The State of the Church (2003)
A sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Tim W. Jensen
at the Second Congregational Meeting House on Nantucket Island
Sunday January 26th, 2003
***
As some of you may recall from last year, at the very beginning of my ministry I developed the habit, on the Sunday of the Annual Meeting, of preaching on the subject of "The State of the Church." I'm not entirely certain why I developed this practice, and every year I'm tempted once again to give it up...but every year it seems as though the opportunity to speak directly to the members of the congregation about the institutional well-being of this religious organization is simply too attractive to pass up.
The Constitution dictates that the President of the United States shall from time to time report to the Congress on the State of the Union. ItÂs part of his job description. A State of the Church sermon is a lot like that, with just a few minor differences. The President has dozens of speechwriters and policy consultants working round the clock for months in advance preparing his State of the Union address. He delivers his speech to a joint session of Congress, and a gallery full of guests and dignitaries, and at the same time broadcasts it live around the world to an audience of millions.
But this morning it's just "all y'all" (as we used to say down in Midland, Texas) and lil' ol' me. So just let me say, here at the outset, that despite the fact that times are tough: that our nation is poised on the brink of war, that the stock market is down and our economy struggling, that our political leaders don't seem to care what the rest of the world thinks (or for that matter, the rest of the country), and it feels like hell is about to freeze over....despite all this (and a lot of other stuff I could probably mention too), the state of THIS church is fine.
Sure, it could always be better. And it will be better, as you move forward out of this time of transition and into the next era of your future ministry. I know there are a lot of you who are tired of hearing that word "transition" -- you've heard it a lot these past three years, and by now you are more than ready for things finally to settle down and get back to normal. And yet, although I know it's a cliche: the only truly constant thing in life is change: this period of transition is not just the end of one era, it is also the beginning of something new -- and the changes are just beginning as well.
Interim ministry is about helping congregations to accomplish five tasks: coming to terms with recent history, articulating a new identity, identifying a new generation of lay leadership, renewing connections with the larger denomination, and discovering new directions for ministry. In the year and a half that IÂve served as your interim minister, we have quietly and intentionally explored all of these issues, and gradually a consensus has started to emerge. This is not the same congregation that it was when Ted retired three years ago, and while some may understandably still feel nostalgic for the way things used to be, it will never truly be that way again. But more importantly, under the leadership of your NEXT settled minister, this congregation will CONTINUE to change in ways that you can hardly imagine, in response to challenges and opportunities that have yet to be discovered. And the skills you have learned during this "interim" period will eventually prove invaluable to you in an era of "permanent" change.
Now let me change the subject for a moment, and talk a bit about the budget. Ordinarily the treasurer would do this, but since Jack is out of town attending a funeral, I offered to do it for him.
Obviously, as a minister I tend to see church budgets through somewhat different eyes than I would if I were the treasurer, not to mention a trained accountant or competent bookkeeper. All of these perspectives are important, of course, even essential; but as a minister, I am basically interested in the budget as a tool for creating a dynamic and effective shared congregational ministry, and everything else follows that.
For me, a budget is a spending plan, based upon the projected availability of resources, which reflects a congregation's mission and purpose, and empowers individuals to act to meet those goals by authorizing them to utilize a specified portion of those resources without having to first ask for permission from somebody else. And it's nice, of course, when everything adds up neatly to the penny, and no one has to worry about whether or not the money is really there. But there are a couple of things I've learned about church budgets over the years, and these are that:
a) projections are never quite as accurate as you would like or hope, and
b) things very rarely go according to plan.
Which is not to suggest that we shouldn't try to plan as accurately as possible. But a budget is a dynamic document, a tool as well as a record of accounts; it needs to be constantly monitored, and adjusted, and reviewed for accuracy. And this is particularly true in times of transition, when circumstances change rapidly, and people need accurate information in order to move forward with their own goals and plans.
It might also help to understand the three basic sources of revenue for a church.
The first of these are Pledges or current member giving. Pledges are our most important source of revenue, and should be based on the ability of individuals to be generous, and not on the perceived "need" of the church. There is never enough money to do everything the church might potentially dream of doing, but we will somehow always find enough to do the things we feel are essential. This has been a tough year for the pledge campaign... we've lost several of our most generous contributors, either through death or because they have left the island and moved to the mainland. The Stock market decline and the tough economy have also cut into people's pocketbooks, and this may well also be reflected in our church budget. The good news is that those of you who are still alive and living on the island have, on average, increased your pledges by approximately 12% over last year's level of giving.
The Second Source is our invested funds, or our "endowment" income. This is a Legacy from the past based on the generosity of our forebearers. You may recall from last year's annual meeting that last year, for the first time in history, this churchÂs endowment topped one million dollars. This was, unfortunately, a short-lived milestone; since the stock market dip has cut into the value of our portfolio just as it has everyone else's. If you look at the balance sheet you'll see that the church lost almost a quarter of a million dollars in the market last year, or approximately 32% of the value of our investment in the UUA general investment fund. The Good news is that it might have been worse; a large percentage of our endowment funds are in certificates of deposit, and actually increased in value during this bear market.
Third Source of revenue is simply labeled "other" -- and includes things like building rentals, special fundraisers, and various other miscellaneous sources of income that make their way into our church coffers over the course of a year. In many churches these "other" funds make up a significant portion of the church budget, but those churches sometimes pay a price for that as well. Whenever you start to think about special sources of funding, it's essential to remember that fundraising should always be supportive of the overall mission of the church, and should never be allowed to BECOME the mission of the church.
If a congregation is attentive to all three of these sources, and does what it should to keep them healthy, it should also be able to afford to support a reasonable level of ministry and program appropriate to its size.
Of course, if all these numbers are confusing to you, you can always just look to the bottom line: which in the case of this year's budget would be line number 110.
When you do get around to looking at line number 110, what you will find there is a $11,000 deficit. Normally this would worry me, since when churches get into the habit of running deficit budgets one of the first thing to bounce is generally the minister's paycheck. But if you read back across you'll notice that last year we budgeted for a $15,000 deficit, and actually ended up with a $21,000 surplus instead. The main reason for this, as you can read in the Treasurer's report, was that you didn't settle a permanent minister last year; so many of those one-time search expenses have instead rolled over into this year's budget, where they show up as a deficit, but will actually be paid with the money that was appropriated last year and NOT spent, and now shows up as extra cash in the operating account.
My basic feeling, as a minister, about this church's financial position, is that it is very healthy for a congregation of this size, and that it will only continue to improve once your new minister is securely settled here on the island. With their guidance and leadership, you will only continue to increase your experience and expertise in conducting your annual canvass, as well as move ahead with your plan to form a finance committee to oversee the appropriate investment of your endowment funds. You also have a great opportunity to improve your ability to "fun"-raise, perhaps by creating new events, like a service auction, which serve as excellent activities for fun and fellowship in addition to contributing to the church's bottom line.
But before you worry too much about any of this, you have a much more pressing task before you. And this is simply the task of selecting, electing, and welcoming your new minister into your community with as much warmth, good-will, and old-fashioned island hospitality as you have made me welcome.
at the Second Congregational Meeting House on Nantucket Island
Sunday January 26th, 2003
***
As some of you may recall from last year, at the very beginning of my ministry I developed the habit, on the Sunday of the Annual Meeting, of preaching on the subject of "The State of the Church." I'm not entirely certain why I developed this practice, and every year I'm tempted once again to give it up...but every year it seems as though the opportunity to speak directly to the members of the congregation about the institutional well-being of this religious organization is simply too attractive to pass up.
The Constitution dictates that the President of the United States shall from time to time report to the Congress on the State of the Union. ItÂs part of his job description. A State of the Church sermon is a lot like that, with just a few minor differences. The President has dozens of speechwriters and policy consultants working round the clock for months in advance preparing his State of the Union address. He delivers his speech to a joint session of Congress, and a gallery full of guests and dignitaries, and at the same time broadcasts it live around the world to an audience of millions.
But this morning it's just "all y'all" (as we used to say down in Midland, Texas) and lil' ol' me. So just let me say, here at the outset, that despite the fact that times are tough: that our nation is poised on the brink of war, that the stock market is down and our economy struggling, that our political leaders don't seem to care what the rest of the world thinks (or for that matter, the rest of the country), and it feels like hell is about to freeze over....despite all this (and a lot of other stuff I could probably mention too), the state of THIS church is fine.
Sure, it could always be better. And it will be better, as you move forward out of this time of transition and into the next era of your future ministry. I know there are a lot of you who are tired of hearing that word "transition" -- you've heard it a lot these past three years, and by now you are more than ready for things finally to settle down and get back to normal. And yet, although I know it's a cliche: the only truly constant thing in life is change: this period of transition is not just the end of one era, it is also the beginning of something new -- and the changes are just beginning as well.
Interim ministry is about helping congregations to accomplish five tasks: coming to terms with recent history, articulating a new identity, identifying a new generation of lay leadership, renewing connections with the larger denomination, and discovering new directions for ministry. In the year and a half that IÂve served as your interim minister, we have quietly and intentionally explored all of these issues, and gradually a consensus has started to emerge. This is not the same congregation that it was when Ted retired three years ago, and while some may understandably still feel nostalgic for the way things used to be, it will never truly be that way again. But more importantly, under the leadership of your NEXT settled minister, this congregation will CONTINUE to change in ways that you can hardly imagine, in response to challenges and opportunities that have yet to be discovered. And the skills you have learned during this "interim" period will eventually prove invaluable to you in an era of "permanent" change.
Now let me change the subject for a moment, and talk a bit about the budget. Ordinarily the treasurer would do this, but since Jack is out of town attending a funeral, I offered to do it for him.
Obviously, as a minister I tend to see church budgets through somewhat different eyes than I would if I were the treasurer, not to mention a trained accountant or competent bookkeeper. All of these perspectives are important, of course, even essential; but as a minister, I am basically interested in the budget as a tool for creating a dynamic and effective shared congregational ministry, and everything else follows that.
For me, a budget is a spending plan, based upon the projected availability of resources, which reflects a congregation's mission and purpose, and empowers individuals to act to meet those goals by authorizing them to utilize a specified portion of those resources without having to first ask for permission from somebody else. And it's nice, of course, when everything adds up neatly to the penny, and no one has to worry about whether or not the money is really there. But there are a couple of things I've learned about church budgets over the years, and these are that:
a) projections are never quite as accurate as you would like or hope, and
b) things very rarely go according to plan.
Which is not to suggest that we shouldn't try to plan as accurately as possible. But a budget is a dynamic document, a tool as well as a record of accounts; it needs to be constantly monitored, and adjusted, and reviewed for accuracy. And this is particularly true in times of transition, when circumstances change rapidly, and people need accurate information in order to move forward with their own goals and plans.
It might also help to understand the three basic sources of revenue for a church.
The first of these are Pledges or current member giving. Pledges are our most important source of revenue, and should be based on the ability of individuals to be generous, and not on the perceived "need" of the church. There is never enough money to do everything the church might potentially dream of doing, but we will somehow always find enough to do the things we feel are essential. This has been a tough year for the pledge campaign... we've lost several of our most generous contributors, either through death or because they have left the island and moved to the mainland. The Stock market decline and the tough economy have also cut into people's pocketbooks, and this may well also be reflected in our church budget. The good news is that those of you who are still alive and living on the island have, on average, increased your pledges by approximately 12% over last year's level of giving.
The Second Source is our invested funds, or our "endowment" income. This is a Legacy from the past based on the generosity of our forebearers. You may recall from last year's annual meeting that last year, for the first time in history, this churchÂs endowment topped one million dollars. This was, unfortunately, a short-lived milestone; since the stock market dip has cut into the value of our portfolio just as it has everyone else's. If you look at the balance sheet you'll see that the church lost almost a quarter of a million dollars in the market last year, or approximately 32% of the value of our investment in the UUA general investment fund. The Good news is that it might have been worse; a large percentage of our endowment funds are in certificates of deposit, and actually increased in value during this bear market.
Third Source of revenue is simply labeled "other" -- and includes things like building rentals, special fundraisers, and various other miscellaneous sources of income that make their way into our church coffers over the course of a year. In many churches these "other" funds make up a significant portion of the church budget, but those churches sometimes pay a price for that as well. Whenever you start to think about special sources of funding, it's essential to remember that fundraising should always be supportive of the overall mission of the church, and should never be allowed to BECOME the mission of the church.
If a congregation is attentive to all three of these sources, and does what it should to keep them healthy, it should also be able to afford to support a reasonable level of ministry and program appropriate to its size.
Of course, if all these numbers are confusing to you, you can always just look to the bottom line: which in the case of this year's budget would be line number 110.
When you do get around to looking at line number 110, what you will find there is a $11,000 deficit. Normally this would worry me, since when churches get into the habit of running deficit budgets one of the first thing to bounce is generally the minister's paycheck. But if you read back across you'll notice that last year we budgeted for a $15,000 deficit, and actually ended up with a $21,000 surplus instead. The main reason for this, as you can read in the Treasurer's report, was that you didn't settle a permanent minister last year; so many of those one-time search expenses have instead rolled over into this year's budget, where they show up as a deficit, but will actually be paid with the money that was appropriated last year and NOT spent, and now shows up as extra cash in the operating account.
My basic feeling, as a minister, about this church's financial position, is that it is very healthy for a congregation of this size, and that it will only continue to improve once your new minister is securely settled here on the island. With their guidance and leadership, you will only continue to increase your experience and expertise in conducting your annual canvass, as well as move ahead with your plan to form a finance committee to oversee the appropriate investment of your endowment funds. You also have a great opportunity to improve your ability to "fun"-raise, perhaps by creating new events, like a service auction, which serve as excellent activities for fun and fellowship in addition to contributing to the church's bottom line.
But before you worry too much about any of this, you have a much more pressing task before you. And this is simply the task of selecting, electing, and welcoming your new minister into your community with as much warmth, good-will, and old-fashioned island hospitality as you have made me welcome.
posted by The Eclectic Cleric at 4:23 PM
