I received the email below from a church secretary whose church terminated her job because of the challenging financial times we are in. In the time spent praying over how to answer wisely, I realized that an answer to her questions and some comments on her situation might be useful to other church communicators, so I am answering in the form of an Open Letter.  Below is her email and then my response, her name and church are confidential.

In this tough economy many churches have had to make the tough decision to no longer have a secretary.  I am trying to communicate to the congregation that I love the Church and support the decision that was made.  On the other hand when I am in service I want to cry because for me this drastic a change is very scary.  So I may need a break not from God but from the Church so I can refocus and not be the cause of any problems (many do not agree with the decision).  Do you have any suggestions on how to communicate this in a positive way to the congregation.  (PS - I have not been able to have a Sunday to just worship since I started 3 years ago.  People always assume I am working if I am here, despite reminder that I will take care of that when I am working on Monday)

My response, an open letter

First of all, let me say that I honestly feel the pain that underlies your question. It is more than theory—my husband was on staff of a large church and we had a huge and successful Single Adult ministry that was our life—and his position was terminated because of budget cuts. While serving as a bi-vocational pastor since then, we have had some interesting experiences with churches promising to pay and “budgets just not working out.” Whatever the reason, when money, one’s income, and all those sorts of financial things get tied up in our church life, it not only becomes challenging financially, but messy and potentially very destructive to our own spiritual health and that of others in the church.

Ultimately, what you decide to do is between you and the Lord Jesus and I know you will be spending much time in prayer and in His Word to decide your actions, but since you asked, let me share some thoughts that I trust are guided by Biblical principles. I will try to summarize your concerns and then offer some thoughts and Biblical advice on them. [Read more...]