A letter to a church about RISK

 This is part of a letter we are getting ready to send to our church congregation.  I'm posting it so you can see the tie between the business of church and spirituality. I thought I would let you  in on the logic used to expand ministry..

Do you know when elite, wealthy entrepreneurs make most of their money? It’s during Recessions. They purchase broken businesses and fix them, buy on the cheap, or start a new venture, hang on, and see it come to fruit when things return to normal. Thus they are one-up on the market and development. FLCS is somewhat like a business.  Income and expenses fluctuate, sometimes like a roller coaster. Yet we know God’s kingdom grows most during tough times—the first 3 centuries, China’s last 70 years. Is this counter-intuitive? No, Christians hold forth the gospel message when the world loses hope.

            God calls us to risk for our faith, not build a fur-lined nest. People often save for retirement thinking they’ll siphon off a bit of interest to make golden years golden.  But businessmen don’t think about savings this way.  They save to have a backstop.  If I try something risky and it blows up in my face or starts too slowly, then there is a savings backstop. Jesus’ final parable was the Parable of the Talents.  3 slaves each received an allotment of talents of gold.  Two of them doubled their money, but one got scared and buried his talent gaining nothing. The master took that slave’s talent away and gave it to the guy with the most. So too must our faith be exercised and shared or it withers.  A church must  find fresh ways of sharing the faith, or it is on its way to death and having its doors closed.

            There’s no way around risk.  But we have the ultimate backstop.  Jesus death and resurrection forgives us, and His relationship lasts forever. Wa Hoo! FLCS, like a business, possesses true faith and a monetary backstop for recession, inflation, and rejections of Christianity. Tough times coming? It is time to find bold new ways to give the world hope. But what would that mission be?

            We’ve appointed a team of 10 people to study this, who have especially followed the clue that we have a young, energetic, Master of Arts, Theology Deaconess in our midst. They’ve seen how a deaconess could play a significant part in this.  What would a bold venture be?  Perhaps it would be an initiative to expand our scholarships and greatly increase the size of our school, thereby teaching our faith.  Perhaps it would be a ministry to young moms and parents of the 71 family units who send kids to our school but have no church home.  Or would it be to serve assisted living and nursing care in a substantially greater way? Or what?

            Here’s where we need your input.  Enclosed is a quick congregational survey.  The last line asks you to dream about new outreaches and ministries. Please take time to think carefully and fill this out. You’ll find a return box for surveys in the narthex. Results will be shared with Pastor, elders, and our mission study team.