Reconciliation

More often than not, the first attempt to design something is driven by ambition; the second, by resources. Ideally, ministry and money are constantly measured against each other, but its difficult to make happen in real life. When it’s time to do the tough work of reconciling money and need, a handful of hard-earned lessons learned come to mind.

• You don’t love babies. It’s not unusual to hear someone attempt to take sole possession of the moral high ground – something along the lines of “if you don’t support this you don’t love children” or “if we’re serious about ministry we have to make this a priority.” No one is fooled and nearly everyone is offended.
• Personal preference does not equal Biblical imperative. As Shakespeare wrote, “The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.” (Antonio, in The Merchant of Venice, act 1, sc. 3, l. 97)
• No, really. It may help leaders avoid friction to ask for voluntary reductions, but asking people to agree that they don’t really need what they said they needed implies that they originally acted in bad faith.
• Off with their heads! Across the board cuts percentage cuts, though politically easier, rarely make work. My 8,000-square-foot gymnasium can stand a 10 percent cut more easily than can your 150-square-foot office.
• Time really is money. It is helpful to focus on activities that need to be accommodated (and when they need to be accommodated) rather than on rooms. We whittled one program from 50,000 to 26,000 net square feet by carefully studying time of use and designing the spaces to be more flexible.
• Disincentive. Sometimes the most creative among us present a challenge to which I’ve not really discovered the right response: 1) no matter what they get, they complain, and 2) no matter what they get, they adapt.