are on this.
Our church put in the program this week and was mentioned before the end of the service,
asking for people to put 1 more percent of tithe in their giving, if you give 10 percent give 11 percent, if you give 5 percent give 6 percent.
Do you think this is right for a church that admitted they have not met their budget for this year that ends this Sunday? Plus the new budget has increased 10 percent.
I am disappointed in them,. People out of jobs, they are increasing their salaries. To me that is not right .
any opinions on this?

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I'd be happy if our people all gave at all. : \

I do not think it is right for them to give themselves raises if the budget isn't being met. Sounds almost like our government. lol They can ask all they want but it doesn't mean they will get.

Your church doesn't vote on raises and budgets and such? You go to a large church don't you? One thing I like about small churches in the people are involved with all that.

I guess they feel like it won't hurt to ask. But it doesn't seem right....giving themselves raises.

I am not against church personnel getting raises....they have to live and pay bills, too. But when times are so hard and people are having a hard time making ends meet, it seems like churches could also find creative ways to stretch their dollars.

But that said, I am all for giving what I can. It's a personal thing - between the person and the Lord. We do what we can and give what we can to further His Kingdom. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, so he doesn't "need" our money, but he does love our obedience and, I believe, blesses it.

I don't know if I really answered your question!

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I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

We are to be good stewards and it does not seem like good stewardship to not meet budgets, and then raise them, then adding the expectation that others should help to meet the difference or more.

Personally, I would think that going over the budget, line by line to see what is not being best utilized, what could/should be dropped short or long term, what is of most importance to whatever the end goal/purpose/calling/scriptural command is. If you do not have each dollar with a specific purpose, then it is too easy to lose the effectiveness of the dollar. If the specific purpose is not of real need or immediate benefit (like some programming... may be good, but may not be necessary or good at this time in the life of the church body...) then it should be cut from the budget.

Just seems counterproductive to a healthy body.

What is appropriate is determined by what is already happening.

If your Pastor is making 5k/year and the people are driving Mercedes, but dropping a dollar a week in the plate, and the building is falling down, then the budget must be increased, and people must give more.

If your Pastor is driving the Mercedes while the people give offerings beyond a tithe but live in hovels, then, no, the budget should not be increased.

I've been on Church boards more than once, in more than one denomination, and have to say that I never see any waste - it is expensive to maintain a Church building, support a Pastor, give to Missions, etc. And, as a group, God's People often don't contribute as much as is appropriate for how God has blessed them.

I do think the budget should be known to the congregation in all its details.

I think the only question you need to deal with personally (if you are not on the board) is are you personally giving what God wants you to give. Just ignore the rest.

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Anna, I think that is very good advice. We can only do, what we can do in circumstances like these.

I was more thinking about programming that many groups hold on to that create more cost and busy work than are worth it in the end. Sometimes less is so much more. I'm not talking missions or the Pastor's position or anything like that, but, for example, Sunday schools can be run off of next to nothing because really, the Bible is the only thing necessary if the purpose is to teach the Word of God to His people. All the fun, colorful activities have become the expected but may be more than a budget can support. You can still have fun with learning without them.

Also, it does cost a lot of money for upkeep of buildings. I've known other churches that have shared spaces, downsized buildings, or some that utilize very simple auditorium set ups and have amazing spirit filled services. Thinking outside of the box may be what many congregations may need to do if the members are giving and the output is still too much. It may not be ideal, or what is comfortable, but Christ did with a whole lot with less than what we expect today. Not saying one is better or worse, but we can not keep living outside of our budgets and expect good things to come out of it. Just don't know what could be eliminated in any given congregational budget to better meet the needs of the congregation without the added stress of too much expense with not enough money. It would be great if everyone set realistic budgets and kept living within them even if/when giving exceeds the budget.

They used to have a business meeting every four months , not any more. The budget is handed out with the program now once a year and if you have questions they claim you can discuss it with them. They are like most larger churches, they do what they want, and then want more, and if they keep it up they may find themselves in a whole soon.
But asking for more when people cannot give more is not an excuse to raise the budget.
It will come back to bite them before the end of the year. It usually does.

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They claim they do all that.

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I think that if they have not met their budget, then they may need to rethink any raises, also if the church leadership does not allow the entire church to have copies of the entire budget or keeps the finances secret it may be time to either leave or a change of leadership.

We were in a church that was not honest about the finances and the leadership stated that they did not think the whole church needed to know all about the finances, and that is wrong imo and encourages poor stewardship. Unfortunately we were there a lot longer than we should have been, but God moved us out of that church, into a very good church, that is very nice,

They have everything open about the budgets, how much comes in each week, whats needed, whats been promised and whats being paid and where, also any major things that need to be done are brought to a vote, even things that are very minor imo.

Anyway, I'd proceed with caution in a situation like you mentioned because of what we have experienced.

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[i][i]Psalms 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.[/i][/i]