Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Part 3 - Church, finances and elders
back to part 1
back to part 2
I'm not sure if a lot of people could do things the way we (Nadine and I) did financially. And I definitely don't recommend it unless one feels very called to do so. I had been out on a job injury for a few years, and they decided to stop paying me one day (something that was always a struggle anyway). Nadine is a licensed social worker as well as very schooled in the ins and outs of real estate, and we began looking for her a job. A search that lasted for several months with no avail and a lot of stress. I even began to look for jobs that I could do without being released yet by my doctor. We finally realized how much looking for income was pulling us away from the people who looked to us as pastoral guides. It was like a light went on in my head. God spoke clearly to both of us. For over a year, all of our needs were taken care of. I'm not always sure how, but they were. Some of our group help out with the little they can, and we see the possibilities of what God will use in the future to bring about the money they want us to have. The Center for Expressive Arts, and the grants received for the beginnings of it could provide much in the way of salary, and perhaps other areas of funding on the horizon could bring in some finances as well. Though we're more set on starting several side businesses of our own, a few of which are already up and running in their early stages, and letting that feed and clothe us, while letting the Church community use our pay for more ministerial purposes.
As far as elders and the like, we have several Leaders in our group(s). The lines are a bit fuzzy as to where one group ends and another begins because their are a few people that are in several circles, as well as those abroad who consider themselves part of us in a family sense. It's like a bunch of interconnected circles of people. Each circle or group having someone who naturally is given a leadership role. In some ways, these leaders automatically make up an eldership. We also have others in a more legal sense (usually from the outside), who are one a board of directors, that are set up to help advise us and hold us accountable. Our values in an organizational sense are determined by the group as a whole, and also within the different groups. This is much like you see in Stephen Covey's book, Principle Centered Leadership. When needed or challenged, our value system is revisited and adjusted according to who we are as an organism at the time.
More later...
