A Bad Church Vote - West Church - Lake Norman

Years ago a church was presented with an opportunity by a local non-profit to use their facility for a daycare.

The daycare would be funded entirely by this non-profit, as it was for low-income families to have affordable childcare so the parents could hold down jobs and break the cycle of poverty. The ONLY glitch was the church needed to make some minor renovations to the facility (cutting doors in half so they were child friendly, put windows in one room in the children’s wing, etc).

The church had around $500,000 reserves in the bank. Monthly operational expenses were $35,000. Money seemed to be a non-issue.

The majority of church leaders felt this would be a great way for the church to be missional while also bettering their own facility for future growth in the children’s area.

ut . . . there was one dissenter. A gentleman who had strong opposition to the church spending any monies at all on something that would not benefit “them.”

“You mean we are going to let others use our stuff? This will require us doing more maintenance, it will get dirty, etc.”

His list of reasons why they “shouldn’t” proceed was massive, but all reasons tied back to money.

When it appeared the group was going to approve the daycare despite his opposition, he turned to some “non-above board” tactics.

He wrote emails to certain people, criticizing the pastor and leaders of financial mismanagement.

The pastor was dumbfounded. This man had been one of his strongest supporters since his arrival to this church. Why now the sudden turn to being a dissenter, especially against the majority? The church overall was very excited about this new mission opportunity.

One night, after a meeting, the pastor remained with the gentleman to try to answer his questions or accusations. The discussion became heated and the accusations were brought to surface about financial mismanagement. The discussion ended poorly, both men walking away with no resolve.

Little did either man know the finance administrator of the church was working in her office and overheard the entire conversation. She approached the pastor and asked if she could share some information with him that she felt would be relevant to this circumstance.

“Pastor, I need to make you aware that Billy Bob has never financially supported the ministry of the church. We don’t have enough cash income for that to be his excuse. He never gives but has historically always been the one who blocks every forward movement the church can make.”

That was new information for the pastor . . . the gentleman blocking the movement was not invested in the mission but was the most vocal voice.

Brain McLaren writes,“We are all hypocrites to some degree because none of us want to be known for our worst moments. We preach most loudly and passionately about the sins to which we are most subject – sometimes we find the best way to keep our guilt at bay over our own inconsistencies to pour the guilt on others. As we do this our souls grow dark and dangerous.”

As an outsider looking in to that church situation, one can infer that most likely that man had some guilt about not financially supporting the ministries of the church. So rather than make an investment, even a small one, it was easier to complain and accuse the church of poor financial management because it was something he didn’t “like.”

All humans have a hard time admitting guilt with our own inconsistencies.

Saying “sorry” is tough because it means we swallow our pride and recognize that we all have room to grow and we are ALL on our journey, no one having yet “arrived.”

When we look at things that way, we have opportunity for growth as we acknowledge our own inadequacies and our own guilt.

Proverbs 14:9

Fools make fun of guilt, but the godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation.

Thoughts to ponder:

What are some personal motives that you could revisit and perhaps be more open to new ways of seeing things?

We typically shrink our faults to invisibility and inflate our virtues. What are some virtues that we THINK we have that could benefit from some “deflation?”