Jun
24
2011

Finance Fridays: Stop Being Cheap!

An article by Matt Comments

I have always enjoyed his candor, and his interview on Colbert a few years back solidified my man crush on him. Earlier this month Kai Ryssdal interviewed Lutz on Marketplace, where Bob said this:

But it is true that giving the customer the absolute finest automobile that General Motors could possibly produce has proven to be the correct approach to the automobile business because this finance-generated effort to skimp and see how much cost can we strip out before people actually protest, I think is something that’s taught in the business schools and it has been extremely damaging to American business — and it doesn’t have to be that way.

Upon first glance, this quote is nothing fantastic… but as an organization ages it is pretty typical for it to experience vision drift. As an organization’s vision drifts it is easy to lose focus on what is truly important to that organization. In the automotive industry vision drift led to cars being made with an eye towards minimizing costs than towards the quality of the vehicle.

Vision drift is not just a corporate issue… it happens all the time in the church world as well. As I have engaged in conversations with church leaders over the last few years I often hear tales of ministry being stunted by stingy boards, or congregations afraid to spend money due to the current economic condition. I must confess that when I hear these stories I am heartbroken. Our father owns the cattle on a thousand hills… yet there are times that we live as though we have nothing.

We are called to be good stewards of the finances that have been entrusted to us. Part of stewardship is saving money, but part of that stewardship is spending it. I am not advocating throwing money around because you have it, but I AM saying that we need to keep in mind the parable of the talents… and what happened to the servant who hoarded that which was entrusted to him, rather than investing it into something greater.

In many parts of our country the church has a reputation for doing things on the cheap. We tend to be known as the place where people donate worn out couches and old television sets. While there is a time and a place to accept such gifts, I believe we also need to realize that the world looks at how we do what we do, and uses that to make an informed opinion on how much value we place on our faith. While a church finance committee may look at waiting one more year to repaint the nursery as a good stewardship decision, a first time visitor may look at the harvest gold paint peeling off the walls and decide that her kids are just not all that important to a church.

The church board that makes vision decisions based on finances is doomed to go the way of the car companies over the last twenty years. The church board that makes financial decisions based on vision is setting itself up to see God do amazing things through it’s ministry.

How do YOU ensure that your church makes financial decisions based on vision, instead of vision decisions based on finances?