Susatining ministry
17/07/14 05:19
Vacation Bible School isn’t as intense as a week at camp. The children are only at the church for about 2 1/2 hours each day. But the process is exhausting for the adults and teens who provide leadership. There is the need to remain vigilant while the children are in the building. Program needs to constantly be adapted to the numbers and behavior of the children. We are very fortunate to have a good team of experienced adults who are ready and able to deal with whatever comes our way.
For those of us who work at the church, the rest of the business of the church goes on. There are bulletins to prepare, meetings to attend, bible studies, small group meetings, pastoral care and administrative tasks that won’t wait just because we have a building full of children every evening. We come to the end of our days pretty tired. We’re not having trouble sleeping this week.
But just like camp there is a mid-week transition that occurs. The children become adapted to the program. They are more relaxed and familiar with the routine and the adults are better able to anticipate how they will respond once we get to know them. And we can see the end of the week. We’ve completed three days and we only have two more to go. Friday is mostly a celebration and a review, so there isn’t as much preparation for that day. Today is our last really big day.
Of course it is also the day we need to get our bulletins printed, contact our insurance agent about an annual review of values, make a memorial purchase, do some set up for the rest of the week. There is a slide show of the Vacation Bible School that needs to be prepared to be shown Friday night and again on Sunday morning. And there is work to be done in the sanctuary to prepare for worship on Sunday. Some of the changes can’t be made today because we will continue to use the sanctuary for Vacation Bible School, but our lists of things to do are fairly long at this point.
So much for the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer.
In the church it is mostly full steam ahead as we continue to offer programs and do the planning that is necessary to be able to make the transition from one season to another. It isn’t quite fair to say that we continue everything at the same pace during the summer. We do have shorter office hours in the summer. The shorter office hours are, however, mostly a reflection of the realities of a limited budget. It costs money for us to keep our doors open and our building staffed. By decreasing the hours of office operation we free our professional staff to be out and about the community. We do decrease the amount of hours worked by support staff which, in at least some cases, increases the work load for the ministers. I’d call it a balancing act, but it is a bit more complex than that. It is the normal business of being a non profit organization that wants to invest its funds in service and outreach. We need to make decisions that maximize the impact of the gifts we receive. As they say, “It’s what we do.”
It may be a product of my age, but I spend more time these days thinking about long-term sustainability of our organization. I know that no human institution lasts for ever. I know that our faith proclaims the power of resurrection and that death is not the end. But it seems to me that it is incumbent upon us to leave a legacy to future generations just as we have received a legacy of the generosity of previous generations. It isn’t the only model of being a church. There are plenty of churches and para-church organizations that focus on the present only and measure success or failure by counting attendance. They create institutional models that are dependent on continuing growth, with mortgages to pay and interest that must be covered. Once they stop growing, they can’t meet the financial obligations they have made. At some point such behavior becomes unsustainable. We’ve observed it in many different congregations over the years. Our congregation has a different model. We have been about the same size for more than half of our 135 years as a congregation. We continue to be large enough to be effective in our ministries and small enough to be flexible and adapt to changing times. We operate as a cash business so that we can grow and shrink our ministries in response to the means and generosity of our congregation. We maintain modest reserves for emergencies, but know that the true reserves of the congregation are not in bank accounts, but rather in the lives and dedication of our members. We try to foster and nurture long-term relationships and we ask for significant commitment from our members.
Like all churches we see a fair amount of transition. People come and go. Sometimes they return to us again. We try to adapt to changing needs and circumstances. But we also have families who have been a part of our congregation for multiple generations. We have commitments that we have kept for decades. We form long-term relationships for mission and ministry. It isn’t the only way of being a church, but it is our way.
As much as I love starting new projects and programs, I am aware that it is also my responsibility to keep an eye out for the sustainability fo the things we do. When our commitments and generosity match the programs and ministries in which we engage we are capable of keeping up the pace and sustaining those ministries.
VBS moves just a tad too quickly to keep up the pace year round. But we’re pretty good at offering a high quality week each year. We even have enough energy to bring some of the lessons we learn in VBS into our regular Christian Education programming and ministries.
For those of us who work at the church, the rest of the business of the church goes on. There are bulletins to prepare, meetings to attend, bible studies, small group meetings, pastoral care and administrative tasks that won’t wait just because we have a building full of children every evening. We come to the end of our days pretty tired. We’re not having trouble sleeping this week.
But just like camp there is a mid-week transition that occurs. The children become adapted to the program. They are more relaxed and familiar with the routine and the adults are better able to anticipate how they will respond once we get to know them. And we can see the end of the week. We’ve completed three days and we only have two more to go. Friday is mostly a celebration and a review, so there isn’t as much preparation for that day. Today is our last really big day.
Of course it is also the day we need to get our bulletins printed, contact our insurance agent about an annual review of values, make a memorial purchase, do some set up for the rest of the week. There is a slide show of the Vacation Bible School that needs to be prepared to be shown Friday night and again on Sunday morning. And there is work to be done in the sanctuary to prepare for worship on Sunday. Some of the changes can’t be made today because we will continue to use the sanctuary for Vacation Bible School, but our lists of things to do are fairly long at this point.
So much for the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer.
In the church it is mostly full steam ahead as we continue to offer programs and do the planning that is necessary to be able to make the transition from one season to another. It isn’t quite fair to say that we continue everything at the same pace during the summer. We do have shorter office hours in the summer. The shorter office hours are, however, mostly a reflection of the realities of a limited budget. It costs money for us to keep our doors open and our building staffed. By decreasing the hours of office operation we free our professional staff to be out and about the community. We do decrease the amount of hours worked by support staff which, in at least some cases, increases the work load for the ministers. I’d call it a balancing act, but it is a bit more complex than that. It is the normal business of being a non profit organization that wants to invest its funds in service and outreach. We need to make decisions that maximize the impact of the gifts we receive. As they say, “It’s what we do.”
It may be a product of my age, but I spend more time these days thinking about long-term sustainability of our organization. I know that no human institution lasts for ever. I know that our faith proclaims the power of resurrection and that death is not the end. But it seems to me that it is incumbent upon us to leave a legacy to future generations just as we have received a legacy of the generosity of previous generations. It isn’t the only model of being a church. There are plenty of churches and para-church organizations that focus on the present only and measure success or failure by counting attendance. They create institutional models that are dependent on continuing growth, with mortgages to pay and interest that must be covered. Once they stop growing, they can’t meet the financial obligations they have made. At some point such behavior becomes unsustainable. We’ve observed it in many different congregations over the years. Our congregation has a different model. We have been about the same size for more than half of our 135 years as a congregation. We continue to be large enough to be effective in our ministries and small enough to be flexible and adapt to changing times. We operate as a cash business so that we can grow and shrink our ministries in response to the means and generosity of our congregation. We maintain modest reserves for emergencies, but know that the true reserves of the congregation are not in bank accounts, but rather in the lives and dedication of our members. We try to foster and nurture long-term relationships and we ask for significant commitment from our members.
Like all churches we see a fair amount of transition. People come and go. Sometimes they return to us again. We try to adapt to changing needs and circumstances. But we also have families who have been a part of our congregation for multiple generations. We have commitments that we have kept for decades. We form long-term relationships for mission and ministry. It isn’t the only way of being a church, but it is our way.
As much as I love starting new projects and programs, I am aware that it is also my responsibility to keep an eye out for the sustainability fo the things we do. When our commitments and generosity match the programs and ministries in which we engage we are capable of keeping up the pace and sustaining those ministries.
VBS moves just a tad too quickly to keep up the pace year round. But we’re pretty good at offering a high quality week each year. We even have enough energy to bring some of the lessons we learn in VBS into our regular Christian Education programming and ministries.