A fiend of mine was telling me of an experience he had with a local COG. Here it is.He attended a business meeting where the financial stats were discussed. They were vague when it came to the salaries of the staff. He said those stats were lumped into one category and not broken out individually. So he asked the question if they could be broken into individual categories. The business manager of the church replied that it was none of his business and that he didn’t ask how much money he made in his place of employment. My friend just sat down and didn’t challenge the business manager. Big mistake in my opinion. Needless to say my friend no longer attends that church. He was a consistent tithe payer.
That definitely could have been handled with more tact. I’ve heard of some churches lumping all salaries into one category and leaving it at that on the financial report. Even with that, unless we’re talking about a really big (mega) church, it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out roughly how much each makes.
Whenever transparency is
Some really petty comments I think
Itemized financial statement posted on the bulletin board for all to see.Yes, my salary and benefits are there too.No negative feedback in over twenty years________________Charles A. HutchinsSenior Pastor SPWCCongregational Church of Godwww.spwc.church
Brother this guy is a really nice person and he just asked a question , and from knowing him , it was asked in a very professional manner. He saw the defensive action of the business manger and elected not to push the issue further. He told me he left because as a member he has a right to ask a question and if the BM would have responded in a business like manner he would have stayed in the church regardless of his answer. He said he trusted the staff but was curious about a few items. His final remarks were that if they treated him like that for asking a question then how would they treat me if I needed prayer And now he would shy away from even asking.
BJames, that is pretty mean spirited in itself. The OP was quoting a friend. I personally believe I am responsible to know if I am donating, giving to an open group (church) that they are wise men/women.Evidently you are very successful in the work, but the statement is curt and pretty mean. Of course that is JMO. ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
Re: Cojak
I take it you just misread the post. This was not my request but a friends.
Re: I didn’t misread the post
Well I guess your set then. But as I said you will always have naysayers no matter where you go when your considered management/pastor. And that you will have to deal with one way or another at some time. Your managerial/pastoral skills will directly effect the outcome.You are not alone when dealing with these people. As a music minister I deal with them all of the time. ie I dont like that song – contemporary music is the downfall of church – I want more southern gospel – If you play anymore southern gospel I will quit – why dont we do hymns anymore – why do we do so many hymns and the list goes on.
By the way, our church has the pastor’s salary on its financial statement, too (as some of the others here have mentioned).But you’re right, brotherjames, you wouldn’t want someone like Cojak or c6th in your church–they’re real troublemakers!
My point was that if you would leave a church over the fact you weren’t given the pastors salary info then you probably don’t belong there in the first place. As to your other snarky comment, .the Deacons are nominated and elected by the rest of the congregation.The principle I meant was that I don’t beleive.just because you give some money to a church you have the right to know every little detail. The finances are reported and in fact we pay 4000 every 2 yrs to have an outside indepentdent audit done. The ONLY things we do not not report is individual salaries. Not necessary but hardly worth leaving a church over if everything else is in order, if it is ministering to you and your family and the community.
Btw
The Bain of most pastors existence are music ministers, but I have a really anointed one.
A blog I read fairly regularly is TheWartburgWatch. I thought I remembered the blog writer(s) addressing financial transparency. This particular post was with respect to Steve Furtick’s church. A couple from our church left moved from our area to go work with Steve’s church, so I take a bit of interest in his church from that standpoint (and I know he’s been mentioned here on Acts a few times in the past).thewartburgwatch.com/2015/11/13/jesus-doesnt-want-steven-furtick-to-tell-anyone-how-much-he-makes/