What's a submissive church member to do?
This is the body of an email I received from my church this week. (The typos are enough to get my blood simmering, but that's a blog for another day.)
A few things to note:
$7100 buys 400 hymnals.
We have the opportunity to purchase the new Baptist Hymnal along with the orchestrations at a reduced introductory price, if you place our order prior to August 6th. For just $12.00 a book, you can dedicate a hymanl in memory of or in honor of friends, family, a favorite Sunday School Teacher, Pastor or anyone that has touched your life in a special way. You may also make a general donation towards the orchestrations or hymnal fund. We need to raise $4,800 to purchase the hymnals and $2,300 for the orchestrations and technical resources. Look for the table in the Parlor to place your dedication and/or donation.
A few things to note:
- We have been at the church for 5 and a half years and the only time I have picked up a hymnal was to provide back support to a very pregnant belly.
- $4800 + $2300 = $7100
- $7100 is enough to sponsor 18 Compassion children for 1 year, or 1 Compassion child for 18 years.
- $7100 is enough to provide flooring for more than 3 Habitat for Humanity homes.
- $7100 is enough to provide clean water to 7,100 Africans for one year.
- $7100 is enough to provide food to more than 1,400 families in our own county.
- $7100 is enough to keep 20 South Florida kids out of Foster Care.
$7100 buys 400 hymnals.
Comments
and/or
start an underground movement among your friends to contribute that amount to one of the excellent charities you mentioned.
Hip Mama
Of course, spelling it "hymanl" really gets my blood boiling.
But I'm not sure this is the same situation. I would apply that principle to maintaining the facilities, landscaping, beautifying. The "hymanls" - and the flat screen TVs and parking lot purchases - seem to fall more into the "Keeping up with the SBC" category. But, I could be wrong.
Further, the apostles seemed much more concerned with the well-being of the Jewish Christ-followers suffering from famine in Jerusalem than whether the "sanctuaries" of the early fellowships were ornate or nice looking enough to proclaim the glory of God.
Applying these Old Testament plans that God specifically gave to Moses at one point in history to what we should be focused on in the 21st century as Christ-followers seems like comparing apples to oranges to me.
I don't mean to come off as arrogant or rude, but I've put a lot of thought into this over the years, and I feel pretty strongly that the North American "church" is way, way, way, way, way off-track on this. We could wipe out poverty on entire continents (plural) if we'd quit blowing our money on frivolities. At the very least, we could take care of our own when hard times hit them.