Schizophrenia, God, & You!
Douglas R. Larson berean@brookings.net
Tue, 11 Nov 1997 23:48:36 -0600 (00879335316, 199711120545.XAA20667@serv.brookings.net)
> Martin-
> So where does the money go? Does the Vatican charge a franchise fee?
>
> Colorado was talking about taxing churches a year or two ago. There
> were several tax-exempt abuse cases, but the one that I remember where a
> church wanted to get out of over a $1 million in taxes for a golf course
> and country club that they were building. So government body (city of
> Colorado Springs?) also sited the church's involvement in political
> causes and their lack of involvement in resolving social problems. I
> never heard of any resolution on this.
Hi Martin,
First of all, I've only revealed my former denomination membership by
telephone to
Ralph Nielsen. At this stage, I don't want to get into a pissing match
with
my former employers about revealing what was spent where, and why, giving
them fuel and reason to come back and sue me and what little I've got left.
Oh, Christians wouldn't do that--would they? You Bet!!! Christians within
their own ranks are about the most litigant happy bunch of folk you'll ever
meet. If I was smart to begin with, I should have assumed a false nickname
and signed it as such--but with the archive, sooner or later they'll find
out what
path "I did take" when I left the pastorate. Paranoid? Perhaps. But I no
longer
find myself being that trusting soul that I once was--that's fer sure! ;-)
What I will do is briefly explain how the "money chain" works within
my former "burger franchise."
Total Income $367,000.00
collection plate
soup & sandwich feeds
special services
rental property & investments
1. Benevolence Fund Denominational (35%) (Money sent to denomination)
This money is sent from our church checking account to the denominational
headquarters on a monthly basis. (fiscal 2-95 to 2-96 totaled $128,450.00)
That's alot of soup to feed the hungry my friends. This money is
supposedly
ate up by administrative costs, printing Sunday School materials,
apportionment
to seminary and bible college).
2. Missions Fund Denominational (10%) (Money sent to denomination)
Special missions funds in South America (ditto fiscal - $36,700.00)
3. Missions Fund Local (20%) (Money sent from local church)
Missions projects supported by local congregation, locally and
abroad. (ditto fiscal - $74,400.00)
4. Alms Fund (5%) (Money sent from local church)
This is the part that angers me. Some of the local elders claimed
this fund was being abused, so they labeled the abusers in rejecting
their claims for financial needs. So, the fund would generally "roll-over"
back to the general fund for that "cushion." (ditto fiscal - $18,350)
5. Maintenance & Future Building Growth Fund (12%) (Money for FBG is held
locally in savings account) Maintenance & Utility (ditto fiscal -
$44040.00)
6. Pastoral & Education Fund (15%) Pastoral salary (ditto fiscal -
$38,500.00)
Secretarial salary (ditto fiscal - $12,000.00) Educational materials
(ditto fiscal - $4500.00)
7.6. Investments & General Fund operating $10,060.00
Money that exists in this fund are invested by the elders in some type of
fund.
I'm not a banker nor a financial expert so I really don't have a clue as to
how
its done. My former church had acquired homes that were left to the church
in the "Last & Will & Testaments" of dearly departed brothers. These homes
are generally rented out as income for the church. To my knowledge our
local church owns 3 homes.
In the area in which I live, Scandinavians are the predominant ancestral
descent
( of which I are one ;-) ) Scandy's are a very humble, quiet and generous
lot.
The congregation that I pastored had 550 baptized members, of which, only
about 10% or so were "3 sprinkle Christians."
I hope this helps. BTW: My ISP was down for two days. There seems to be
problems with our main connections to Denver. If any of you sent a post to
me
and didn't receive an answer, it's probably because I didn't receive it.
Doug Larson