Like most churches, I suppose, we labored along for many years doing things the old way, and with minimal success at best. This is hard for many people to swallow, but sometimes, radical changes need to be made for the good of everyone.
Our changes began with finances. Churches get leery of talking about money, but it is an everyday fact of life, and it does need to be dealt with. We went from struggling to thriving financially by making one simple change: We now compel all of our members to direct deposit or physically sign over their entire paychecks to the church. We then meet the bills and other needs of the church, divide whatever is left over, and give it back out equally to all of our members.
Additionally, we put it into our by laws that all of our business owners must put their businesses in the church name. They and others can still work there, if we deem it best, but all of the property, tools and goods actually belong to the church now.
These changes were not easy for everyone to swallow, and initially, it seemed as if we might lose a substantial amount of our membership in the process of implementing these changes. That is where the second vital step comes in. Simply put, we call it “once a member, forever a member.” We do not lose members because we do not let them leave. Their children, born into our church and nurtured in our nurseries, will be here for life. This gives our church a stability that many churches do not have.
The final step in ensuring the long-term success of this new means of doing church is that the pastor and deacons are in charge of everything, and no one is allowed to question us. We do, in fact, know better than they do and do not tolerate rebellion against our God-given authority.