Sign up for our e-Newsletter

The Church’s Real Work - June 29

Thank you for responding to the needs of this church. I know our church family is responding to this need as we always do. I did not get any numbers from the tellers, but I know that many people have picked up envelopes from the back table. To tell the plain story again, we are about $25,000 short against our 2008 budget. The shortage is felt mainly in the operating budget. The summer is always a slow time for offerings and we just could not afford to go silent all summer long.

People say that we cannot respond to something we don’t know about.  And as always, we are responding now that we have heard.  I will try to get more details to share either through these notes or through an announcement.  We should be proud of both why and how we have responded.

Last week I suggested you read Luke 5: 27 – 31.  This is always a humbling story.  It is a story about Jesus starting the church.  He did not do it with the people that were already in church.  He recruited the tax collectors and the outcast.  He tells the Pharisees and teachers of Law that it is not well people that need a doctor, but rather the sick.

I am not sure the Pharisees understood what was happening.  Jesus knew that the church did not exist to save the believers.  The church existed to save the people that had not yet heard.  That remains our calling today.  To reach out to people that have not heard the redeeming Word of Jesus. 

When Jesus called his disciples, he instructed them “Take nothing for the journey except a staff--no bread, no bag, no money in your belts”.  (Mark 6:8)  And yet today, we are asking for thousands of dollars.  This is a matter of support.  We do not contribute our tithes so that we may worship.  That cannot be the end of our calling.  We worship so hearing the living Word can refresh us.  Refreshed, we can share the Word with others.

That is why we give to an operating budget.  It is not exciting.  We don’t see fresh paint or new landscaping or a larger building.  We give so we can have a place to worship together.  Strengthened by our worship together, we can be about the real work, spreading the Word through our spoken word and actions.

Please continue to give during these lean summer months.  Energized by service together, be bold and talk about stewardship with your friends in the church and outside the church.

Drop me a note at LCOS@LCOSVA.org if you want to comment on this reading or the stewardship series.

 Marty Vik

God’s Work – Our Hands

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 

Last week I asked if you would read this Bible verse to think about stewardship.  There are a lot of stewardship messages in the bible.  It was common for Jesus to talk about money and tell parables about stewardship.  But this story is about a direct promise from God that we will be richly blessed if we return 10% to Him.  It must have been amazing and scary for the prophet Malachi to participate in that conversation.  Fortunately, what I want to talk about this week is not scary, and it is definitely not amazing.

This is just a story about this church.  It could be almost any church across this land.  I have heard it said that a church without money problems is not doing enough good work.  Lutheran Church of Our Saviour fits right in.  Our story may be a bit different.

We have accepted a budget with a challenge factor.  By agreeing to do that, we said we would work during the year to raise more than initially promised.  We committed to growth in the church and growth in giving.  Last week I said we had to do better.  I am sticking with that, but I want to share a detail.

We are giving at about the level we need to if we are to make our budget.  We are having a problem paying our bills because a large portion of our giving is designated to a special cause.  Those areas range from study books and confirmand robes to Memorials and Benevolence.  We are extremely careful to direct designated gifts to the intended purpose.  The unintended consequence is that there is not enough money to pay the day-to-day bills.  We are strapped to pay for utility, office expenses and the like.

We need a church building to provide meeting space for our services.  We need electricity to run the computers and paper to print the bulletins.  It is my prayer that we increase our giving to the Operating Fund so that the concern about building, electricity and supplies goes away.

But in the end it is not really for us.  It is for all of the people we come in contact with during the week between church services.  After all, a church is the only organization in the world that exists solely for the benefit of non-members.  It is a surprising concept, like so many in Christianity.  Next week I will talk about why the church is important to our real work outside the church.  To help us understand how Jesus calls us to his work, read Luke 5: 27 – 31. 

I will talk more about that in the bulletin and on-line (www.LCOSVA.org) next week.  Drop me a note at LCOS@LCOSVA.org if you want to comment on this reading or the stewardship series.

Marty Vik

 For next week read Luke 5: 27 – 31

There, I Said It - June 15

A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with another Lutheran Church of Our Saviour council member.  We were discussing what we could do to increase the giving over the summer.  It is traditionally a slow time for receipts as people go off on vacation and miss a Sunday here and there.  This year we passed a budget with a challenge factor and we are not stepping up to the challenge.  We are currently $25,000.00 behind our budget needs.  In the corporate world, that would sting a bit.  In a “company” of this size, it is very painful.

I was told that I could be encouraging, or I could state facts, or I could split out the amount each family should add to help us eliminate our shortfall.  I just could not directly talk about money and offend people.  But the truth is each of us needs to give a little more.

People that are meeting their commitment need to give more.  People that didn’t pledge need to commit, at least to themselves, to give a bit more.  If you are a few dollars behind on your promise, you need to catch up.  And then you need to give more.  There, I said it.  And I will talk more about it all summer long in bulletins and on the church web site.  Feel free to talk to me in person or reply to my note online.  I promise to share your thoughts where appropriate and keep confidentiality where requested.  But I will have a conversation and I believe the church will benefit from the honest dialogue.

We are starting today with a special envelope for giving over and above your weekly pledge.  You can note a memorial on the envelope.  We will publish where our hearts are by noting who gave and for what reason.  The money will go to the Operating Fund.  There is a reason for that and I will share it next week.

Until then, consider giving to the Glory of God.  He has brought us together as a family from every corner of this globe.  He has given us good work to do here.  That is a miracle in itself.

Marty Vik

Shoot me an e-mail by clicking on this link

For next week read Malachi 3: 10

Return to Top