Last week Church of God pastors were sent an email in regards to a special video message from General Director Ron Duncan concerning the current status of Church of God Ministries' budget. As we learned at the General Assembly, giving is down significantly and has been on a downward trend for several years.
Duncan's message is designed to communicate this message far and wide across the Church of God in North America. The facts and his plea need to be heard.
I think it is far too easy to look for simplistic explanations as to why this budget problem exists. Some might want to blame the economy or going disconnectedness with "Anderson", but I believe there are two reasons that especially stand out:
1. Undesignated giving is losing its value. This has been a trend developing for several decades now, and it not only affects giving to our national and regional bodies, but to local churches as well. Older generations gave out of sense of duty and obligation, whereas increasingly people today are giving where they see specific needs (e.g. missions projects, etc.). Obviously stewardship principles need to be reinforced, but this is a reality that is severely limiting the church's ministry at all levels.
2. Lack of clarity on the purpose of our national organization. While greater efforts have been made to express a vision for the Church of God in North America, it still has not filtered down to the local congregations where decisions are made whether to support Church of God Ministries. With many churches stuggling to meet their own local budgets, it is easy to see how cutting or eliminating support to "Anderson" is determined.
In resolving this we must get past our regrets, and pronouncements of "oughts" and "shoulds". The starting point must be facing the realities of the current situation, and from there we must inspire with a cooperative vision for our movement going forward. Otherwise, our budget problems will persist.
Duncan's message is designed to communicate this message far and wide across the Church of God in North America. The facts and his plea need to be heard.
I think it is far too easy to look for simplistic explanations as to why this budget problem exists. Some might want to blame the economy or going disconnectedness with "Anderson", but I believe there are two reasons that especially stand out:
1. Undesignated giving is losing its value. This has been a trend developing for several decades now, and it not only affects giving to our national and regional bodies, but to local churches as well. Older generations gave out of sense of duty and obligation, whereas increasingly people today are giving where they see specific needs (e.g. missions projects, etc.). Obviously stewardship principles need to be reinforced, but this is a reality that is severely limiting the church's ministry at all levels.
2. Lack of clarity on the purpose of our national organization. While greater efforts have been made to express a vision for the Church of God in North America, it still has not filtered down to the local congregations where decisions are made whether to support Church of God Ministries. With many churches stuggling to meet their own local budgets, it is easy to see how cutting or eliminating support to "Anderson" is determined.
In resolving this we must get past our regrets, and pronouncements of "oughts" and "shoulds". The starting point must be facing the realities of the current situation, and from there we must inspire with a cooperative vision for our movement going forward. Otherwise, our budget problems will persist.
