Last week, we informed you that headquarters is making some important financial cuts that include terminating the employment of a significant number of personnel in Pasadena.
I don't know if you have realized that over the past four years nearly 70 percent of headquarters personnel have been cut, along with longstanding departments and programs.
These cuts are painful, but they are necessary for two reasons. One reason is obvious: lack of funding. The other may not be so obvious. It has to do with long-range strategic planning.
Like any family or organization, the church must order its true priorities and take steps to meet those priorities effectively. Reduced funding, perhaps more than any other factor, does force us to prayerfully and seriously consider what our priorities should be and to cut nonessentials.
However, there comes a point at which even priorities cannot be effectively met without sufficient funding. We are now reaching a point where more decline in income will result in cuts harmful to the long-term health of the church rather than helpful.
Last week, Pastor General Joseph Tkach videotaped a heart-to-heart talk with the membership that was played in all churches March 2. In the tape, he brings the membership up to date with progress being made in strategic planning and in steps being taken to reach the church's goals.
His February member letter discusses candidly the subject of stewardship and the spiritual need for members to make a commitment before Jesus Christ to support the church consistently according to their means.
I'm sure we all understand that the old covenant commands on tithing were given to Israel and not to Christians. But Christians are commanded to be generous and to be good stewards of God's gifts to them.
Christ calls his people to a new life in him, and that life includes the responsibility to give generously for the support of the church. We need to preach about that and remind the children of the kingdom of their responsibilities in giving financial support, as well as time, to the church.
Our lives belong to the Lord, and where our treasure is, there will our heart be also, Jesus said. That is still true. It is no secret that neglect of financial support of the church is often symptomatic of a general neglect of living in Christ. We do need to include the responsibilities of stewardship in our preaching on a regular basis.
I know we have been somewhat reluctant to preach on this subject, mainly because we do not want to fall back into legalism. Yet Jesus does expect Christians to give for the support of the gospel, and he does expect us to preach about that responsibility. We should not lay guilt trips on people or expect them to give from necessity. But we are, after all, Christians. And Christians do give faithfully to support their church so the work of the gospel can and will be done.
Using the biblical principle, a tithe really ought to be considered a general minimum standard, with each person deciding before Christ in his or her own heart whether they can give more or have to give less.
As Pastor General Tkach has repeatedly explained, it is important to prayerfully determine what you can give, and then commit to be consistent with it. It does take consistent giving for the church to be able to make a consistent budget and live by it.
Now, on a related subject, several regional pastors sent me electronic mail messages about our budgetary cutbacks, and I would like to share some of that discussion with you.
Some have rightly suggested that financial cuts be made in Pasadena before cuts are made in the field ministry. That suggestion is borne of their love for the brethren and their keen desire to see the members effectively fed and led. I think it is important that I explain what we are, and are not, doing.
Are we planning to balance the budget by cutting field ministers? Certainly not.
Our goal in administering the churches is to provide our congregations with Spirit-led pastoral leadership passionate for Christ, preaching him with zeal, equipping and commissioning members for personal ministry (Ephesians 4:12), and modeling and leading effective spiritual renewal. These qualities are absolutely essential for our full-time ministers.
That does not mean pastors have to be perfect, or that they don't make mistakes. It doesn't mean they aren't sometimes discouraged or depressed. It doesn't mean they must be yellow pencils, or that they don't have individual personalities ranging from effervescent extroverts to more reserved introverts. But it does mean they love the Lord Jesus Christ and are not afraid or ashamed to openly worship him, praise him, declare him, preach him and live for him.
It means they do not "halt between two opinions," as Elijah might say. It means they preach the gospel--the true gospel--with zeal and vigor. It means their sermons are well prepared, springing directly from the Word of God and orienting the congregation to their Savior and Lord, leading them to repentance from sin, faith in him and celebration of salvation, redemption and the power of a new and godly life in him.
It means they lead their congregations to be praying congregations. It means they fully understand, believe and preach the total sufficiency of Jesus Christ for salvation. It means they believe that everyone is saved who has faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9).
It means they place a major priority on training, mentoring and equipping others for leadership roles, especially of small groups and personal ministries. It means they are in regular contact with other ministers to receive encouragement and advice, share ideas and especially to pray together.
It means they seek God daily for spiritual renewal through study of his Word and private prayer. It means they will be reading books in the field of Christian ministry and biblical studies and taking regular steps to improve their education and skills so they can teach and lead the members more effectively.
Maybe this sounds too idealistic. Maybe you wonder how you could measure up to such goals. But I think we all realize that God does equip his ministers to lead his people to him. The pastoral ministry, we all know, is more that just a job. It is a passion.
But remember: The passion is not supplied by us; it is supplied by God. It doesn't originate from us; it originates from God. The Holy Spirit will supply our needs if we ask. Not one of us is capable of being a Christian on our own.
The same is true of the pastoral ministry. We can do this job only because God supplies whatever it takes. Paul wrote, "Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart" (2 Corinthians 4:1, New Revised Standard Version).
When we look at the task ahead, realizing from where we've come and where God calls us to go, it seems daunting and overwhelming. But that is only because we are looking through our own eyes instead of the eyes of the faith the Spirit supplies. Remember this: Jesus has already won the victory on the cross over all the forces of the devil. Our victory, our success in proclaiming the kingdom and leading the brethren to effective kingdom work is already assured.
The devil has no claim on you, and he has no power to thwart your salvation or your ministry in the Lord. But he tries. His efforts to convince you that the mountain is too high to climb are nothing more than his propaganda, specifically designed to discourage and sideline you from the good work of the true and rightful King.
The devil is angry, and he lashes out in bitter retaliation against the good thing Jesus Christ has done and is doing in you. The devil wants to sabotage the kingdom work to which our Lord has called you and all the saints in your care.
But Satan and his kingdom are already defeated. Even though he is still allowed to exert his corrupt and debilitating influence in the world until Jesus returns, he cannot have the victory over you or your work in Christ. Jesus redeemed you, and nothing can take you from his grip (John 10:28).
One pastor was kind enough to send me a list of many of the things we have asked him to do in the last year:
* encourage community service
* create mission and vision statements for local churches
* become a visionary leader
* encourage personal evangelism
* set goals and plans for local churches
* develop small groups
* empower lay leaders and members
* develop formats for church services that are more worshipful
* encourage corporate prayer and prayer groups
* identify members' spiritual gifts and develop them
* set up telephone prayer support networks
* find covenant partners for yourself
* set personal goals and evaluate your performance
* pursue graduate education
* read books (at least 50 were recommended at the conference)
I appreciate this list. There is no question that the task we're called to and its challenges are great. As this hardworking and faithful pastor said: "We are like kids who have stumbled into Disneyland and want to ride everything at once. We have come into Christianity and we see all of the neat things that have been done and we want to do them all--now."
I know it seems that way. Yet the specific things the Holy Spirit has led us to encourage our pastors to do really are basic to leading the church to renewal and growth.
For you, just as for me, there is a limit to how much we can do in a week. It has been a stressful year, and we all need to take time for our own spiritual renewal. We need Jesus Christ, to cling to him, adore him, worship him, submit to him, pour out our hearts to him.
We need to pray for the Holy Spirit to stir our hearts and fill us, to evaporate our fear, our reluctance, our diffidence. Of course, our friendship with Jesus isn't just a tool for us to get work done--it is life itself.
As Augustine said, Jesus Christ has made us for himself, and our hearts will be restless until they find their rest in him. We need the peace of mind that only he can give.
We need to preach Jesus. He is the key to our corporate survival and our individual survival. As you know, for years we ridiculed the phrase, "Give your heart to the Lord."
However, this is precisely what we need to do right now. We need to give him our heart, mind, soul and strength. We need to give him our emotions, our thoughts, our work and our life. We need to let Jesus live in our hearts. We need to love him with all our being. We need to adore him more than any earthly thing.
Author Steven Covey talks about the need to continually reexamine our priorities, to give more attention to the long-range important matters instead of the urgent but trivial matters. Our spiritual health and that of our congregations are both urgent and long-range.
Many of the above-listed items are also long-range important. One that is particularly important is the use of small groups. These can help people pray, heal, set goals, serve, find and use spiritual gifts, serve in the community and invite nonmembers into the church.
Small groups encourage mutual edification. Members in the presence of God strengthen one another's faith. They provide a place for the strong in faith to encourage the weak. And they enable the pastor to concentrate on vision casting, developing strong community relationships, long-range strategic planning, and well-planned, effective preaching in an inspiring and motivating worship service.
As you know, many of our members are spiritually wounded. Some are shell shocked, some are angry. Some are depressed or apathetic, and some are beginning to experience the joy and enthusiasm of a renewed or even a newly redeemed life in Jesus Christ.
We need to provide a way for these enthusiastic folks to encourage and strengthen the still-wounded ones--and small groups are one way to do that.
(Actually, some people have left our fellowship precisely because they were at the enthusiasm stage and did not find an outlet for it in our church. They could have been a great help to us, and I am disappointed that they are not helping us. Others who leave are still wounded, and I grieve for them because I believe that they will heal and be reconciled best if they stay in our fellowship where we can help each other through the process.)
The great majority of our budget cuts have been and still are in Pasadena. We are eliminating all functions, programs and departments that do not directly support, nourish and equip the members in living and spreading the gospel.
We are taking the steps necessary to make the magazine, the projected radio program and other media a self-supporting, though church sponsored, family of ministries, systematically reducing their need for subsidy from the church.
And we are actively working to sell the Pasadena campus, which will alleviate the need to pay utilities and personnel involved in maintaining such an extensive property in a salable condition. The current budget cuts will help headquarters reduce staff to the effective minimum preparatory to relocation.
In the Church Administration Department, we are cutting numerous nonessential items and reducing and consolidating our staff. Some members and ministers have suggested that we eliminate Festival expenses by doing away with the Festival. That is not our plan. Our plan is that the Festival be entirely self-supported; that is, run entirely by registration donations of those who attend either local or regional sites.
Some have suggested eliminating our financial support to Ambassador University. However, we believe the church membership benefits greatly from AU and stands to benefit much more in the future. We do intend, however, that AU become self-supporting at some point in the future. The church has already cut approximately one half of its subsidy to AU over the past four years.
I also want to mention that SEP in Orr, Minnesota, and Pasadena will not be cut.
I hope this helps put any cuts in the field ministry into perspective. God holds headquarters responsible to provide effective Christ-led leadership to every member, even if that leadership is at the other end of a circuit.
A few ministers are ready for retirement and will be retiring. There are also, from time to time, ministers who decide to leave the full-time ministry for one reason or another. There is no shame in not being called to the full-time ministry. There is not "something wrong" with men who prayerfully and in counsel conclude that their calling lies elsewhere.
All Christians are given gifts as it pleases the Holy Spirit, and all are vital to the healthy functioning of the body of Christ. Often the ministers who leave the full-time ministry continue to serve effectively as lay elders. At the same time, I don't know of any minister who doesn't become disheartened at times, needing encouragement and consolation about his calling.
Please understand, our primary goal is not just to have a full-time pastor in every congregation. Rather, it is that every member have a shepherd. Whether that shepherd is a church employee or not is secondary. What is important is that members have mature spiritual leaders, Spirit-filled mentors who can effectively help them in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Like you, I wish we could hire more Spirit-gifted laborers who could give their full-time effort to pastoral ministry, but right now we cannot. Instead, I believe the Holy Spirit is using this time to help us face and meet priorities and responsibilities that he has for us.
Fellow laborers in the Lord, I love you and praise God for your work. I know that the hours are long and the complaints are loud. But we can put our burdens on our Lord Jesus. He can carry them all. He can give us true rest, for our consciences, for our emotions, and from our worries.
Being a pastor is considered one of the most stressful jobs a person can have. Could that be because pastors, being human, try to carry such a load on their own shoulders too much of the time?
As a church, we were like sheep going astray, but now we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (1 Peter 2:25). Let him shepherd us and oversee us; it is in him that we can trust.
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