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| Credit: Creative Commons (piermario) |
I get it. I've felt the same way. And looking back, I can see I was dead wrong.
I'm not naïve. I know that things cost money. Bibles to give out to guests cost money. Camp rentals cost money. Parent seminars cost money.
However, to see yourself as the youth pastor pitted against the church board (or whoever gets to sign off on your budget) is not the answer. I used to go into budget meetings ready for battle with the board, who had the power to approve or cut MY (not the youth ministry's) budget. My goal was to come away with my initial numbers as intact as possible. And how I felt about the board's leadership competence was directly related to whether or not they agreed with my plans for the year and how much money was needed to go through with those plans.
Before you go into your 2012 budget meeting armed and dangerous, may I suggest we all learn a lesson from the good people of Mitterfirmiansreut?
Yes, that's Mitterfirmiansreut. And no, I didn't sneeze. (And no, I have no idea how to pronounce it.)
The year was 1911. Attending church on Sunday for the residents of Mitterfirmiansreut, Germany meant a 90-minute walk--in good weather--to the nearest church in Mauth. It was not unusual for the road to Mauth to become impassible during the winter months. The residents of Mitterfirmiansreut appealed to their Catholic leaders to build a small church in their town so that they could attend church year-round, but to no avail. So, they built their own church, made out of the only construction materials they had an abundance of: ice and snow. This is the church as it looked in March of 1911, after some warmer weather began to melt their frozen church building:
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| Mitterfirmiansreut snow church, March 1911 |
You may have some great ideas for 2012 that require more budget money than your church or the current economic climate is able to allow. Perhaps you believe a certain initiative ought to have a higher priority in the church budget than it does. Or maybe times are simply financially tough in your church, and you it's difficult enough to keep the doors open and the lights on, let alone fund a new youth ministry initiative, no matter how much of an impact it might have. You may feel at times you feel like the people of Mitterfirmiansreut did, and you find your budget issues to be just as impassible as the road to Mauth in the winter months. Maybe it's time to make a church out of snow and ice, because that's all you've got available at the moment.
Do churches sometimes place too little importance on ministry to teenagers and their families? Yes. Will you continue to be occasionally frustrated because there is something you would like to do in your ministry that you whole-heartedly believe will change lives, but there just won't be enough money in the budget to pay for it? Probably. But complaining about it will get you nowhere, and you might even miss some creative solutions that are staring you in the face. Like the snow and ice of Mitterfirmiansreut.
By the way, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first snow church, the people of Mitterfirmiansreut have built another:
Question: What resource limitations are you facing in 2012, or have you faced in the past? What creative "snow churches" have you built (or will you build) to overcome those challenges?
