Is the Church Treasurer Really the "Worship Pastor"?

Editor's Note: Dan Kimball originally wrote this piece for his blog Vintage Faith. He allowed us to publish an edited version here as a guest post:

I have become very aware of the power of words—and the power of defining words. In the Christian culture we have created, I don't believe we can ever assume we mean the same thing anymore when we say terms like "gospel," "Jesus," "salvation," "inspired," "evangelical," "evangelism," "missional," and so on. I have learned (sometimes the hard way) that you need to ask someone their definitions of terms with specific meanings to understand how theirs may differ from yours.

One of these terms is "worship."

I question how we have overwhelmingly defined "worship" to primarily mean music and singing, often to the detriment of other acts of worship, such as giving.

If you were to ask most teenagers and young adults what comes to their minds when they hear the word "worship," it's likely singing. We have pretty much defined worship this way to them over the past 20 years. Now, it's true that we worship when we sing. But that is only one aspect of worship. We have subtly taught a reductionist view of worship, limiting it primarily to music and singing as what defines the word and practice.

It's easy to understand why. What do we call the person in a church who leads the band or singing? It is normally the "worship pastor" or "worship leader." When our music leaders say, "Let's now worship," that is when the singing begins. Christian albums are called Best of Worship or Worship Greatest Hits, reinforcing the idea that music is the primary—or even only—form of worship. I just read on a Facebook post how a group was bringing in a guest to "lead worship" and, of course, this person was a musician. We constantly reinforce this notion of worship as singing by our constant and casual association of the term with music and singing.

When we think of Sunday gatherings of the church and when worship happens, we generally do not think of the teaching or the sacrifice of people who are worshiping by volunteering time in places like the children's ministry. When a sermon begins or when the offering is received, we rarely say, "Let's now worship," like we do when the singing starts.

I recently attended a college-age gathering, and after the time of musical worship ended (I personally try to always say "musical worship" ), a person stood at the front to announce it was time for the offering. The person referenced it as a time of sacrifice by giving finances as an act of worship. The word sacrifice really stood out to me as being defined with worship.

There are times when "worship" occurs without any actual physical sacrifice, but when you study the whole of the Bible, you will see that worship often involves the sacrifice of something. After the first 11 chapters of Romans teach on the act of Jesus and His sacrifice for us, Romans 12:1-2 tells us to "offer our bodies as living sacrifices."

This kind of sacrifice includes all areas of our lives, and it is costly. For instance, we may want something, but because it may be sinful, we choose to refrain from it, aligning our ways to God's ways instead.

The Old Testament was filled with times of coming to worship and sacrificing something. Generally, it involved something costly to the worshiper (such as animals or grains) to show a valuable sacrifice offered back to God, who owns everything anyway. We read in 2 Samuel 24:24 "I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing."

Here's what is intriguing: We often primarily define worship as singing, but singing doesn't cost us too much in terms of sacrifice. We mentally and emotionally bring ascent to our thoughts as we sing and focus on God. But are we really sacrificing something? I may be wrong, but it seems pretty easy to come into a room, sit, and then "worship" by singing.

I am glad we have times of worship in church involving singing. We can worship in major ways as we sing. But it is probably one of the least sacrificial--or costly--ways we do worship.

When we begin to think of worship in a sacrificial sense, what does that look like in today's world? Two of the most sacrificial things seem to be our time and, most of all, our finances.

At the college-age gathering I attended, I watched the bags passed around for the offering. Maybe one out of every twenty people put anything at all in the offering bags. I fully understand that people give online, and people may give bi-weekly or monthly, so this isn't an accurate representation of how much actually was given that morning. Still, it's interesting to watch these differing dynamics play out: It is easy for us to worship God when all that is required is singing a few songs. It is difficult for us to worship God by giving financially or giving up some of our precious time.

This leads me back to why we use the title of "worship pastor" or "worship leader" to designate the person who leads an area of worship that doesn't cost us too much.

Why don't we switch the title to the person who leads or oversees an area that people generally sacrifice the most--finances? That's usually the church treasurer. Isn't that person the one who truly oversees the most sacrificial worship of the people of the church?

I raise the question somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I am curious—does anyone else think we’ve unintentionally reduced the power and true meaning of the word “worship” by generally assigning the title to the person who leads the music?

Protecting the Elderly from Abuse

Many churches create child abuse protection plans to keep kids safe from abuse. Older adults, especially those who are housebound and unable to fully care for themselves, deserve similar protection, too. Seniors who have family members or caretakers that come into their homes to visit and care for them are especially vulnerable to neglect, exploitation, and abuse. Here are three things your pastoral staff should know and do to keep older adults in your church safe.

1. Screen Volunteers

   Do you have volunteers who regularly visit shut-ins? Or a ministry to seniors that requires volunteers to serve one-on-one with the elderly? If so, take precautions to screen these workers carefully. Most abuse claims for churches hinge on the screening and selection process used for staff and volunteers. To reduce the risk of negligent screening, take care to select volunteers with clean background checks, strong references, and at least a six-month history at the church. ChurchSafety.com gives several helpful tips for selecting volunteers for your ministry, including these:

   • Fill in the blanks. All prospective workers should complete a written application form. An application provides information that can be used to conduct reference checks and an interview.
   • Obtain asking rights. Your application form should include a liability release, signed by the applicant, giving you permission to contact references and obtain any criminal records. It also should release from liability the person being asked to provide information.
   • Check references. Contact all individuals, former employers, and organizations listed in the application. Learning what others say about an individual’s past performance and conduct is a vital part of the screening process.

     Schedule an Interview. You’ll get a better sense of whether the applicant will be a good fit for your ministry when you meet in person.

     Look for criminal records. Conduct a criminal records check on all paid and volunteer staff, even ministers, before putting them to work.

     Evaluate the results. A criminal conviction may not disqualify someone from a church position. You’ll need to evaluate the severity of the offense, how long ago it happened, and whether it pertains to the position being filled. An attorney could help you with this analysis.
2. Recognize Signs of Abuse

   Whether volunteers or staff members are visiting the elderly in their homes or counseling them at church, there are red flags that should concern workers. The Administration on Aging advises to watch for the following:

   • Bruises, pressure marks, broken bones, abrasions, and burns, which may be an indication of physical abuse, neglect, or mistreatment.
   • Unexplained withdrawal from normal activities, a sudden change in alertness, and unusual depression, which may be indicators of emotional abuse.
   • Bruises around the breasts or genital area, which can occur from sexual abuse.
   • Sudden changes in financial situations, which may be the result of exploitation.
   • Bedsores, unattended medical needs, poor hygiene, and unusual weight loss, which are indicators of possible neglect.
   • Behavior such as belittling or threats and other uses of power and control by spouses, which may be indicators of verbal or emotional abuse.
   • Strained or tense relationships, frequent arguments between the caregiver and elderly person, which are also signs.
   When one or several of these signs are present, church workers should consider reporting an abuse claim to authorities.
3. Responsibility for Reporting Abuse

   Similar to child abuse reporting laws, clergy may be mandated to report suspected elder abuse depending on your state’s laws. To find out if you’re a mandatory reporter of your state, go to your state’s Department of Aging (a Google search can yield your state’s Department of Aging to find the web site for your state). For example, a pastor in Illinois would go to the Illinois Department of Aging’s website (state.il.us/aging) and look under Elder Abuse and Prevention where it shows that clergy are not on Illinois’ list of mandatory reporters. The National Center on Elder Abuse, ncea.aoa.gov, also provides a directory for prevention resources by state, which can lead you to your state’s reporting laws.

   In the article “The Risks of Not Reporting Abuse,” Richard Hammar states, “Ministers are specifically identified as mandatory reporters under a few [state] statutes. But even if they are not, they may be mandatory reporters if they fall within a listed classification, such as school or child care workers and administrators, or counselors.” Though Hammar is speaking of reporting child abuse, many state laws follow similar statutes for elder abuse.

   If you are a mandatory reporter in your state, you may be required to report both suspected and actual cases of abuse. Failing to report what you know could be considered a misdemeanor. The Administration of Aging encourages reporters to call 911 or a local police force if someone is in immediate danger. Otherwise, you can find a reporting number for your state by visiting the Eldercare Locator website or calling 1-800-677-1116.

   It’s important to protect older adults in our congregations, especially when they are incapable of protecting themselves. If you haven’t created policies for protecting the elderly from abuse in your church, make this an agenda item for your next board or staff meeting to start crafting these plans.

Can Banks Ask Churches for Donor Records?

A national bank recently subpoenaed an Iowa church’s financial records, seeking information about donations made by a man whose business defaulted on a $650,000 loan.

The financial institution wants to know about cash and property given to the church by the man and his wife since 2005, according to The Des Moines Register newspaper. The man’s lawyer says the bank intends to try to collect money he gave by investigating to see if those gifts qualify as fraudulent transfers.

The amount the bank can receive from the church may depend on whether or not the man files for bankruptcy.

“So long as [this man] doesn’t file bankruptcy, there is a viable argument under state law that any contribution could be a fraudulent conveyance,” said Patrick Bauer, a University of Iowa law professor, according to The Des Moines Register.

At the time of the article, the man declined to file for bankruptcy. If he does file, the church will benefit from the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Protection Act that, according to Richard Hammar in Pastor, Church & Law, Volume Four: Liability & Church and State Issues, “provides significant protection to churches as well as to church members who file for bankruptcy.”

“Bankruptcy trustees are prohibited by the Act from recovering contributions made by bankrupt debtors to a church or other charity prior to declaring bankruptcy, unless the contributions were made with an intent to defraud creditors,” Hammar said in the book, “In addition, the Act bars bankruptcy courts from rejecting a bankruptcy plan because it allows the debtor to continue making contributions to a church or charity.”

Bauer told the newspaper that churches have been the target of creditors as well as bankruptcy trustees in the past because of claims that the contributions could be seen as a way to avoid paying debts.

The church declined to comment to the newspaper regarding the matter.

For more detailed information on how the bankruptcy code relates to churches and church members, see section nine of chapter nine in Pastor, Church & Law, Volume Four: Liability & Church and State Issues. This free Weekly Lesson for church business administrators on ChurchLawAndTax.com by Hammar also provides additional guidance.

Dealing with Unpredictable Giving

Vonna Laue, a partner with Capin Crouse and an Editorial Advisor for Christianity Today International's Church Management Team, discusses key points for why churches encounter giving declines, how to track giving, and how to encourage additional giving.

Watch the four-minute video below:

The management of church money is a complex task for any church finance manager, treasurer, business administrator, bookkeeper, or pastor. The Essential Guide to Church Finances will help you strategize, organize, measure, communicate, protect and audit the financials of your ministry—available at YourChurchResources.com.

Renting Out Extra Space May Cost Churches

A church in Boise, Idaho, received an unexpected property tax bill of $17,000 for leasing space to a local YMCA daycare, according to Northwest Cable News. The church charges the nonprofit about $9,500 a month to rent space often left unused during the week.

The county attorney reviewed the church’s non-profit application and determined that the area dedicated to the daycare, representing 18 percent of the church’s square footage, is making a profit. The county admits that it interpreted the tax law different in past years, but it believes this year’s interpretation is more accurate. The church has appealed to a state tax appeals board. A decision may take months.

“Most states deny a property tax exemption to any property that is rented for profit,” writes Richard Hammar in a free lesson on this topic on ChurchLawAndTax.com. “If a church charges rent for the use of its property, then this may jeopardize the exemption of the church's property from taxation. Usually, the exemption is lost only with respect to the property that is actually being rented rather than to the church's entire property, but this is not always the case.”

For more information on what church leaders should consider when renting out church property, including federal tax issues and thinking through best policies and forms, see Managing Church Facility Use on ChurchSafety.com.

10 Common Payroll Tax Errors

In the video below, Rich Hammar reviews what he considers the ten most common payroll tax errors made by churches. Rich, along with Christianity Today, publishes a comprehensive tax review in his annual book the Church & Clergy Tax Guide, available at YourChurchResources.com. To stay up-to-date on all legal and tax information for the church year round, visit ChurchLawandTax.com.

New Crib Regulations Affect Churches

New federal regulations for cribs could lead to substantial penalties and civil lawsuits that may implicate not only your church, but also your church board. It's important your church understands these new regulations and follows them closely to avoid creating a liability for the church. Here are three resources to help you do that:

• Securing Cribs in Your Church's Nursery, Richard Hammar's Feature Report on the topic;
• A Clean and Healthy Nursery, a training resource from ChurchSafety.com;
• Rich's video below on the same topic:

Watch the video, and then visit YourChurchResources.com to download the Feature Report.

Religious Employment Under High Court's Focus This Week

Editor's Note: The Christianity Today Liveblog, a sister site to ManagingYourChurch.com, covered Monday's important religious employment case development at the U.S. Supreme Court, and briefly previewed Wednesday's Supreme Court review of the ministerial exception. Both will be of significant interest to churches regarding employment matters:

Among Monday's many Supreme Court actions, the justices opted not to hear Sylvia Spencer et al v. World Vision, a case that had potentially significant implications for religious organizations' hiring practices.

The Supreme Court's denial of certiorari lets stand an August 2010 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of World Vision ...

Continue reading "Supreme Court Won't Hear World Vision Hiring Case" on the Christianity Today Liveblog.

For more background on the ministerial exception case slated for the Supreme Court's consideration on Wednesday, check out these articles from ManagingYourChurch.com and ChurchLawAndTax.com:

• "Most Significant Religious Case in 20 Years"
• "Supreme Court Tackles Ministerial Exception"
• "Firing Over Morals"

Endorsing Candidates from the Pulpit

This past Sunday, the Alliance Defense Fund expected nearly 500 church pastors nationwide to participate in "Pulpit Freedom Sunday." The event, organized for four consecutive years by ADF, is designed to challenge a 1954 amendment to the
501( c) 3 tax code that doesn't allow nonprofits to participate in political campaigns. The law is often referred to as the "Johnson Amendment" because Lyndon Johnson, a U.S. Senator at the time, introduced and advocated its passage.

As Richard Hammar explains in the 2011 Church & Clergy Tax Guide:

This limitation has an unusual and unfortunate history. It was proposed in 1954 by then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas as a floor amendment to the tax code, and it was passed without explanation. Apparently, Senator Johnson was attempting to limit the political activities of a private foundation that had supported one of his opponents in a Texas election. It is clear that few, if any, Senators contemplated in 1954 that the newly enacted limitation could be used to threaten the tax-exempt status of churches. However, the limitation is worded in absolute terms—prohibiting any attempts by churches or any other tax-exempt organizations to participate or intervene in a political campaign—and therefore does pose a significant threat to churches.

The goal of "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" is to get "the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional—and once and for all remove the ability of the IRS to censor what a pastor says from the pulpit," according to an ADF website created for the event. In 2008, 33 pastors preached on political matters for "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," then sent copies of their sermons to the IRS. In 2009, 84 did the same, while last year, about 100 did so. Each year, including this year, ADF has agreed to defend—for free—any IRS attempts to prosecute participating pastors.

So far, no such challenges have occurred.

Articles and editorials about this year's event showed up nationally in notable newspapers and websites.

The Los Angeles Times, in an opinion piece by its editorial board, warned pastors to "choose their words wisely" and admonished the IRS to enforce the law and pursue any pastors who participated. Glenn Beck hosted guests on his newly launched website to discuss the initiative.

The Tennessean, in a news article, interviewed Hammar (also senior editor of the Church Law & Tax Report and ChurchLawAndTax.com) and Frank Sommerville (an editorial advisor for Church Law & Tax Report and ChurchLawAndTax.com) about the event and its significance:

The ban on nonprofit political endorsements dates to the 1950s. Lyndon B. Johnson was mad at nonprofits that opposed his re-election, so 'he rammed these rules through to punish his opponents,' said Richard Hammar, editor of Church Law and Tax Report.

The IRS has not punished any pastors involved in Pulpit Freedom events. Hammar said both conservative and liberal churches often ignore the ban without consequences.

And then later:

Frank Sommerville, a Dallas-based attorney who advises nonprofits and churches, said the IRS has not investigated any churches since 2009, after a judge ruled that an investigation of a Minnesota megachurch was invalid. The agency must draft new procedures before launching any new church investigations, Sommerville said.

Christianity Today, a Managing Your Church sister publication, also covered Pulpit Freedom Sunday this week.

The current law, along with "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" and its surrounding media coverage, raise several important, and timely, questions as Election Day fast approaches:

• Should churches take up such a cause as this? One pastor interviewed by the local NBC affiliate in Tyler, Texas (about two hours east of Dallas), said he felt the initiative distracts churches from spreading the Good News;
• What legal and tax ramifications might churches face should their pastors use their pulpits for endorsements or other politically related messages? Recent history suggests consequences are minimal at best, but that's not a guarantee that aggressive enforcement by the IRS won't come in the future;
• What about churches that want to host political candidates? In this week's ChurchLawAndTax.com Q&A, Richard Hammar explains the parameters churches need to set up in order to legally host a candidate without jeopardizing their tax status.

How does your church view this issue and answer these questions?

For more help on tax-exemption questions and matters of church and state, the following resources may help:

• Pastor, Church & Law, Volume 4: Liability & Church and State Issues
• Understanding Your Tax-Exempt Status
• The 2011 Church & Clergy Tax Guide