Tonight is Budget night - the night when I get to stand in front of the church meeting and present the financial plans for the next year, and ask for their support and agreement. And, although I regularly present financial information to directors and to senior management in my workplace, presenting to church meeting is probably the most difficult of all...
Its not made any easier by the fact that this is actually Budget night mk. 2 -- given a small mix up with dates for the November meeting and a church holiday, meaning there weren't enough members there in November to actually agree the budget. So, although I presented (I had to really, given that of those who were there, a good number had turned out specifically because they were interested in the finances), although we had a good discussion, we have to do it all over again tonight.
Preparing and presenting a church budget is a different sort of challenge to my day job. Yes, I have to use all my financial acumen, all my accountancy training and the best of my Excel spreadsheet-engineering skills in the process, but more than that, I have to approach these things from a different perspective - from a God perspective, and approach them in an attitude of faith, of trust and of believing in a God who provides abundantly and generously, but who also expects us, his servants, to be good stewards of that which he provides.
And so, along with the number crunching, a great deal of prayer and reflection goes into my budget preparations... a great deal of time spent asking Father God what he wants, and trying very hard to hear him above the thoughts of the finance professional that come from within me.
As I've thought and prayed through this budget, the one thing that has hit home to me has been how much this aspect, as with all aspects of our church life, rely on us being a community, a diverse gathering of people, with different skills, different experience, different interests and resources, but gathered by our shared desire to serve our Lord and Saviour.
Everything that happens at Queens' Road, as with most churches happens because people give. They give of their money, yes, but even more so they give of their time, and they give themselves in prayer for the things we do. Even putting on two services on a Sunday, which has a monetary cost in terms of heat, light and power, and in terms of time from our (under)paid ministry team, has an even greater cost in terms of volunteer time and effort - on a very quick estimate I worked out that well over 100 person hours are required each and every Sunday, "just" to run two Sunday services - and that doesn't include the amount of time people spend praying for the service.
And the skill set involved is diverse as well -- we have skilled musicians to provide the music, skilled sound engineers and trained video desk operators to run the technology which adds so much when it works, and causes so many problems when it doesn't! We need welcomers and stewards, to make people feel at home and comfortable, we need people willing to serve tea and coffee, people to lead prayers, and a whole army of people to run the children's programme. And God provides those diverse people so that it all happens.
The same is true, I believe, for the budget. Even in these challenging economic times, I believe God will provide for his work here at Queens Road. One of the frustrations with preparing a church budget is that I can't tell how He will provide - He may do so miraculously, with money just appearing in envelopes or in the bank account... but somehow, though I believe He could do that, I don't think He will.
I actually believe He had already provided - that He has brought people into our community and He has given them the resources, financial and otherwise to provide all the things we need to do His work here... and if we, His gathered people, obediently and faithfully give of our money, of our skills and importantly, on our knees in prayer, then I believe we will have more than enough for our current plans - and the opportunity to do so much more for Him.
