Author: Bob
I’m an upper Midwestern guy who has recently entered the "Buick stage" of life and decided to migrate to Florida. This blog is an attempt to rectify discordant aspects within my Christian faith ... or what often feels like my lack of Christian faith. Things which make life more enjoyable include strong black coffee, charcoal grilling anytime of the year, putz'ing at a table saw, playing chess, a good orthopedic surgeon and an occasional IPA. Please feel free to poke around and comment as you wish. I welcome discussion and the insights of others.
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Bob,
What bothers me is when a church lays off people in the midst of a big building addition. What’s more important: having a bigger building, or the people that work and serve there?
Thanks for the comment, Mike. I can appreciate that decisions were made regarding the adding on to the existing building and then, all of a sudden, tithes and gifts specifically designated to the building fund dried up as the economy went south. I’m not sure it’s supposed to work like this, but in many ways I see individual churches as small businesses. Perhaps this congregation’s hopes and dreams got bigger than their collective wallets. And then, here’s this new (and significantly higher) mortgage payment and decisions had to made (quickly!) regarding the scaling back of people and programs. I don’t know where I’d find this out – but I wonder just how many other churches have had to lay-off staff?
Bob,
I’ve been hearing of lay off’s at other churches in the Twin Cities area, like Open Door and Grace Church. Everyone is feeling the pinch of our bad economy. Check out John Piper’s latest sermon about the Recession on http://www.desiringgod.org. He had five points he gave for God’s reason for the current Recession. Some good food for thought…