Church Priorities

One of the things that has always amazed me is how churches can be so political. Politics always gets in the way of serving God. I once served in a church as a youth pastor. It was an eye-opening experience. Research shows that 85% of people accept Jesus into their life between ages 4 and 14. This was why I entered student ministry at the time. Sadly, though, the youth budget was 1% of the entire church budget and this is often common for most traditional churches.

Know your priorities
If you claim to be evangelistic and your churches doesn’t fund the areas that need it most, then you need to rethink your priorities. I believe no youth ministry should ever have to beg for money by doing a bake sale. God funds His church with the tithe and this is to cover everything He has called us to do. If there isn’t enough money to go around to all your ministries, then you need to cut something.

Cut your ministry
I get really frustrated churches that go on and on about how many ministries they have in their church. A church we visited in our town recently told me they had almost 20 different ministries. They have close to 200 people. That’s roughly 10 people working per ministry IF everyone served. Instead it’s more likely that each ministry has an average of two people serving. How effective is that?? It’s time to cut your ministries and let God redefine how you do ministry in your community. In order to be effective with the Gospel, you must focus on relationships, not programs.

I will be going on a few tangents this week because I have some passionate thoughts for the church world. I doubt anyone will read this, but if you are reading, I sincerely hope you can take a look at what you do, the purpose behind it, and check your priorities.