rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "How Many Shrinker Churches in the Syn Conference W...":
Coming to a Shrinker church near you - bankruptcy! I mean the financial kind. The theological bankruptcy has already happened. As mentioned previously here at Ichabod, my former WElS congregation has engaged in Masonry Evangelism. Pardon the pun, but they have pulled out all of the stops. Naturally, they have brought in Cornerstone for the latest capital appeal and to bring new meaning to the phrase, fleecing the sheep. Now, it is community outreach.
This means getting the unchurched through the doors without the benefit of proclaiming the gospel. There is no need to proclaim forgiveness through the gospel, since all are saved anyways.
But, I wondered why they cut the veteran teacher at their school halfway through the school year. There is a sense of urgency about this. In years past, this congregation would restructure their debt, and borrow against their line of credit to meet their operating expenses. This was even how the cash crop farmers, who are members, ran their business.
But, the congregation had borrowed against their capital appeal funds that were designated for the masonry evangelism. Initially, this seemed odd. My guess is that there no longer is a line of credit to draw from, or it is already been tapped to the limit.
This would explain the cutting of the payroll - almost immediately.
I liken it to the irresponsible extended family member who does not have credit available to him through conventional lending and has to shake down others for cash.
