Big-Time Blow for TG: Pennsylvania Governor Approves Bake Sale Crutch for Churches

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Pastor Foley

Everybody likes pie.

True, that.

The quote comes from Pastor Mike Greb of St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia, courtesy of a Christianity Today article that announces Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendel’s signing into law a bill that lets churches sell home-cooked food at bake sales without fear of being shut down by the health department.

I like pie, too. My wife and daughter just made a killer key lime pie last week. It’s the rest of Pastor Greb’s quote that doesn’t sit quite as well in my stomach:

“These fundraisers are our survival,” Greb said. “In tough economic times, they keep the doors open and the lights on.”

Hm.

Please don’t misunderstand: I’m deeply concerned in my gut for the 1 in 7 US congregations that are flirting with closure in the midst of this present economic gut-punch.

But since when did pie become our financial lifeline?

“In early 2009, an inspector from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture shut down a St Cecilia’s Lenten bake sale,” notes CT’s Trevor Persaud. “Since the food was coming from a non-state-inspected kitchen, the state government considered it a ‘potentially hazardous substance.'”

It is a hazardous substance–when it’s used as a financial lifeline.

When a church or a nonprofit turns to traditional transactional non-cause related ways to support its cause-related mission–whether through jog-a-thons, fruitcake drives, golf scrambles, or even the sale of one of my wife and daughter’s priceless key lime pies–it robs its constituents of the opportunity to learn ever more deeply–and share ever more broadly with potential new constituents–the truth of Jesus’ statement, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Even when what one is receiving is a yummy pie.

In this ruling, the church lost. As much as we don’t like persecution–even pie persecution–it’s what has always driven us on to new levels of scriptural obedience and creativity…and greater distance from the tools, techniques, and strategies of the world. Until we hit Acts Chapter 8, Christianity is a tiny one-city sect. When persecution hits, Christianity hits the world scene.

So is it really true that without pie to sell, our lights would flicker out and our doors would close?

If so, perhaps our lights may already be dimmer than we realize.

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Passion Check

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Pastor Foley

So as you may have surmised from my post earlier this week, I went through a great season for soul searching earlier this year. I asked a question that can be traced back in some form or fashion to St. John Of The Cross, namely:

What can you not not do?

In other words, if–heaven forbid–you found out you had a week left to live, what would remain on your to-do list after you crossed out everything you could “not do”, if you catch my meaning?

More precisely for folks in our nonprofit neck of the woods:

Where does your passion, your gifting, your very wiring, intersect with your organization and its mission?

Let me share a chapter from my story and then ask you a question about the chapter of your own story that you’re presently in:

In 1992, I moved to Indianapolis to be assigned to my second pastorate at a church that was slated by my denomination to be closed.  I was supposed to be the last pastor.  The one to come in and turn out the lights.  The average age of the congregation—no joke—was 75.  Attendance was no more than 25 every week.  The building was leaking, creaking, and falling down.

The only problem was, those 25 old folks were the stubbornest people I’ve ever met.  They had no interest in closing down and considered the idea completely objectionable.  In the face of mountains of common sense and evidence to the contrary, they still believed in that place and had no intention of locking the doors for good.

Problem was, they had no idea how to turn things around.

Other problem was, neither did I.  On the face of it, there didn’t seem to be much of a good reason for them to continue.  There were other churches, better churches nearby.  The building was literally unsalvageable.  One visit from the city, should they have ever cared enough to darken that part of the city of Indianapolis, which they never did.

So why keep going?

I begin to research the history of that church for some kind of answer, really more out of desperation than anything.  Turns out, it was once a great church—a huge church.  A vibrant church.  900 kids in Sunday School alone.  It was the axis on which the whole neighborhood of Woodside turned.

And that, it turned out, was just the issue.

There was no Woodside neighborhood anymore.  Or so the city said, anyway.  Honest to God truth, on the city map of Indianapolis, we were the spot underneath the compass.  True story.  So as the neighborhood ceased to exist, so did the church.  It was the church of a neighborhood that was no more.

But researching the history of the place opened my eyes to something new.

That neighborhood still existed.  It could only be seen by those twenty five seniors, but it was real.  Sure, it looked funny.  A huge coal plant gobbled up most of it.  But there were people who worked there.  And a factory.  People there, too.  A motley assortment of houses containing transients who tried to stay one step ahead of landlords who tried to evict them once they got in there for a month and never paid the rent, which they had no intention to pay, anyway, when they first moved in.

People there, too.

And once my eyes were open, I became the pastor to that church and to that neighborhood.  And in less than two years we became the fastest growing church in our area and a poster child for urban church renewal in our denominational jurisdiction.  We had some denominational execs come to visit us and ask, “So which denominational program of ours are you using that’s bringing you all this success?”

Hm.

Now, my question to you:

What was the passion that started your organization originally?

What was the passion that started you in the organization originally?

Do you remember?

Have you fallen far from it?

Does that make you wistful?

1“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

Jesus, in Revelation 2:1-4

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The Cosmo Fundraising Quiz: Is Your Fund Raising Column A or Column B?

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Pastor Foley

Column A

  • Folks in our city are always talking about our organization’s cool, imaginative fund raising projects when they gather around their office water coolers.
  • We regularly get calls from other charities who want us to teach them fund raising because our materials and projects are so high profile, successful, fun, and unique.
  • My friends, family, and best donors love to get all our fund raising pieces and are always hitting me up for extra copies to give to their friends and family.
  • Our fund raising materials are like a snapshot of our organization’s heart, purpose, and calling.

Column B

  • People in our own organization don’t read our appeal letters and newsletters.
  • Our fund raising program is a lot like what other organizations like ours are doing.
  • I make sure my friends, family, and best donors don’t get hit up by most of our fund raising solicitations, since I don’t want them to get turned off by us asking them for money all the time.
  • Our fund raising materials are a necessary evil to make money to run our organization.

The Moral Of The Story, Part I:

  • Good marketing and fund raising make you WANT to talk about fund raising.  If your fund raising is no fun for you, or if you have to grit your teeth and just do it (or, worse yet, apologize to your close friends for it) as a necessary evil, then you’re doing it wrong.

The Moral Of The Story, Part II:

  • If your fund raising is no fun for your donors, you’re doing it wrong, too.

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