Spending priorities for churches...
At the risk of airing my dirty laundry, I want some folks opinions on this...Mrs. Expat Teacher and I run hospitality at two of our church services each week. With the help of several volunteers, we set up and take down the chairs, do offering, usher people to seats, etc. I've been arguing for a long time that the hospitality team needs some sort of name badge or ID on a lanyard around our neck so people know that we are with the church and therefore can be trusted (to find them a seat, to take their offering, etc). I feel that the lanyards are a nice, informal way to break the ice with guests and new church goers. Certainly in this town, someone with an ID badge around their neck is not abnormal and is usually the one in charge. I am sure it would help settle people's nerves more than upset them.
So I put in for 6 lanyards in our 2008 budget request form. It was vetoed due to "budget cuts". We will be without lanyards for all of 2008. This infuriates me. First, they can't be that expensive. A quick Google search says they are about $.25 each. Figure in printing costs and maybe they cost $1 each. That's SIX BUCKS! total.
Meanwhile, our church has upped their giving to missions to over $400,000 annually. Money for missions goes for a lot of different uses and I don't object to any of them. But certainly some of the money will be spent to help churches or para-church ministries create welcoming and friendly atmospheres at their event. So, while I can't have my lanyards, the church is giving money to another church to help them buy lanyards.
Do the spending priorities seem a little out of whack on this one?
posted by Expat Teacher @ 1:43 AM
