From Rev. Carmen Cook, Auburn UMC
Moving to a new church is full of excitement, expectations, and energy. I love that transition time. Before I arrive at the new church, I always ask the administrative assistant there to have on my desk a few things – the attendance record, the mission and vision statements, leadership list, and financials. Those things can very quickly give me a good indication of the health of the church. I am writing this because I would like us to pause for a moment and talk church finances. Fun, right? It can be. This isn’t a how-to manual but more of a testimony that I hope leaves you encouraged to be faithful in your teaching and doing and excited to see what God will do.
When I was appointed to my first church, I asked for all those things previously mentioned on my first day. On my second day I called my dad, a Free Will Baptist pastor. I was in a panic! The church was $16,000 in debt and I was clueless as to what to do. He gave this advice, and it has never failed me. He said, “Carmen, what did Jesus tell Peter to do in order to pay the temple tax? Go fishing”. There was wisdom in that. So, I went fishing and the church began to grow with people coming to know the Lord and new members. By the time my husband and I left there the church had grown numerically (and I hope spiritually) and that $16,000 debt was gone with money in the bank. That was exciting but there was still a problem. That church, while they paid their ministry shares to the district didn’t even attempt to pay their conference ministry shares. I couldn’t get them to see that their ministry shares were their tithes. Jump with me to Malachi 3 beginning in verse 8:
“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.”
The children of Israel had not been faithful in bringing their tithes before the Lord – you know, the FIRST 10% of their income. God made it very clear – they were no better than thieves. I find it interesting that God also makes it clear that not only did they rob God, but they robbed their nation, even themselves. God wanted to give His people blessings upon blessings, but they were disobedient, and they missed out on the richness of God. In New Testament language – that abundant life. It’s not that God needed their money, after all, He is the Lord Most High, the Creator of everything. He wanted their obedience because that showed they trusted Him to do what He said He would do – take care of them and better than they ever imagined.
So, back to my first appointment. Yes, they grew, and that debt was wiped out, but I still wonder – what could have happened if we had walked and lived by faith and not by sight? I believe that the windows of heaven would have flown open, and we could not have contained or counted the blessings of God. How many more souls would have come to know Jesus as their Savior? How many lives could we have touched? How many more disciples would have grown in their walk with Jesus? Jump ahead with me now to my current appointment.
Once again, before my first day here I asked for certain things to be put on my desk. Deep sigh. It was tough. The church was running low 70’s in attendance but the giving was way off. You’ve heard the saying about robbing Peter to pay Paul? Well, there was no more Peter and Paul had a line-up behind him. My administrative assistant and I sat down every Monday and figured out which bills had to be paid and how we would pay them. I cut everything that could be cut, including my package. IT. WAS. PAINFUL. Then came time for church conference and that required the making of the budget.
The finance team and I sat down, and we prayed, we talked, we prayed more, and we developed a budget that was squeaky tight. We also put into practice policies about spending and reimbursements. And then, we presented to the church a budget that we felt was honest and yet still required faith on our part for God to work in and through us. When I presented it to the church, I explained it like this –
This budget is as tight as we can make it. We have cut everything there is to cut. I know that we didn’t do a campaign drive (I hate those) but here is what I believe – if we faithfully give our tithes and our offerings then this budget will work. In other words, if you do your part then God will do His. Furthermore, the church organization cannot, should not ask of you what we aren’t willing to do ourselves. I have discovered that it has been 10 years since the church brought their full tithe into the warehouse of the Lord and paid our ministry shares in full. It is our pledge that we, the church, will take 10% of the offering each week and apply it to our ministry shares. We will live Malachi 3.
I am also a great believer in physical commitments, so I gave everyone pieces of paper, not telling them that it was flash paper. I asked them to write on the paper with their finger what they were willing to commit to in 2023 in their giving to the Lord and then I invited them to come and place it in the bowl that I had up front. I then explained to them that I don’t care what they wrote as it is between them and God, so we are going to burn this as an offering to the Lord. I then set it on fire and because it was flash paper it was a very hot 3 ft blaze of fire and gone in 3 seconds (I highly recommend not piling them on top of each other – it was…memorable!).
And that is exactly what we did. Before a single bill was ever paid, even payroll, we gave our tithes. People began to testify in church about how they were tithing and beginning to see God’s blessings. I faithfully taught about tithing and the difference between a tithe and offering. I had long ago decided that people would prefer to hear sermons about their worst sins than about finances; but we began to make it a normal part of the conversation. We made sure to tell people because you gave this is how we were a part of God’s kingdom plan this week. And here is what we saw:
- in 2023 the church paid 100% of their district and conference ministry shares
- all of our bills were paid – on time if not early
- we were able to offer payroll increases to the staff that they hadn’t had in a very long time
- ministries we were doing were funded and new ones were developed
- missions’ teams were being funded for the first time ever
- the church began to grow spiritually and numerically
We are now at the end of 2024 and I can say the same thing again, except that there is even more blessings upon blessings. We are by no means plush. We are very careful with the finances of the church and seek to be good stewards. To be honest, if you look at the income vs expenses you would be wondering how we do it some months. I honestly don’t know. I was always taught 1 +1 = 2 but God’s math is something all together different. It works, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I love God’s math because when we do our part God always goes over the top and pours out blessings upon blessings. Ministry that we were doing in ’22 and added to in ’23 we are still doing in ’24, with more ministries being added. Our Ministry Shares and bills are paid – on time! We have a Youth Pastor! We have kids involved in mission trips! We have A LOT of kids! We have adults who are catching the fire and burning bright! We have fed, housed, supported, and loved on…A LOT of people. We visit, we share, we serve all while telling people about Jesus and His redeeming love. And, we see the Kingdom of God being added to. We haven’t “arrived” but we are “becoming”. And, “becoming” is a very beautiful thing.
I need to make something very clear – you don’t have to be a “big” church in order to bring your whole tithe into God’s warehouse. You don’t have to be a “big” church in order to do ministry. But you do have to be an obedient church. You do have to be a trusting church. May we all become the church God created us to be. Let us “become” together.