I’ve heard some business people say that pastors have their heads too far in the clouds. What is needed, they advise, is a little more common sense when it comes to running the church.
I tell them that I agree with them. If we had a little more of their common cents, we wouldn’t have such serious budget problems. For example when their 100,000 stocks rise 20 cents on the market, that’s an additional $20,000 for the budget. If you look at their entire portfolio, the budget begins to look pretty good and the staff wouldn’t have to suck so much air to survive.
I know a lot of clergy feel embarrassed about pressing people to make larger pledges because it feels like they are begging for their salary. Surveys continue to report that clergy and church staff give a higher % of their salary to the church than do most members. Maybe instead of asking wealthier members to give larger pledges, we could just offer to swap the % of their income that they give with the % we give. We might not even have to ask for a raise for the next year.
