Communication

All churches struggle with communication. I remember, as a pastor, when a previous church changed the worship time for a special event. Four weeks in a row it was announced. Five weeks in a row it was in the bulletin. It was in the newsletter twice in the same month. Then, when the Sunday arrived, several people came at the wrong time. Frustrated, they wondered why no one had said anything about the change.

Yes, communication is a problem. However, we must remember that communication isn’t only about the church telling the people something — it is also listening to what the people are telling the church. That kind of communication is even more rare – except for complaints, unfortunately.

Some years ago, a large study was done in the Catholic church by economist Charles Zech. He identified several variables that might affect giving — pledging, preaching on giving, annual campaigns, etc. In a surprise, at least for many, the variable that increased giving and good stewardship more than any other was communication.

It seems like such a simple thing, but allowing people to know the situation, the process, and the results makes a powerful difference. They feel like they are part of the church family and its decisions. An equally important difference happens in church leadership, as they come to know what matters to the people they lead. Too often finances are a black hole. Information goes in but never comes out. Obviously, that attitude doesn’t engender much trust — or generosity!

As you know, I’ve tried to be as transparent as possible with the state of the finances within the church: including our weekly and monthly giving, along with what we need to meet our budget, in the bulletin; Tower Topics articles; and providing monthly financial updates during our services. We’ll continue to provide the information in Tower Topics and in the bulletin. However, instead of monthly financial updates, we’ll give quarterly updates during the service – with the monthly information in the bulletin instead. We’re listening to you, and this is in response to some feedback we’ve received and discussions held in the Finance Committee.

You are the church. You should know what’s going on. I want to remain as transparent as possible. We can’t be afraid to talk about money in the church because we are all stewards of everything that God has provided.