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What to do with a windfall of funds?

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Officials at the LaSalle Street Church Chicago announced during a recent Sunday service that the church would be sharing 10% of a $1.6-million windfall, the result of the sale of a property, with all 320 members. Each would be given a $500 check to use as they desired. Senior Pastor Laura Truax said the “tithing” came about after she prayed for guidance and came to realize the church members should benefit from the sale. She told the media she hopes that when others hear the story they’ll be inspired to “do something risky and faithful.”

Other than sharing a percentage with the congregation, what “risky and faithful” steps would you take if a windfall of funds landed at your doorstep?

I’d like to try something similar to what I’ve heard others have done before: I’d distribute 10% of the windfall equally among the congregation members with the stipulation that they give it away, after seeking God’s direction for their choice. I believe a number of Pastor Truax’s members did give their portion away, but some who had financial needs kept theirs. That’s fine in my opinion. But how exciting to hear afterward how God used each member’s gift, how people had been helped in manifold Spirit-directed ways and what a powerful lesson in giving it would be. I suspect many who hadn’t previously given sacrificially would be inspired to be more “risky and faithful” to do so in the future. Jesus said that it is more blessed (happy) to give than to receive, and the “givers” reading this will readily agree. We receive the greatest rewards not from possessing wealth but rather from using it to serve God and others.

Pastor Jon Barta

Burbank

Thanks for this question. I have thought of this issue often: What would I do if a whole bunch of money came my way? What I would do is try to give away at least 20 percent. I know that tithing is what Christians usually do, but a minister in my past told me he gave away 20 percent, and so I want to do the same. (If you think about it,10 percent is not a whole helluva lot. But I digress.)

I would give some money to my church, but not all of it. There are many good causes out there, and one I have been supporting for a long time is Oxfam America, which took its name from “Oxford Famine Group” in England and then spread elsewhere, including the United States. It started out feeding the hungry, but now it does other things, too, such as drill wells in Third World countries where clean water is rare. It also tries to empower women in the Third World. So I’d probably give a chunk of cash to Oxfam.

I would also give some money to the small liberal arts college in Indiana called Wabash, of which I’m a graduate, and I’d give some to my seminary, too. (I went to Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.)

I currently give to the Salvation Army, the L.A. Mission, and Union Rescue Mission, so I’d probably give them some of my newly found “loot” as well!

If a really huge amount of money came my way, I might share it with family members, such as my brothers and their families — but first would come those causes mentioned above.

Now the big question: Would I spend any of it on myself? Probably yes! I might take a vacation or buy a new car.

I might even buy a house again; right now my wife and I are renting. But again, I would hope the first thing I’d do would be to help others. I mean, I have to ask myself: What would Jesus do? I’m sure he’d give a lot of it — if not all — away. As one of his followers, shouldn’t I do the same?

The Rev. Skip Lindeman

La Cañada Congregational Church

La Cañada Flintridge

Wow, what could be done! Our church would certainly get an overhaul. We’d hire staff, refurbish the building, replace age-old water and electrical works, up our missions budget by leaps, start contributing robustly to our denomination, and change the face of the church for the next several decades. We’d start looking for extracurricular ministries in the community to fulfill, rather than merely wishing we could afford to help with what things we currently perceive as needful.

Before I was called to this church, it had done something similar but with much less of a financial gain; it sold a small parcel next door and took the modest sum to fund some additional staff and start a youth ministry. Unfortunately, there were no parameters in place, and what ministry was achieved only lasted until the youth minister transferred to the mission field. The money spent, everything went back to square one. The church learned, and so have I.

But what a blessing it must be to hold congregational meetings and discuss what to do with all the surplus, rather than discussing how to creatively pay for a hole in the roofing, or how much longer the church can go on as is. Ah dreams…

Rev. Bryan Griem

Montrose Community Church

Montrose

I would purchase a duplex apartment complex, eight units more or less, and I would offer an apartment to each of my congregation’s families who had fallen on hard times. The rent would be whatever they could afford. As we had purchased the complex outright, all we would need to pay would be the taxes. I would divide the taxes by the number of units and use that amount as my bottom line. Anything above the complex’s expenses would go back into the Temple’s general fund.

Rabbi Mark Sobel

Temple Beth Emet

Burbank

Deciding what to do with our money is a difficult thing for many of us. We did not grow up talking about what assets our family had. And some of us inherited a feeling of scarcity, being afraid that we would run short if we spent too much. So when we are given the opportunity to be generous, it may bring back memories of earlier insufficiency, making us prone to give away only what is left when all our bills are paid. Certainly, many people have only enough to survive themselves. But I recently read that those with low incomes are more generous percentage-wise than are the wealthy. Hmm.

Now, I hate to be judgmental, but I felt really uncomfortable hearing that a church gave money to all of its own members. Certainly, it sounds as though some of the congregants truly needed the funds. But there were probably many in the 320-member congregation for whom the $500 was a happy surprise but not a lifesaving necessity. That being said, I am sure that Pastor Truax knows her congregants much better than I do. I can only hope that those who do not truly need the money will find a worthy cause with whom to share it.

If we were to receive such a windfall in the congregation I serve, I hope we would find ways to put it to us to heal the wounds of the poor and marginalized in our community and our world instead of holding onto it for ourselves. That for me would be “risky and faithful” — risky because we would not then have a large cushion to make ourselves comfortable and faithful because we are called as Unitarian Universalists to promote “justice, equity and compassion.” I hope that we would live up to that call.

Rev. Dr. Betty Stapleford

Unitarian Universalist Churchof the Verdugo Hills

La Crescenta

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