October 2013

How Much Money Is Enough for Fruitful Ministry?

 In our American economy and within our church tradition, money in support of Christ’s mission is typically disbursed for personnel, facilities, program, and mission. A new church plant starts commonly with a designated pastor whose financial support is provided to give him or her time to invest in gathering people. There is usually some investment in facilities, a place the church can call home (although this is changing out here in the West, where many church plants rent commercial or educational space and keep their “stuff” in trailers during the week). Program costs typically start with what happens on Sunday […]

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Toddler Property Laws and the PC(USA) Trust Clause

Amended on Wednesday, October 23, after comments from Menlo Park readers, to set the record straight . . . One of the fascinating features of child development is the growing sense of self and ownership. What lesson do moms and dads try to teach their two-year-old children? “Share your toys!” But it is a learning process occurring in a phase during which a child is egocentric and unable to differentiate between self and environment. As a parent I discovered that the concept of sharing fell on deaf ears until my child was able to grasp the concept of ownership. Only

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Tell Me This Isn’t About the Money

Amended Wednesday, October 23, after comments from Menlo Park readers, to set the record straight: Most of the “gracious dismissal policies” I have read from around the country go to great lengths to describe the chief concern of the church, that of the integrity and continuity of the mission of Jesus Christ.  Putting aside the false notion that there is no “church presence” in a community if there is no PCUSA congregation there, it is laudable and achievable in some parts of the country that a departing congregation and its dismissing presbytery can see the larger work of the Kingdom

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Taking the Long View on Church Dismissal

The study of history was never my strong suit in high school, and though I had a couple of world-renowned history professors at Stanford, the discipline did not capture my imagination. I was at the time much better suited as a mathematical sciences major (first) and ultimately music major. Problem sets and musical analyses were more my forte in these formative years. I’ve been on a remedial course ever since. What turned me around was Church History in seminary. I took three courses: Early Church, Reformation History, and American Church History to fulfill my requirements. For the first time (with

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