Financial Meltdown In The Mainline – Lauren Mead

That takes time and energy and a willingness to communicate with those with whom you differ. National and regional staffs have severely limited time and energy, but the real problem is that in too many cases the loss of trust has gone so far that people who oppose each other on mission strategy have stopped being able to talk to each other. Presbyterians, United Methodists, Episcopa¬ lians, Catholics, and Southern Baptists have all felt this polarization in the past few years.

Designated Funds The second category I list under “misuse of funds” is another matter entirely. Many congregations, judicatories, national church agencies, schools, seminaries, and colleges have been given funds in trust for special purposes—from repairing buildings to paying pastors’ salaries to providing scholarships or grants for mission purposes. By accepting the funds, the church accepts the donor’s stipulations about how the funds should be spent. It is not difficult for the original sharp purpose of the gift to become diffuse a generation or two later.

Let’s say there was a trust fund to replace the pastor’s horse-drawn bug¬ gy every few years. I would expect this trust eventually would be in¬ cluded in the pastor’s travel allowance. That allocation may be obvious. But what of funds given to pursue a mission concern when that mission is no longer in existence? Administrators and managers generally try to use the funds for the thing they can identify as nearest to the donor’s purpose, but it is not always an easy call.

Should a trust fund specified for work at a mission center for one tribe of Native Americans be used for a similar center for another tribe when the first center is no longer needed? Who should make such decisions and when? “Budget creep” happens here with a vengeance. When projects with a strong and loyal constituency run out of money, there is a strong temp¬ tation to transfer income from the trust funds—just rewrite the purposes of the project to describe it in the terms of the trust.

Over time some trust funds come to be treated as “discretionary program funds” at the call of program managers. It is best to keep some boundaries and constructive tension between those holding the funds in trust and those who spend the funds, but that Financial Meltdown in the Mainline? is no guarantee of easy decision making. The Presbyterian Foundation (which has responsibility to see that many of the trust funds of that de¬ nomination are managed, invested, and spent in accord with the wishes of the donor) works in close collaboration with the General Assembly staff (which has responsibility for spending the allocated income).

Alban founder and former president Loren Mead’s Financial Meltdown in the Mainline? sets out dramatic and compelling challenges for today’s churches. Mead chose the world “meltdown”-a strong term mdeed-very carefully and consciously. He believes that churches need a clarion call to direct attention to their dwindling financial resources and their unreliable fiscal practices, and to take major actions now-or face disaster in the future. The author addresses such issues as how church giving patterns have changed; the inconsistent ways in which congregations keep financial records; their lack of coordination between short-range and long-range planning; their lack of knowledge of sound financial techniques such as accounting for inflation; an over-reliance on “restructuring” to fix any problem; and lack of defensive planning for operational costs.

“Like a Salvadore Dali painting, Loren Mead’s look at the financial future of mainline churches both fascinates and appalls. From the reality of ‘entitlements ’ grown way out of proportion to the previously unknown drain of ‘litigation, ’ Mead draws a picture of the economics of religion which threaten to crumble the foundation of tomorrow’s church. What’s even worse, he suggests that much of the blamefalls on us—a leadership that has been sleeping at the easel! We are not, however, left with a blank palette by this serious student of church dynamics.

Implementing the strategies suggested could result in a restoration worth millions. ” Rev. Jill Hudson Executive Presbyter Presbytery of Whitewater Valley Presbyterian Church USA Financial Loren R Mead An Alban Institute Publication Copyright © 1998 The Alban Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be photocopied or reproduced in any way without written permission. Library of Congress Catalog Number 97-78127 ISBN 1-56699-197-8 DEDICATION To Elizabeth Courtney Wise James Benjamin Stallworth Wise Loren Benjamin Mead, II Nicholas Alexander Mead participant leaders for the church of the future CONTENTS Foreword vii Acknowledgments xi Chapter 1.

Why the “Nuclear” Alarm? 1 Chapter 2. What’s Visible to the Naked Eye 8 Chapter 3. Uncertainties in Our Future 33 Chapter 4. How Did We Get Here? 66 Chapter 5. Doubletalk about a Double Problem 81 Chapter 6. What, Then, Can We Do? 89 Chapter 7.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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