THOUGHTFULLY DRIVING THE PORCELAIN BUS

A Column by John S Schroeder

February 6, 2003

Call this a mid-week special. Home improvements prevented me from writing last Saturday, as they shall this Saturday. The following Saturday 2/15/03 I shall be occupied with a visit of the parents from Indiana so again, writing shall be precluded. I’ll try and fit something in if I can.

One more note before I get seriously into things…the once mighty Indiana University basketball team lost it’s fourth game in a row last night – TO NORTHWESTERN. That’s right -- they lost to the joke of the conference. Proof that Mike Davis is no coach. Yes they lost Jared Jefferies to the NBA from last year’s final game team, but they still have enough talent that everyone picked them to win the conference, instead they will be lucky to make the NCAA tourney! Like it or not, last year’s tourney run was about Bob Knight. That team, inclusive of "coach" Davis, was about proving that they could win without Knight; that was their motivation. They did that – this year is basketball as normal and it takes a real coach to train and motivate a team to win under these circumstances. At an Indiana, one of the most storied programs in the world, it takes more than a real coach; it takes the best of the best. I hope they get to it soon….

And now, down to business. "Despicable" is not a word to be used readily. It means "worthy of spite." Spite does not rise to the level of hatred, but it is up there. Further more, Daffy Duck long ago gave the word a comic ring, but I am going to use it here without that ring.

This budget season in church has been difficult. Giving is down. The reasons are many and varied. Amongst those reasons is that people’s incomes are down, thus if they tithe what they give to the church would naturally be down. Writing a budget in a year of decreasing income is never an easy thing, but it does force one to look at priorities and values.

Well, at least one church I know of responded to this crisis by cutting everything, including mission giving, but still retaining a 3% "cost of living" increase for the entire staff.

I cannot blame the ruling board for not demanding that the payroll remain unchanged, in any church few of the ruling board would be business leader types that would be capable of making such a difficult decision. I am; however, grossly disappointed in a staff that would accept raises under such circumstances. It is my understanding of Christian service that it is a sacrificial thing anyway. One’s reward in Christian service should not, in fact cannot, be worldly compensation; if it is you are serving something besides Christ. As I have said before, compensation for Christian service is a by-product of that activity.

Secondly, the example of Christ is someone who, "did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped, but humbled himself, taking on the form of man…." Jesus wished to relate to us in our humble circumstance and therefore assumed that circumstance. It seems to me that if a pastor, or any staff member, wants to model Christ they would in a time when peoples incomes are stagnant, or shrinking, want to do likewise, as a means of relating to the people.

By the way, don’t give me this, "It was only a cost of living raise" crap. We are currently experiencing something this country has not seen in my lifetime – deflation. The cost of living is actually going down. If the point is to tag one’s income to the cost of living index, then the salary of the staff should be decreasing.

But here is the real bottom line as far as I am concerned, managing to give staff raises, of any sort, when decreasing every single program budget in the church is a about as gross a misstatement of priorities as I have experienced. The church exists to serve those within its walls and community. The program and mission dollars are what do that service. The program cuts will results in fewer materials for kids in Sunday School. The program cuts will result in less music for the choir. The program cuts will result in fewer vouchers for the homeless that come to the church looking for a meal. The program cuts will result in having to close the church more evenings, leaving some kids on the streets after school. But the staff, by God, will be able to go on that vacation and buy that new car.

The church does not exist to enrich those that work for it. By preserving a staff raise while cutting programs we say that enriching the staff is a higher priority than doing the work of the church. It can reasonably be argued that maintaining payroll at 2002 levels would not plug the hole in the budget. Agreed, but that is not the point, it is a statement of priorities, the staff cannot be more important than the ministry.

This makes my heart hurt. There was an idiot in the news this last week or two. A radio ministry guy in San Francisco that has been making headlines by telling "real" Christians to stop going to church, that God has left the church. The guy also predicted the end of the world ten years ago. I don’t want to stop going to church, I need someplace to practice the sacraments. I don’t think God has left the church, but I do think a lot of churches have left Him standing out front on the sidewalk. How do we follow the example of Christ by raising staff salaries while cutting programs? Christ accepted death on a cross to lift us up.

Budget crunch? Give staff raises while cutting program budgets? DESPICABLE!

With Love,