A Bribe

Sunday, at the announcements, the priest said, “Remember next Sunday to stay after services for free Gus’ fried chicken and fixings. Let me be up front about this. It’s a bribe to get you to stay and learn about this years’ pledge campaign. We’re going to try to get you to make a pledge.” I had two reactions. On the one hand, I laughed. I loved his candor. “Let’s not sugar coat it. We want your money.” On the other hand, how regrettable that we have to entice people to learn about the financial needs of their parish and “twist their arms” to get them to give.

Isn’t something very wrong with that picture?

Plus, if this presentation is like the other thousand (well not literally) I’ve sat through, it will not be very detailed and it will indicate that the vast majority of the money will go for internal needs: salaries, utilities, etc. Just keeping Church’s the motor running costs a fortune—never mind actually getting on the road to the Kingdom.

A professor I had in seminary, James Glass, wrote a book called Getting It Together in the Parish. One of the things he wrote was the Church might want to consider a different model. How about, he suggested, a congregation of ten families: 1minister and 9 lay? All would tithe. That would make the minister's salary an average of the lay salaries. The minister would tithe too and this would all be spent on external programming. Plus, the minister would have such a small congregation that he/she would be free to devote almost all his/her time to ministry in the community. As the congregation grew to 20 families, they would split and form a new ten family congregation. And, of course, they would meet in someone’s home so there is no facilities upkeep to drain resources.

Though it is a model not without some problems, it certainly seems to return us to New Testament times when Christians met in homes and the definition of minister was very fluid. And it provides for a lot of community ministry. Unlike the present big church model.

Oh, well. Just an idea.

Peace,

Jerry+