Quote:
Originally Posted by jplinville
Correct...Churches should be using the money they collect to pay bills, and the rest for missionary or charity work. It's part of being able to file as a non-profit organization.
Sadly, Mega Churches seem to have so much money that they smother their leaders with lavish salaries and gifts. My grandfather was a circuit preacher in Ohio and Kentucky. He paid his own transportation, and normally slept at the head deacon's house, and dined with them as well. He'd collect his meager stipend, usually $25 or $35 and use it to drive back home on Sunday night so he could be at his normal job on Monday morning. Money was never the drive for him.
My dad started a mission at a local retirement community...a high-rise building for the elderly and physically disabled. He would preach on Sundays, and hold Bible studies on Wednesday after he got off of work. We never collected tithes, and if they were offered, they were used to pay for coffee, bagels or donuts for the everyone the following Sunday morning. There was never a time that he collected money for his sermons.
Religion has suffered from those that view the pulpit as a place to get rich.
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I know several Ministers and Priests that do the same thing with the high-rise building approach you mentioned. Most retirement homes or group homes have a common room for meetings and parties. They make great settings for small church services as well.
The folks I know are not retired. It is just a part of the area ministry that the Vestry has approved of them taking part in.
Refreshments are provided by those in attendance, just like any other gathering, and the coffee hour is considered an important part of the meeting since it is informal and allows the people there to discover and help to deal with matters in their own community, which to them is the building they live in.
All in all a very good use of church funds.
And I agree with the previous posters that if a church is to remain a non-profit it should be a non-profit. People give to support a ministry, not a group of stockholders.