Musing on Church Reports

The day I am writing this was the day I began working on my annual year-end report for my denomination. The reports can be summed up in three words, buildings, budgets, and butts. Unless you're having a stellar year on all fronts there is always something to be depressed over. Even if you are having a great year on paper there is plenty to be depressed over. Pastors usually hate these reports because they either make you exaggerate or make you into a failure.

You can brag about new members but the truth is 60% of your current members never go to church thus you're a failure. You hold the standard high or focus on retention as well as evangelism and well you aren't getting new people and you're a failure. 

You have a 3 million dollar facility but you can't pay your denominational obligations because of the mortgage you inherited and so you fail. You make your denominational obligations but the roof needs to be fixed and/or members wonder if the university you support that charge kids an arm and a leg to go is really ripping you off and so you feel like a failure. 

Attendance has increased 10% as has the offering but what you know is the community you live in has had a 20% increase in both wealth and population so you're a failure. The church has barely or nearly heald its own as the culture around has become antithetical to organized religion and business and young people are leaving faster than Uhaul can bring in the trucks but you feel like a failure. 

You're told you aren't doing enough (you can clean the church, visit everyone, encourage the faithful, engage with the lost, start that new program that worked for First Church...) so you're a failure. You are told by experts you aren't taking care of your family by giving quantity as well as quality time and taking care of your body, mind, and spirit,  so you're a failure. 

Did I mention I hate these reports? This isn't a confession that is going to win me any favors with many denominational leaders. 

Yet-- without them or some instrument of measure, we can't see what might be happening. After all, we have all known people who have gone to the doctor and said I feel great, I don't need any test and then drop dead. 

Are they perfect? No, but we can't really measure the things that truly matter like the person who has been a nominal Christian for year now faithful and growing. We may not be keeping up with the increase around us but we are getting some and they are important. We might not be meeting every obligation we want to but ministry is still taking place. 

These reports are tools to force us to see what we might not like to see. If we use them honestly without letting them beat us up or falsely embolden us, they will help us address issues that we may not see or we've been unconsciously (or many consciously) ignoring. 

I am reminded of the end of the song Johnny Cash sang called, "A Boy Named Sue"  At the end, he came away with a different point of view about his name. And he said, "If I Have a boy I'm going to name him Bill, or George, anything but Sue. I still hate that name." 

So, NO, I still don't like the reports, but with the right Point of View, I can appreciate them for what they are an imperfect tool to help us grow, or I should say help me grow. 

In case this post gets me sacked:

Send donations to 

Charles Areson

4 Lausanne Ct.

Tell City, IN 47586

(This last part is a joke, I couldn't find the sarcasm font)