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Money, New Initiatives, and Worship
Who, what, why, where, when, and how much?

Most church leaders don't like to talk about money in worship and most people who come to our churches don't like it either. Fair enough! Still, the parking lot needs fixing, the church needs a new roof, and the pastor's home needs to be scraped and rebuilt. Money makes the church go 'round too.

Here are three things to remember when introducing big ticket money issues into your worship services. See if these are a fit for your church, or, even better, tell us how you did it!

1. At first, talk about initiatives, not the costs. 

Every church has some "moving forward" ideas on the table. Things like steam cleaning and removing asbestos from children's areas, cleaning up the exterior of a building that has begun to cause embarrassment, or building a lighted cabinet to display photos of fallen military from the church family—these are all readily salable and generally don't cause much conversation or consternation. You can present these initiatives with or without costs attached and they will move through the system fairly quickly, though the costs, of course, will eventually need to be discussed.

But, if what you want to do is change the "look" of the children's class areas, paint that eye-sore of a building, red, or build a cabinet to display the quilts from the ladies sewing circle—now, we're talking finesse. This might be a good opportunity to communicate about end-users and how they will be impacted by the changes, rather than the look, style, or (Help!) how much it will cost.

Caution: Keep worship time for worshipping—cast vision, but avoid numbers—don't turn worship into a referendum for people's pet peeves.

2. Your timing may or may not be the best timing.

In a church where I worked for many years, we were often governed by a delightful saying of the late Presbyterian pastor, Robert Munger. He often said to his leadership and staff, "Go slow, lay low, and don't blow." This great advice informed our leadership and kept our church focused on good communication to our congregants rather than pushing our ideas through to completion prematurely. 

Remember the fact that, though you may have been talking about this project for a year or more with your top leaders, most of the congregation is going to hear it for the first time.

Caution: Just because the church has needed something since yesterday(!) doesn't mean that this is the time to present the project. Let people slowly build up to the need and the solution so that, when you finally talk about the initiative in specific terms, it will feel as though it has gone through a very measured and thoughtful process.

3. Always make the "people" aspects of a project central in your communications.

Many years ago when a church had invested some serious bucks on two big screens installations, they suffered some pretty serious resistance from their constituents. This was at a time when very few churches had such technology and the whole issue of media in worship spaces was still very controversial. The lead staff cleverly let people see the benefits on an extremely limited basis before using the screens all the time and for everything.

The sole video content of the first 6 months consisted of:

•   A video championing a fund that would eventually raise $250K to house Brazilian street boys who were being routinely murdered on the streets of Rio de Janeiro

•  Up-close video coverage of babies being baptized or dedicated—every curled lip—every crying moment

•   A testimony from a homeless man who had found his way off the streets and into the church where he discovered hope again

You won't be surprised that the talk about the screens quickly subsided.

Caution: In worship—let ideas, projects, and somewhat controversial initiatives emanate from people's grateful and transformed stories, rather than setting up goal thermometers in the narthex.

Blessings,
Doug

—Doug Lawrence, internationally recognized speaker, author, and advisor, helps churches assess and improve their skillfulness in creating engaging worship experiences by utilizing his more than 35 years of "deep trench" worship leadership in prominent mainline churches. You may reach him at dlawrenceconsult@mac.com. Or, if you wish, call 1-650-207-8240 for assessment information and scheduling.