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I belong to a small rural United Methodist Church whose membership has dwindled down to nothing due to I think the disdain and dislike of our current pastor. Let just say a lot of our congregation are working class and basically live paycheck to paycheck. Our minister lives in a 5,000 sq. feet house and is very well off. This is due to them working hard and investing well, etc. Tithes and memberships have dropped because I think they are resentful of her. Is this "Christlike" for our members to act this way? No. As a concerned member who does not want to see her home church close up due to dwindeling membership, is their anyway to bridge the gap between the minister and congregation? #concerned#
I belong to a small rural United Methodist Church whose membership has dwindled down to nothing due to I think the disdain and dislike of our current pastor. Let just say a lot of our congregation are working class and basically live paycheck to paycheck. Our minister lives in a 5,000 sq. feet house and is very well off. This is due to them working hard and investing well, etc. Tithes and memberships have dropped because I think they are resentful of her. Is this "Christlike" for our members to act this way? No. As a concerned member who does not want to see her home church close up due to dwindeling membership, is their anyway to bridge the gap between the minister and congregation? #concerned#
As a general rule the most expensive luxury car in the church parking lot belongs to the minister. These men should do like the Catholic priests and take a vow of poverty.
Always thought it was telling that 75% of our elder board at my last church ended up leaving once they got an inside peak at the church's finances. All of our pastors made a decent $50-$60,000 a year salary and my friends on the elder board had no issue with that. It was the pastor's housing allowance that got them upset. If you are a pastor you can take a housing allowance that is tax free and FICA free to cover your mortgage, rent and normal household expenses. The housing allowance would be anywhere from $20-30,000 depending on the length of service of the pastor. Plus the pastors insisted on getting 100% of their health insurance paid, which was worth at least another $10-20,000 a year depending on the age and health of the pastor.
So when your pastor tells you that they only make $50,000 a year, you also need to ask them if they take a housing allowance as well.
That's why I now attend an elder run church that has no paid pastoral staff. Only person on the payroll are the office staff and a few of the nursery staff (trust me, it's money well spent). The elders rotate every couple of weeks to preach.
I belong to a small rural United Methodist Church whose membership has dwindled down to nothing due to I think the disdain and dislike of our current pastor. Let just say a lot of our congregation are working class and basically live paycheck to paycheck. Our minister lives in a 5,000 sq. feet house and is very well off. This is due to them working hard and investing well, etc. Tithes and memberships have dropped because I think they are resentful of her. Is this "Christlike" for our members to act this way? No. As a concerned member who does not want to see her home church close up due to dwindeling membership, is their anyway to bridge the gap between the minister and congregation? #concerned#
Normally when a church loses members, its due to a the message that sucks. If the minister thinks a lavish lifestyle is costing her members, she need to buy a auction car and drive to church in that. Im sure there is much more to this story than you are presenting, as most people don't leave a church because the minster is flashy. That is pretty much the sin of coveting and resenting.
Does this minister drive a very fancy car ($50,000+)?
Does this minister always talk about tithing and you robbing God and making other feel guilty when you give?
Does this minister have relevant messages that people can relate to?
Has this minster came up with changes to try to bring in new membership?
I belong to a small rural United Methodist Church whose membership has dwindled down to nothing due to I think the disdain and dislike of our current pastor. Let just say a lot of our congregation are working class and basically live paycheck to paycheck. Our minister lives in a 5,000 sq. feet house and is very well off. This is due to them working hard and investing well, etc. Tithes and memberships have dropped because I think they are resentful of her. Is this "Christlike" for our members to act this way? No. As a concerned member who does not want to see her home church close up due to dwindeling membership, is their anyway to bridge the gap between the minister and congregation? #concerned#
Sounds like maybe you should contact your Conference Bishop's office.
They need to be made aware of the situation so they can send someone in to help mend things and renew/refresh the stagnant environment
Normally when a church loses members, its due to a the message that sucks. If the minister thinks a lavish lifestyle is costing her members, she need to buy a auction car and drive to church in that. Im sure there is much more to this story than you are presenting, as most people don't leave a church because the minster is flashy. That is pretty much the sin of coveting and resenting.
Does this minister drive a very fancy car ($50,000+)?
?
Does this minister have relevant messages that people can relate to?
Has this minster came up with changes to try to bring in new membership?
Does this minister drive a very fancy car ($50,000+) - She has 2, Only 1 I would value at $40,000
Does this minister always talk about tithing and you robbing God and making other feel guilty when you give - She is a firm believer in tithing, but she doesnt necessarily press it to the members. No she doesnt make us feel guilty.
Has this minster came up with changes to try to bring in new membership? - She has tried to instill in the congregation that we need to go into the community and be an outreach to others.
Honestly as an outsider looking in, she' gets no cooperation from the church, as church members just dont really care for her. Jealousy is an weak emotion, and its reared it's head within in some of our members.
Honestly as an outsider looking in, she' gets no cooperation from the church, as church members just dont really care for her. Jealousy is an weak emotion, and its reared it's head within in some of our members.
Is this an independent church where the salary of the minister comes from the pockets of the parishioners?
This is a United Methodist Church, where the Conference/District of the United Methodist Church assigns the pastor to the church. The minister got reassigned to our church again for another year in July.
Does this minister drive a very fancy car ($50,000+) - She has 2, Only 1 I would value at $40,000
Does this minister always talk about tithing and you robbing God and making other feel guilty when you give - She is a firm believer in tithing, but she doesnt necessarily press it to the members. No she doesnt make us feel guilty.
Has this minster came up with changes to try to bring in new membership? - She has tried to instill in the congregation that we need to go into the community and be an outreach to others.
As for the care issue, unless they can prove it is from their tithes that are purchasing these cars, the members are just bitter it seems. But it sound more like a congratulation that is just looking for something else. The church I went to uses to be over 100+ people but now it is 50-70 a week and most of the people ended up going to bigger churches that had more programs/live praise band etc, or just wanted the feel good doctrines too.
Your minster may be doing absolutely nothing wrong, but may need to downsize. The church I go to now , I fell they need to downsize since it isnt enough members to support all they want to do, but they just operate on the funds they get and the pastor and all of leadership works on no salary.
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