Fiduciary Responsibility vs Gospel Responsibility

Yesterday, as I was perusing my Twitter feed, a "tweet" by a friend, Tom Purdy, caught my attention. Tom tweeted, "When does fiduciary responsibility trump gospel responsibility?"   

As a deputy to the 78^th General Convention and as the rector of a church fiduciary responsibility and gospel responsibility are c are certainly things I am called to wrestle with.   But must I really wrestle with it? In many ways fiduciary responsibility and good stewardship of our resources enable churches to engage in a vibrant expression of the Good News.    I think the danger creeps in when my scarcity mindset takes over, when I worry about not having enough.  Sometimes, I then find myself hiding behind fiduciary responsibility.  It's so much easier to hide there.  

So then how do we balance the fiduciary responsibility of the institution while at the same time funding mechanisms that help spread the Good News of Jesus Christ?  And, then, when does the Gospel imperative call us, to be a little less fiscally responsible so that we might take the bold step of risking a bit of our cash.

At my church we wouldn’t bat an eyelash at spending yet another $2,000 to fix the boiler in the dead of a Buffalo winter. Yes it hurts, but it must be done.  But, would we drop $2,000 on an evangelism initiative to reach those beyond our red doors? That would be a more difficult conversation to have.

Today, the House of Deputies of the 78^th General Convention passed legislation that directs the Episcopal Church to put several million dollars into digital evangelism, church planting, and church revitalization over the next three years. The previous day, House of Deputies directed 1.2 million to work on eradicating racism.  It was good work!  As I heard someone say today “we put our money where our mission is.”

Gospel responsibility yes, fiduciary responsibility maybe?  

At some point these resolutions will move to the House of Bishops for ratification. What will they do with these resolutions? Will they look at the price tag and shake their heads and say that’s too much?Or will they say let's follow Jesus here? Perhaps we ought to remember the rich young ruler who walked away from kingdom because the cost was too great.  I know I’ve counted the cost and walked away more times than I would like to admit. 

Is the cost to great?