digging deep

We are probably like many churches that are experiencing the pressures of an unstable financial economy. In our county construction-related businesses impact a lot of our workers, as well as people associated with the real estate business. They have all been hit hard by the current housing market and building crisis.

Our church has a budget that grew about 10% this year, even with anticipated budget cutbacks and "tightening our belt" in every responsible way that we could. The bottom line is we are still not meeting our budget projections, and are being forced to cut our ministry expenditures accordingly. And this is painful, because our church continues to grow.

Church attendance grows at a faster rate usually than giving; at least that is our experience here. It takes time for people to get assimilated into the body and to say, "This is our church home; let's help take care of it." Giving is a matter of the heart and increased giving is the result of people saying "yes" to God when He tugs at their wallets. Because it is a spiritual matter, it cannot be produced
from "guilting" people to give or "brow-beating" them from the pulpit.

So what do we do while we wait for people to get into the life of the body, or, as we wait for them to mature in Christ and begin to understand what stewardship of their resources is all about?

We dig deeper.

We do all we can--and the sacrifical "more" God may direct--and we don't worry about what others are/are not doing. We simply obey God and do what He asks of us.

"Digging deeper" helps us discover we have more than we thought, that we have resources to be developed, that we can uncover more of our own time, talent and treasure if we just keep digging.

We'll get through this time because God's work continues and God continues to bless us at Grace Fellowship. We are digging deeper so we can celebrate the growth that we are experiencing together as God gives the increase.

I think I will grab my shovel and do some more digging...