Welcome to the final week of this message series. This has been our attempt at an honest and helpful conversation about money. But in a very real sense, that’s not at all what this series has been about. It’s about our hearts. What does it mean for us if we take the words of Jesus seriously?
MATTHEW 22:37-38 “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
According to Jesus, there is nothing more important than this. So, this has been our question.
QUESTION: What/who gets the lion’s share of you?
The point of this question as we honestly wrestle down our relationships with money is not to make anyone feel guilty. That’s not the point. I don’t think it’s my job to attempt to evoke that in anyone. My job is to share good news. This is about knowing and experiencing the full, thriving, abundant life that is found with Jesus.
And yet, as nice as money is, and let’s be honest. It’s pretty nice, right? I have a friend who says, “I really like money, but I don’t love it. Because that’s a sin.” If we’re willing to get honest, we’ll have to admit to ourselves that our relationship with money is complicated. Money may be morally neutral, but it’s not neutral.
I hope you don’t get tired of this question. I hope you don’t give up on this question. How much is JUST ENOUGH?
Some of us live here [MORE THAN ENOUGH]. Some of us live down here [LESS THAN ENOUGH]. I’ve asked you to wrestle down, how much is JUST ENOUGH. Candidly, I want to have MORE THAN ENOUGH. I want you to have MORE THAN ENOUGH. But I want to live here, in the JUST ENOUGH zone so that I can live with more and more simplicity, contentment, gratitude, and generosity.
But today is not about putting the spotlight on you. Let’s put the spotlight on Autumn Ridge Church as an organization. Let’s scrutinize our collective relationship with money. This means I’m inviting you to scrutinize me, scrutinize our pastors and staff, scrutinize our elder board. Here’s the big question today.
QUESTION: Why is our church so expensive?
We’ve put a dollar amount on what we think it takes to function as a healthy and faithful church for the next year. Tonight, members of our church will vote to approve or not approve the proposed budget. This is that number.
$3,970,000
- 3,570,000 Ministry & Operations (same as 2024)
If we can figure out a way to spend less than that, we will. I think you deserve to know that pastors, staff, and elders work well together. Last year they figured out how to come in under budget. There’s no way that we can know how much you will give. It’s always a guess. It’s an educated guess, but it’s still a guess. You gave more than what we guessed.
This is the max amount on what we would spend on everything from toilet paper, Ridgefest, ministry programming, supporting missionaries—all of it.
- $225,000 Sound System
We are years passed the life expectancy of this sound system. They don’t give any warning when they stop working. Wisdom suggests that we don’t wait until it stops working. From the moment we order a new one to the week of installation when all the components arrive, that takes about six months. Could you imagine if we waited till it stopped working, 3 services every weekend without a sound system? Plus all the funerals and weddings. It just doesn’t sound wise to wait.
- $175,000 Reserve
Just like it’s wise for you to have a savings account. It’s wise for us to have savings, too.
You may feel like those numbers are MORE THAN ENOUGH, JUST ENOUGH, or LESS THAN ENOUGH. But if we are going to be wise and thoughtful people, we don’t yet know enough by simply knowing those numbers. To evaluate if it’s expensive or not expensive, we must first know our answers to these questions.
- Purpose: Why do we exist?
- Value: What is this worth to us?
- Design: How should a church be structured?
2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21
Would you grab a Bible and turn to 2 Corinthians? If you’re still getting acquainted with how the Bible is laid out, this is in the second half called the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians. This is one letter from a series of letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to churches in this city. I don’t know if there is another passage in the New Testament that is as clear as this one when it comes to defining our purpose and the value of it.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The first two questions are easy to answer. What is our purpose?
PURPOSE: We exist to lead people to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. (Mission Statement)
For those of us who are followers of Jesus, we don’t live for ourselves. We live for him. He has given us a brand-new life of thriving. He has given us a way of being that is new and good. We’re not going back to the old way of life. We are happy to give up our agendas and preferences that would compete with his agenda and preferences. His agenda is to close the relational gap with all people. There is nothing more important to us than that.
In a few minutes we will take communion. This is what we’re celebrating and remembering. Jesus would rather take on the full consequence and weight of our sin and moral messes than to judge you and me for our sin and moral messes. He is merciful and gracious and generous. That is incredibly good news. For all who trust in Jesus, God is not holding any of your sins against you. So, our church and every local church exist to spread this message of reconciliation. That’s what our mission statement is about. That’s our purpose. This is why Autumn Ridge Church exists.
You know our budget number. But what’s the value of this endeavor?
VALUE: Whatever value you put on the life of Jesus and the reconciliation of people—that’s what this is worth.
The purpose is clear. The value is infinite. And yet, it just can’t be wise to operate a church as though we have a blank check.
DESIGN:
What should it look like to tether together a purpose that’s infinite in value with resources that are finite? How should we structure our church?
This is room full of sharp and savvy people. If I’m you, I’m asking this question. Are you telling me that you couldn’t do church cheaper? No. That’s what I’m telling you. We could exist on far less than that, on a fraction of that. We could do it cheaper, and it would be easy to do it cheaper.
All churches are designed on a spectrum of simple to complex. For the past two weeks, a team from our church was in Ghana, helping to plant churches. They saw many people come to faith in Jesus. These churches start simple. Thousands and thousands of people have become fully devoted followers of Jesus through these simple churches.
All they need is a shade tree, benches, some Bibles, and a set of drums. It is awesome. When a church is planted in a village, it is profound. Village chiefs who are not followers of Jesus ask for churches to be planted in their villages because they see the impact of it on neighboring villages. This design is so simple. And yet, the impact is profound.
For the first three and half centuries of the Gospel movement, churches were more simple than complex. They met in homes. Sometimes they met in catacombs, and in secret places for fear of persecution. Today, there are thriving communities of Christians who gather in very simple churches. From house churches in China to our sister churches in Ghana.
Simple churches thrive and are tremendously effective in places that are highly communal, economically underdeveloped, and/or experiencing persecution. Once the threat of persecution is removed, virtually all become more complex. The village churches in Ghana grow in complexity, too. That’s a good thing.
As a church grows, it needs a gathering place for people to worship, pray, and learn together, protected from the weather. A church needs a home base where people can collaborate, combine resources, and serve the community, all to advance our God-given mission.
This building is not our church. A church is the people. This building is a resource. It’s a tool that we have.
This is our resource. And in addition to this building and property, we also own a lodge outside of town.
This was generously donated to our church years ago, as a resource to invest in people. The primary use has been to host marriage retreats. For some, this is new information. You didn’t even know this existed.
Let’s get real. These are tremendous resources. We are fortunate to have them. But complexity comes with a cost. It costs a lot to fund a 100,000-square-foot facility, with a large acreage, and also properly maintain a lodge and its property. If you’re wondering how much debt we’re to have all of this—we’re not in any debt. It’s all paid for. Here is a reality check moment.
You can PAY OFF a property, but you never stop PAYING FOR a property.
It takes a lot of money to properly maintain and operate all of this. Wise churches have at least 2 different reserve accounts. One reserve account is for Operations. It’s considered wise to have 4 months of operating expenses in reserve in case there is unexpected adversity. We have that.
The second reserve account is to keep up with replacement costs for everything associated with our property. For our church and the properties, we own, that reserve account should be about $2m. We don’t have that. We’re working to build that.
I’ll be candid. We could go simple. We could sell it. Instead of gathering like this, we could pivot and become a massive network of house churches.
- Purpose
- Value
- Design
If we opted for that design, it would lower the cost to a fraction of our current budget. We could give away millions of dollars. So, before I call the realtor and start passing out pink slips, the only question we should ask is this. What would the cost be to our purpose? Would that make us more effective or less effective at bringing this message of reconciliation to folks in our community and around the world?
We’re on the complex end of the spectrum. This comes with a cost. And as long as this building and our properties are not used as monuments to vanity and self-indulgence. As long as these are resources are maximized to love people and advance our God-given purpose—it’s worth it.
But we’re just scratching the surface with this question.
QUESTION: Why is our church so expensive?
What about the money that is required for staffing, for ministry programming, for serving the community, for missions, for coffee and donut holes on Sunday morning? On all that stuff, are we really aligned with how the New Testament says a church should be designed?
Believe it or not, there is almost nothing in the New Testament that tells us how to structure a church and what sort of design or strategy to use. The little that is written down are broad principles. There are virtually zero narrow parameters on how to set up and run a church.
The very first church ever was in Jerusalem. This is what they did.
ACTS 2:42-47 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
They didn’t have a budget. They did collect financial donations. They used those donations to serve the needs of those who lived below the LESS THAN ENOUGH line. They gathered in small groups in homes. They gathered in large groups at the temple. And the reason they could all gather in the temple together is that they were all Jewish.
But as the church grew, it become more culturally and ethnically diverse. That’s what is supposed to happen. Heaven will be ethnically and culturally diverse so our church should be ethnically and culturally diverse. Is that always easy? No way!
They experienced awkward and sometimes ugly tensions that were rooted in ethnic and cultural differences. Now, this church was committed to serving the vulnerable. God has always had a big heart for widows, for orphans, and for foreigners. We should, too. They had ministry program of distributing food to widows. But there was a problem. The culturally Hebrew widows were being better taken care of than the culturally Greek widows.
Maybe it was because they were racist. Maybe it’s because we naturally gravitate toward those we perceive as being like us. Maybe it was a combination of reasons. But it was a real problem that required solution. This is what they did.
ACTS 6:2-4 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
This describes them as intentionally becoming more complex. This might ruffle some feathers. The leaders of the church were not the servants of the church. It would have been wrong for them to neglect preaching and prayer and study to care so that they could serve all the widows equitably. But it also would have been wrong to not take responsibility to ensure the widows were properly cared for.
So, they invented the position of church deacon to serve the need of food insecurity in such a way that drew people into unity that transcended cultural differences.
Let’s fast forward a few decades and look at a church in the city of Ephesus. This church was also committed to serving widows. But the resources were limited. How do you manage of all of that? Let’s quickly see the instruction that the Apostle Paul gave a young pastor named Timothy.
1 TIMOTHY 5:3-4 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.
They had to adopt a ministry structure that was sustainable and wise. Money from the church budget is going to widows without a family, not to widows who have family.
What does this have to do with the cost of our church and how we should be structured? I want you to see this.
The MISSION of the church never changes, but the METHODS of churches have been changing since the beginning.
We have the freedom to design our church however we want, to fulfill the purpose that Jesus gave to every church, as long as we don’t violate his word or wisdom. There isn’t a set way to do ministry. Why we exist is fixed. What we’re about is fixed. That will never change. But there is tremendous freedom and latitude in how we do it.
This is the context for every church that ever existed. There’s the community that we are in. People in the community of Rochester may or may not know we exist. Next, there’s the crowd. These are folks who’ve had some experience with us. Maybe they came to Christmas Eve, or Ridgefest, or attended online. They know about and have participated with our church in some way. People in this circle may even attend on a semi-regular basis.
The next circle is the committed. These are folks who see this church as their church. Maybe they’re members, maybe they’re not. You’ll find these folks serving on teams, gathering in small groups or class. Joining us during a weekend service is a regular part of their lives.
The innermost circle are the core. These are folks who so say you can count on me. They’re committed to serving. They’re committed to giving. They’re committed to prayer. These are folks who are devoted to Jesus. And because of that, they are committed to body of Jesus—the local church. They have organized their lives in such a way as to bind themselves in relationship with a local church and to make the mission of their local church their mission. These people are sold out to the ministry of reconciliation.
So, here is the $3.97m question. How do you reach the community so as more and more people are moving into the crowd, and more and more people are becoming committed, and more and more people are joining the core? The sole agenda is that as many people as possible become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
How do you do that? If you become a student of churches you will discover there are two approaches or strategies that are most popular.
The first is called the attractional model. Churches attempt to reach as many people as possible by attracting people to gather with them. The idea is that if we welcome everybody to join us, and we become a hospitable church where people can belong even before they believe, and we honor questions and respectfully respond to skepticism—we’ll get to maximize our ability to share the gospel with people. Over time, we’ll see more and more people become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
After all, this is what Jesus did. He gathered massively large crowds. He did things to serve their needs. Some decided to follow, and some didn’t. The thinking is, since that’s what Jesus did that’s what we should do. Does that make sense?
The other popular approach is called the missional model. Churches attempt to reach as many people as possible by primarily investing in this core group of people. Leadership is a destination of discipleship. Following Jesus should eventually lead us to using our gifts and influence to lead others to follow Jesus. This view sees every Jesus follower as a missionary.
After all, this is what Jesus did. He invested himself into smaller groups of followers. Sometimes it was a group of approximately 70 who he sent out as missionaries. He primarily invested in 12 disciples who would become apostles. And from those 12, there were 3 that he invested into a greater degree. The thinking is, since that’s what Jesus did that’s what we should do. Does that make sense?
Which of these models should we throw the weight of our resources and energy behind? There’s wisdom in both.
I don’t expect you to know who this is. Thom Rainer is church growth and strategy expert. He’s researched countless churches. His goal is to help churches be as effective as possible. Years ago, I read this from him.
What I’m encouraging is an approach that is both attractional and missional: we move outside the church to live among the lost, take the light to them, share life with them, and also invite them to corporate worship that is biblically sound and culturally aware.
–Thom Rainer
I’m not the smartest guy in the room. But that just makes sense to me.
So, for the past 5 years this has been our ministry model. We’re trying to do both. We want to attract as many people as possible and maximize the number of people with whom we get to share the gospel. And, we want to invest in your spiritual formation. We want our church to be hub of Christ-centered, leadership develop that empowers you to be an ambassador for Jesus in every arena of your life.
Every time I share this with folks, they could be leaders in this country or leaders in another country. Do you know what the number 1 question is? It’s asked every single time, and it’s always the first question. Why doesn’t every church do that?
It’s not because some are good and some are bad. It’s not because some are smart and some are dumb. I think it’s because this is hard. And it’s more expensive.
A lot of churches discover that trying to be attractional in a way that loves people and honors Jesus, it takes all their resources, all their staffing, and all their energy. A lot of churches discover that trying to be missional in a way that loves people and honors Jesus, it takes all their resources, all their staffing, and all their energy. Attractional churches aren’t better or worse. Missional churches aren’t better or worse. To do well often feels like it takes all you got.
We’ve decided that we are going to throw ourselves into doing both. There’s a lot more I could say about what this requires. There are two realities that, if we take them to heart, I think will help us grow more and more effective in this ambitious endeavor.
We are the WRAPPING PAPER that people must get through to get to Jesus.
Jesus said that people would know us by how we love each other. We live in a moment in history where every major institution is rapidly losing trust. Churches are not immune. We have the privilege of being gracious, generous, and patient with each other. We don’t push people. We don’t control people. We don’t put expectations on people. We invite people to join us and to follow Jesus. And most people are going to have experiences with us long before they encounter Jesus. We are the wrapping paper that people must get through to get to Jesus.
Trust building takes time. It can’t be rushed. I don’t get to have an opinion on how long it should take you to trust me or to trust Jesus. I do get to invest in that. But I don’t get a say in how long it takes. None of us do. So, this next one is pretty important.
Compelled by the love of Christ, the FEW are happy to pay for the MANY.
Church isn’t a pay to play organization. We don’t give to get. This isn’t transactional. Because we have been fully blessed in Christ, because he hasn’t held anything back, because of his generosity to us, we are happy to pay for this building, and ministry programming, and all the many complex things we do so that we can lead as many people as possible to become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
QUESTION: Why is our church so expensive?
I can tell you why our church costs what it does. But I can’t answer for you whether it is expensive. That will depend on how you understand our purpose. What you think the value of it is. And if you believe our design makes us more or less aligned with Jesus.