It is a basic economic concept that my parents taught to me and that we strove to teach to our children. There is a distinction between the things you need and the things you want. When prioritizing spending, needs come first. The basic needs are food, shelter and clothing. Beyond that everything else is pretty much a “want.” Of course, we never lived that close to the line. We had all kinds of luxuries by that definition. We had toys and we had extra space. In our house we each had our own bed and our own chest of drawers. We always had toys and our family had resources for travel and many other adventures. When I married, our family was smaller. Our children each had their own room wherever we lived. In family life, making the distinction between needs and wants is always a bit difficult once you go beyond food, clothing and shelter. I maintain that children need education and sometimes that is worth investment. In our house we believe that we all need spiritual nurture and that supporting the church is a financial priority. We practically place transportation on the list of “needs” believing that we “need” to have a reliable car.

In a similar way, it is not always easy when we try to sort out the distinction between needs and wants when making financial decisions in the church. Some people think it is necessary to replace the flooring in a particular room, others think it can wait. Some people think that we “need” to invest in energy saving technologies, others have different priorities. Those are, however, less complex decisions than some that face a church.

In every congregation there are good and faithful members who see the building as a priorities. In the traditional organization of a Congregational church, the trustees had stewardship both of the building and of the budget. This meant that it was not uncommon for building needs to take precedence over other areas of church life. When funds ran short, maintenance was funded when education was cut short. Over the past few decades, many congregations have replaced that traditional structure with one that places increased budget authority in a council or board that has representatives from all of the different groups within the church.

One of the quotes that is popular in our congregation comes from German theologian Emil Brunner, who wrote: “The Church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.” The activity of serving others is essential to our being. Without serving others we cease to be a church. This viewpoint is certainly embraced by the majority of the members of our congregation. They do not want our church to merely take care of itself. They want it to be actively engaged in serving others. And they demonstrate this engagement through their generosity over and over again. Special offerings support special projects, and the general operating budget shows significant commitment to providing financial support for mission and ministry beyond our walls.

We don’t have the fanciest church building in town and we don’t want to have it either.

At the same time, we see our building as a legacy that we have inherited from the generosity of previous generations. We understand that we need to provide for adequate maintenance so that it can be passed on to those who come after us as an asset and not a liability. I have seen congregations that used their building as a way to borrow from the future. By deferring maintenance, they passed current operating costs off to a future date – one that can only be put off for so long. After a while maintenance needs become so imperative that they cannot be denied.

For the most part, I think we do a pretty good job of maintaining this balance. While utilities and building maintenance consume a healthy slice of our budget, we strongly defend mission and outreach, worship and education as other financial priorities of the congregation. But it is a balancing act.

Next week we will vote on a small capital improvements fund to take care of what the leaders of our congregation have deemed to be necessary maintenance. There is a much larger list of other capital improvements that we have been considering, but we have tried to separate needs and wants and to take into consideration the timing of the items on our list. Some decisions were easier than others. It is easy to see how some maintenance tasks will cost more if deferred. But there are other items on our list that raise different questions. How important is it to have a sound system in the fellowship hall? When your core business is communication, it seems pretty important. Some congregations would add video to the audio, believing that visual communication is an equally high priority. We are unsure. We have a video projector and a large screen, but they have not become items that we use every week. We have talked about installing a large video screen in our fellowship hall, but it seems to belong on the “wants” list more than on the “needs” list. Some members believe that embracing new technologies is essential to attract new members and we all agree that new members are on the “needs” list. We all want to build a community that is made up of all ages and this cross-generational community means that different people have different priorities.

From my point of view the fundraising is not the most important part of the capital improvements process. What is more important, and more interesting, quite frankly, is the process of determining our priorities. I have enjoyed the conversations with church members about what they would like to see accomplished. I have enjoyed getting to look at things from a different perspective. I don’t always agree with what others have to say. I might have different priorities in mind, but the process is one of getting to know the congregation I serve even better than before.

So we will continue to talk. We will continue to sort out our needs and wants. And we will continue to strive to be faithful to God’s call.

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