Dear Disciple of Christ,
So, after all these postings, I wonder what you might think was one of the most crucial needs for the church. What was having one of the most serious negative effects on the life of the church? I’ve mentioned it a number of times having an impact on pastors coming and going after a short tenure at the church. If you’re thinking about the church not having a parsonage, you’re with me. Pastors were coming and going about every two years, finding it necessary to leave the congregation because of the costs for lodging. Since the original parsonage was given to the widow of the first pastor, each new pastor had to find lodging for themselves (and perhaps a family) with limited funds provided by the church.
In my case, my total salary package was $5,600 a year for all costs including lodging. The lodging in my case, by the grace of God, was $300 a month. That was an extraordinarily low cost but still left just $2,000 to live on (about $40 a week) for all other expenses. You may remember that my wife and I owned a mobile home during our seminary days and that provided some additional funds when we sold the trailer on consignment (realizing about $2,300 from the sale). That allowed some additional funds but by the 2nd or 3rdyear, those funds were pretty nearly depleted. God was providing resources graciously for us but we had the same challenge every other pastor had after that parsonage was not available for the pastor of the church.
With some focus on the mission and outreach to our neighbors, our little church began to grow and have an impact in our neighborhood. Actually, the budget began to grow and reached three and four times the original $11,000 annual congregational budget. At that point my attention went to that parsonage because of the substantial budget cost to the pastors and the congregation for lodging. We pulled together a group of members to begin to look at possible solutions. No matter how we worked on adjusting our budget, the lodging costs brought an ongoing challenge into our budget. The idea of finding a parsonage for the congregation kept coming forward to the “vision” committee. We looked at ways to raise funds, to find a mortgage and find an affordable house. God, who had brought us forward in amazing ways, seemed supportive of the idea of our getting a parsonage.
Our small synod (national church body) did have some members in various parts of the life of the city, including a vice-president of a bank in Brooklyn. Most banks were hesitant to make loans to churches since foreclosing on them (if they failed to pay) would not be something a bank wanted to do. But with the connection of the synod member, the bank agreed to give us the loan if we had sufficient equity in the house. Sure enough, just 3 blocks from the church, we found a house owned by an episcopal woman whose mother had died in the house. It fit the bill well with three bedrooms and room for a family including the pastor. We used our imaginations to think of ways to raise funds. I wouldn’t always recommend ways we accomplished it but one part included a “super raffle”. There would be only 200 tickets and each ticket cost $100. The way we would avoid going “upside down”? The single winning ticket would total 10% of the sales. One of our members who didn’t feel it was appropriate to use a raffle, provided the winning prize (with 20 tickets sold) of $200. Another fund raiser was a bikeathon that included pastors I knew from other churches. I asked them to get sponsors from their churches for the 10 mile ride up Coney Island avenue, around Flushing Meadow park and back to the church for a “Beer and Brats” picnic. Once again, I wouldn’t suggest the beer in future gatherings, but we raised about $6,000 from that fund raiser.
To be honest, the goal of buying the parsonage had a great effect on the membership. We saw and benefitted by the support of the wider church. We no longer felt as separated and alone in our ministry and its challenges. What seemed a distant dream and impossibility, came into the hearts and minds of the members as God’s powerful work in our midst. To be honest, when God becomes more evident in the midst of a community, challenges become opportunities and it seems like most anything is possible. As their pastor I needed to keep that in mind to continue to encourage the members in the mission.
So, when a parsonage was found, the donations made and the loan secured, we all could see the hand of God in our mission. Remember what a planner I am by nature? Add to that the presence and power and pleasure of the Lord and the mission becomes a place of excitement. The closing on the house was just two weeks before my wife was to deliver our second daughter. You don’t see any problem with that plan, do you? We had 14 days to renovate almost the entire house! Every wall needed to be washed, primed and painted since a backdraft from the 5 story building next door blew smoke back into the house instead of up and out the chimney. Some walls were scheduled to be covered with wall paper and we had only one member who knew how to put on wallpaper. Thanks, Herb! What do you mean the plan calls for all the kitchen cabinets to be replaced? Countertops too?
Moving day came and with joy members gathered to move all of our belongings into Trinity’s new parsonage. It really did seem miraculous to some that we were able to have it all come together but we did have two days to spare (Joy was born two days after her due date). God is good…. All the time! All the time, God is good! And so, for 44 years, 4 months and 19 days, Trinity has been blessed with the gift of that parsonage. They have been able to have a pastor serve each and every Sunday and the “pay” is lodging provided by God over all that time. It is not hard to offer thanks to the Lord with joy when His blessings come in such abundance.
Have you seen the way God has been at work in caring for you and your family in your life? I hope so and that faith has grown in you through His care for you.
Peace in His service,
Pastor Johnson