Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky
Pentecost 23
November 12, 2006
W. Gregory Pope
WITH GLAD AND GENEROUS HEARTS:
A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF CHBC
Acts 2:42-47
It has been said that two things are true of congregations: One, congregations never have enough money. And two, congregations have all the money they really need for God’s mission.
While sounding almost contradictory I find profound truth in those two statements. Faithful, mission-oriented congregations never have enough money. They are always giving away more money than they have, always living at the edge of their resources.
And faithful, mission-oriented churches have all the money they really need. Although finances are always tight, and should be in the church, there will always be enough money sufficient for the mission of faithful congregations.
Many factors play into a church’s budget. The state of the economy, people moving away and moving in, unemployment and uncertainty.
Like many congregations, we have an aging population. What is significant here is that the graying among us are the people who were taught growing up and have practiced all of their lives giving ten percent of their income to the church.
And it is their giving that has provided this place of worship and rooms for Christian formation where children and adults have been taught the love of God and have practiced the love of God through the friendships made in those rooms. It is their giving that has changed lives outside those rooms as well, out in the world. Their giving has provided a recreation facility through which many in this city have passed through, and while here, they have enjoyed fun and fellowship and physical health together.
This is a huge building complex. It takes a lot of money to keep clean and running so we can worship, pray and play together, study the Bible and engage in ministries that enhance our spiritual formation. Our physical campus, however, is not a drain on our budget; it is a gift of God that enables us to do ministry for which we can be grateful.
For those among us who were not taught the importance of giving a tithe, at first we think we can not afford it. But notice something about those gray heads among us. They are still here. They have survived. They may not all drive a Lexus or live in a palatial home, but they have been provided for by the One who provides for us all. And they continue to give because they want the children in this place and all others who pass through these doors to learn about Jesus, to grow spiritually, and to discover the love and meaning and purpose they have found here. They care about our future.
Two statements I want to make about a church, its budget and the giving of its members.
One, the issue of a church, its budget and the giving of its members is first and foremost a spiritual issue in the hearts and lives of individual Christians.
Giving is at the heart of a person’s spirituality. The measure of a person’s spirituality is in how much a person gives of himself or herself and their resources in service to others. The prophet Malachi put it as bluntly as he could: refusing to tithe is to rob God! To give a tenth of our income to the work of God in the world is to personally and publicly acknowledge that everything we have comes from God. It is not ours to begin with, and so we give God a portion. It all belongs to God from the very beginning. And as far back as our Christian roots go into Judaism, the people of God have said God requires ten percent of all that we possess.
According to Jesus, money lies at the heart of faith. Because where our treasure is, there are heart will be.
When the recently deceased William Sloane Coffin was pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, he said on more than one occasion that the real task of the stewardship campaign is to help people save their souls. He didn’t mean a ticket to heaven in exchange for an adequate pledge - though that might be an effective stewardship campaign motto. Coffin meant that our values are at stake in how we share our resources.
We need to give because we need the experience of sacrifice. Giving doesn’t mean much if we never miss what we’ve given. It’s only when we give something we’d like to keep that our giving becomes a way of growing spiritually. Money is a deeply spiritual issue.
So, the issue of a church, its budget, and the giving of its members is first and foremost a spiritual issue in the hearts and lives of individual Christians.
It is also an issue of the church’s mission and what we are trying to do. And though we wish we had more money for more ministry, I wonder how aware we are of what goes on around here that is absolutely incredible.
Do you have any idea what all happens at Crescent Hill Baptist Church in a given year? In the next few minutes I want to try and capture a year in the life of our church, bringing to our attention all that is made possible in and through this place because of the giving of ourselves, our time, our abilities, and our resources.
Before you categorize the LG&E bill apart from missions and ministry, listen to what happens in this place through worship, spiritual formation, administration, congregational care, and missions involvement. You might be amazed.
The Christian year begins in late November / early December with the season of Advent, the time of waiting with anticipation and hope the rebirth of Christ in our lives as we hear again the story of his coming among us 2000 years ago. Five candles symbolize Advent. We light a candle on each of the four Sundays of Advent and then one on Christmas Eve night. The candles burn with the prayer that hope, peace, joy, and love will be born in us again as the Christ comes to us in new and surprising ways.
During the season of Advent we celebrate the season with parties and Santa’s Workshop. We minister to the grieving within our church and community with a special bereavement service. We enjoy the Christmas music presentations of our children and senior adults. And on Christmas Eve we are inspired by the stories and the music of the season, enjoying a family reunion of sorts as we gather around the Holy Family on that most holy of nights.
January comes around and we try to think of ways to spend all the money that has been pledged to the ministry budget far above the proposed budget.
This past January we hosted the Regional Baptist Peace Fellowship Gathering, joined by Jeff Street Baptist Community and other Baptists in our Midwest region. It was a mini version of Peace Camp that will be held this July here in Kentucky.
This year we also held two seminars on marriage enrichment led by Loren Townsend.
In February we hold what is perhaps our most life-changing ministry, the Divorce Recovery Workshop, four weeks of seminars on how to cope and live with the painful reality of divorce. And then, every Sunday afternoon of the year, divorce support groups are held in this place, during which we provide childcare for the participants. That group of children is growing in number and we are seeking to minister to them during this very scary time in their lives.
March brings March Madness, I mean the season of Lent. A time of special services of worship given to the turning of our hearts and faces toward the cross and Easter where this past year on Sundays we reflected on what it meant to walk in the way of Jesus, and on Wednesday nights Frank Woggon taught us the spirituality of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This year Dr. Glenn Hinson will be leading us with four presentations on the life and teachings of Thomas Merton.
In the spring months of April and May, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We host a community Eggstravaganza for children. Derby season kicks off, and as the horses round the track, kids are on the home stretch of wrapping up another year of school. We honor our youth and graduates on Youth Sunday as they lead us in worship and we present Bibles to our graduating seniors.
In May, our church softball league begins, the season of pulled hamstrings and sprained ankles, where Tom “Pete Rose” Solley takes the extra base, not by gambling for it, but with headfirst dives, making us all proud.
In June, the kids are out of school and we take off for Children’s Camp. A little extra money is needed this year for the pastor’s hotel room because the new camp we’re staying at does not have air conditioning.
The After-school program goes full-time all day. Our youth take spiritual trips to Kentucky Kingdom. Our college students go rafting.
July begins a new year for English as a Second Language classes and conversation groups. The youth head off to Passport. Next Summer is New Orleans.
August marks the beginning of a new year of school for our kids, including Sunday School. We present Bibles to our first and sixth graders and journals to our ninth graders. It is also a new year for our After-school Program and the Highlands Latin School.
September gets everything back in gear and we begin giving thought to ministry and budget goals for the upcoming year.
October is a special month with a variety of emphases - Internationals Day, Children’s Sabbath with a conference for parents and grandparents this past year, a highly secretive Women’s Retreat where they worship goddesses and do not allow men to join them. The Southern Baptist Convention will embark on an investigation. And then we host a Halloween festival where, among other things, we add to the family album of those in our community with an annual Halloween photograph.
In November we provide space for a voting precinct, as we did this past Tuesday. This year our Outreach Team led us in what I hope is a yearly participation in the city-wide Festival of Faiths. Each year in November we make Christmas Shoe Boxes filled with toys and goodies for children in other parts of the world who will likely not receive anything else. In what is a highlight of the year for many, we gather the night before Thanksgiving for a meal, an opportunity for worship, and the Eucharist where we can give thanks for God’s gift to us in Jesus.
And then we find ourselves each November right back where we are today, considering our pledges and commitments for another year of ministry.
And those are just the seasonal events. There are other ministries that take place throughout the year, some happening every week:
There are services of worship, including baby dedications, weddings, funerals, baptisms, and incredible preaching on those weeks the pastor is out of town; so don’t forget to support the pulpit supply budget.
There are ministry team planning meetings and the ministry they do.
There are Bible studies and book studies that happen throughout the week.
There are congregational meals on Wednesdays and other occasions like today where we eat together with glad and generous hearts.
There are special speakers and events on Wednesday nights, like
Rob Nash on the Da Vinci Code,
and Sandra Crismon on Fair Trade through Just Creations,
and Jim England this Wednesday on Hospice Care,
and mission opportunity presentations by the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship and Edge Outreach.
There are Wednesday night missional studies for our youth and children.
We have Sunday night choirs for youth and children and topical discussions for our youth.
There is the occasional youth lock-in that parents of youth do not think happen often enough or last nearly as long as they should; they are about 48 hours too short.
There are monthly band shows where kids who may never enter the doors of a church gather in the safe and friendly confines of our fellowship hall and celebrate the music they love.
There are Companions in Christ discipleship classes,
Monthly Theology chats,
Writers group,
Exercise group,
Art Spirit classes,
Computer classes,
and occasional Parents’ night out for parents of preschoolers, thanks to the Solidarity Sunday School class.
There is the always busy recreational ministry. Along with other things that have already been mentioned, there are the seasonal table tennis, basketball, volleyball, and dartball leagues.
And we open the doors of our sanctuary to the community for FAT Friday.
We seek throughout the year to open our doors and hearts to the community through United Crescent Hill Ministries, through the Kid’s Café and Neighbor helping Neighbor and a host of other ministries through UCHM.
We give money through KBF and CBF and ABC to support mission work in places all over the world, places we cannot go, as well as supporting people that provide mission opportunities in places when we do want to go.
We are also embarking on a much needed renovation project to the roof of our fellowship and recreation building, as well as a renovation of our fellowship hall, and the re-paving of our parking lots. You’ll hear more about those details at lunch today. But I hope you’ve been convinced already of the need to make sure our buildings are in good shape so that ministry can continue to happen in this place.
You are invited and encouraged to bring into worship next Sunday your pledge cards for the 2007 Budget and the 3-Year Giving Campaign to the Centennial Renovation Project.
Between today and next Sunday, I invite you each day this week to spend ten minutes a day in prayer seeking God’s guidance as to how you should give of your resources to the 2007 Budget and to the Renovation Project. Pray with your family. And let us pray for each other.
The statement with which I began this sermon about what is true for most congregations is indeed true of us: we never have enough money to do all we want to do, and we have all the money we need to faithfully live God’s mission for us.
It’s like the old preacher who told his congregation: “I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is we have enough money to do what God is calling us to do. The bad news is the money is in your bank accounts.”
He’s right. But the bad news isn’t really bad news. For some of us it may be hard news. But both words are good news. We have enough money to fulfill God’s mission for us, and it is in our power to make it happen.
I have so many hopes and dreams for us as a congregation. The swells of the ocean have been great before us, and our ship often seems small and frail. But the great and fierce mystery of God is calling us to shores unknown. And as we journey toward that Mystery so many good things happen this place. We are on our way to becoming what God is creating us to be. We are on our way to doing what God is calling us to do. We have challenges before us. But we have the Spirit of God within and among us, and that Great Spirit will see us through. I ask you simply and boldly to give of yourself and your resources with glad and generous hearts as we follow Christ into tomorrow.
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CRESCENT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
2800 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
(502) 896-4425
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