What would happen to the universal church if the church in American used some of its stored up war chest towards Missional endeavors?
What war chest you ask? The value of the assets held in church property alone.
The figure is not scientific I arrived at it from a 1976 study. In 1976, one study estimated that church property was worth at least $118 billion (Martin A. Larson and C. Stanley Lowell, Praise the Lord for Tax Exemption [Robert B. Luce, 1969]). I then used an inflation calculator to discover that the real value would be $334,000,000,000.00 or $334 billion dollars. I also did some quick math and at 330,000 churches with buildings valued at $750,000 each you get about $250 billion.
Do these numbers amaze you? They do me. Maybe they are just to big to grasp. Well here’s some more.
I found this quote here: “Churches are spending more on themselves, less on global mission outreach. In North American churches, the percentage of church monies devoted to benevolences (ministries outside the local congregation) has fallen steadily since 1968.
Many studies confirm that benevolences now make up only 15 percent of a church’s budget. A study by John and Sylvia Ronsvalle, however, puts this figure in its larger context. According to their research, benevolences made up 21.2 percent of a church’s budget in 1968. The figure has declined steadily over the years to its current 14.5 percent, even as giving to the church has made an upswing. When home missions are subtracted from benevolences, we find that only about 5.6 percent is left to operate foreign missions.
Thus, in 2000, nearly 97 percent of the entire income of all Christian organizations was spent on, and primarily benefited, other Christians at home or abroad:
$261 billion spent on ministering to Christian
$7.8 billion on already-evangelized non-Christians
$0.81 billion on unevangelized non-Christians
It is no wonder that “one of the reasons churches in North America have trouble guiding people about money is that the church’s economy is built on consumerism. If churches see themselves as suppliers of religious goods and services an their congregants as consumers, then offerings are ‘payment.’ ” Meanwhile, many churches say they don’t have enough money to support missionaries.“
$261 Billion on internal programs and $810 million on non-believers.
I am blown away. Change will come when we stop seeing building and programs as our primary responsibility and start seeing Kingdom building as important.
I heard the quote once that said; “Show me a man’s check book and schedule and I’ll show you what’s important to him.”
So what does the churches check book and schedule say about it?
Finally as follower of Christ and churches who are trying to be more missional, what can we do about this?
How should we respond?
missional, missional church, Missional Living, emerging, Leadership, Change, stewarship, billion
Sunday, October 08, 2006
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2 comments:
Perhaps many churches should close the doors simply because they are more of tourist attractions than they are places of worship. Typically, in Canada anyway, these buildings are on prime real-estate with only a small hand-full of people attending weekly. The Church group, or denomination could strategically decide to open up a smaller storefront to maintain a presence in the community (if it is truly warranted), at a much lower overhead. And since these buildings are often in the heart of Urban Centers the money from the sale of the building, properly invested, could be used for more practical purposes, like feeding, housing, and job creation / training programs for the homeless and transients.
What about the possibility of doing something akin to reverse mortgages for some of these churches. For instance, just like certain people do for retiree homeowners, over a 15 year period have the bank or loan company pay for the building with regular monthly installments to help fund sustainable programs through the church for those in the community. By the end of the reverse mortgage term, the programs could be designed to be self sufficient (the deadline would ensure this remains a focus), and run without the need for the building to be there.
As for the remaining glutt of Churches and Capital - we pray for a moving of God's Spirit to awaken us all fully to the fact of our self-centeredness. My above ideas, are simply that: ideas. Apart from the moving and conviction of God's Spirit, they too will remain empty and devoid of fruit. Repentance is the heart of the matter. Then, as John the baptist said in Luke 3, "Therefore, bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance . . ."
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