What Would Churches Do with More Money? Ten Answers from Two Perspectives
In an informal survey, I asked two groups of members in churches the following question: “If your church budget receipts were to increase tomorrow by 50 percent, what would you like to do with the extra funds?” So that there would be clarity to my question, I asked them for the current level of budget receipts, and then added 50 percent. So a $100,000 budget becomes $150,000. A $50,000 budget becomes $75,000. A $500,000 budget becomes $750,000. You get the picture.
The two groups I asked were simply divided between paid church ministers (pastors and others) and laypersons in the church. Their responses were similar, but interesting in the ways they were different. Each person could name up to three responses, but no more than three. They are ranked below in order of frequency of responses.
Pastors & Other Paid Ministers
Laypersons
Missions beyond our community
Ministry in and to our community
Start new churches or campuses
Upgrade existing buildings
Pay down debt
New building
Upgrade sound and lighting
Increase pay of existing staff
Add staff
Increase social media presence
Add staff
Missions beyond our community
New building
Upgrade existing building
More and better program materials
Increase cash reserves
Pay down debt
Ministry in and to our community
New church vehicles
Upgrade sound and lighting
Here are a few of my observations:
In every case when a staff member mentioned increasing pay of existing staff, he or she was specific that their salaries were fine. They just knew of others on staff who were underpaid according to the ministry responsibilities they had.
There were three items on the list of the paid ministers that were not on the list of the laypersons: start new churches or campuses; increase pay of existing staff; and increase social media presence.
There were three items on the list of the laypersons that were not on the list of the paid ministers: more and better program materials; increase cash reserves; and new church vehicles.
So what do you think of these two lists? What would be your top three choices?
