Dear Cobham Park Church Family,
Late on the last night of November, I sat at home for a monthly ritual: under the yellow light of my desk lamp, I paid bills and balanced my checkbook. The Lord had blessed me with a specific bank account balance to work with, and I needed to wisely decide how to use it. I faced a wide range of spending options: utility bills, mortgage payments, credit card debt, insurance, investments, phone bills, Christmas gifts, my church giving, and many others. In deciding how much money to dedicate toward each of these, I carefully and prayerfully considered which were most pressing and important. I also tried to estimate how much money I needed to hold back for future needs. There were some debts and “wants” that could wait, while others justified immediate spending.
Churches must make similar decisions. Everything we have has been given to us by the Lord for His service—and He has been very generous to Cobham Park Baptist Church! We also face a wide range of spending options. Apart from regular bill-paying and predictable maintenance needs, I’ve heard many suggestions from you on how the Lord’s money should be used: ministry to our children or youth, investing for future needs, various charitable and civic needs in our community, increased mission giving to spread the gospel throughout the world, a wide range of physical church improvements, adding a paid ministry position, and many others.
I have often been asked which of these options should be our priority. For me, that is not the most important question. I care more about why we decide to spend (or not to spend) than I do about what we’re spending on. This is not a question of which causes are good and which are bad (they’re all good). And this isn’t a question of which spending option you or I happen to feel most passionate about. In every church conversation about money, I believe that we should carefully and prayerfully consider what spending best aligns with our purpose as God’s church. That purpose has been made very clear in Scripture by the Lord Himself: we must be in the business of making disciples of Jesus, teaching them His ways, and letting His light shine through us to our community and beyond (Matthew 28:19-20; 5:14-16)! What spending options best aid us in following this Great Commission? Let those take priority—other wants can wait.
In His Great Love,
Pastor Keith
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