?" Then I knew this was the opportunity. This time my stewardship plans passed unanimously. We began ...
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