Let me be clear! If you want to save the church, you have to pony up to the table and help out both physically and monetarily.
It is not the job of the Executive to “Save the Church”! In fact, Part VII Section 5 of the Constitution states that: “The Congregational Council shall be the trustees of the congregation and shall have general oversight of the life and activities of the congregation ensuring that everything is done in accordance with the Word of God and the faith and practice of the ELCIC.”
The Executive’s job is to handle the day-to-day operations of the church. See Part VII Section 11 for the specific duties of the Council (Executive). See Part VIII for duties of the Congregational Council Officers.
Everything else is up to the Advisory Council and the members of the Congregation.
If you want Sunday School for your kids, you have to organize it and ask the Pastor for guidance and the Advisory Council for assistance and bring your children to the church.
If you want Easter and Mothers Day Brunches, you have to get together with other members and organize them yourself.
If you want to rent out the church halls for any reason, you have to organize it all yourself. You have to make sure that it can be done legally and that the business can generate enough revenue to sustain itself and the building.
If you want a new pastor, you have to organize a group from amongst yourselves and go out and find the new pastor yourself. The Executive can give advice, and the Advisory Council can give assistance to help you figure out if there is enough money to support the effort. The Executive is not there to do it for you.
If you want the church to have enough money to run day-to-day operations, to have enough money to organize events, etc., you have to organize them yourself and cough up enough money yourself to ensure that these things can happen. The money ain’t coming from anywhere else!
The Executive’s job is not to save the church. The Executive’s job is to work with the money and assets the church has and with that run the operations of the church. If the money starts to deplete, it is the job of the Executive to warn the congregation that the money is depleting. The congregation (not the Executive) has to band together and figure out how to stop this depletion. The congregation then decides if it wants to insert more money to keep the church alive or let the money run out. The Executive just has to advise how much money is needed, and to make sure everything runs and/or winds down in an orderly fashion until the end.
If you don’t like what the Executive is doing, who’s fault is that? Part VII Section 1 of the Constitution states that: “At its annual meeting, the congregation shall elect a Congregational Council of 6 members.” Our tradition is that the membership elected Advisory Council appoints the Executive from among its members. If a Council member resigns and he/she is voted right back in at the same meeting, whose fault is that?
So, it’s up to you, the congregation, to save the church – not the Executive…
I repeat. It’s up to the people of the congregation to save the church.
I have just outlined how! It’s now up to you who are our members to take it from here!
