WHAT CAN MONEY DO?

As an accountant, I look at finances as a way to make sure rules are followed and income is maximized and expenses are controlled. The plan needs to be to turn a profit. That’s how you know that the business is a success. The stockholders are happy! The stockholders (the stakeholders) have received a return on their investment.

As a deacon, I look at finances in a completely different way. Before I can even begin to look at the finances of a church (or synagogue, or basilica, or mosque), I have to face some questions:

·         How do we know a church is a success?

·         Who are the stakeholders?

·         What is your investment?

·         What is my investment?

·         What have I received if I’ve received a return on my investment?

A lot of money in the bank account at the church does NOT show success for a church.

The stakeholders are many, and they do not necessarily include just the members of the church. The stakeholders are those who are unchurched; those who have been hurt by the church; those who are in need; those who are hungry and living in the streets; those who have suffered violence, at home, on the streets, at school, and in the world; those who live just outside our doors and those who we may never meet.

My investment must be just as multi-layered as the stakeholders are. My investment must include prayer; my investment must include my time; my investment must include my love; my investment must include my witness; my investment must include ME. And my investment must include my gifts. Why? Because our vows as United Methodists have included “to faithfully participate in its ministries by their prayers, their presence, their gifts, their service, and their witness.”[1]

For anyone who has been active in the finances of a church knows, money can be important; but it is a tool, and can only be important when that tool is used properly and is used to build God’s kingdom here and now.

What do I receive as a return on my investment? It’s certainly not what I’d receive as the owner of or investor in a business. I don’t have more in my purse or my wallet. But I will have more in my heart and in my life. And, more importantly, there is more outside me. More love; more prayer; more disciples; more service; more worship; just more. BUT, there’s also less: less hunger; less homelessness; less violence; less racism; just less.

What can our money do for us, and more importantly, to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?

---

[1] The Book of Discipline 2012, paragraph 217.

WHEN SHOULD I DRILL?

I was breaking apart a fortune cookie last week to find my fortune. I had enjoyed some really good fried rice, and was looking forward to the cookie. I should mention I love fortune cookies: (1) because I like the taste of them; and (2) sometimes there are some interesting “messages” in there. More and more, it seems like they aren’t really fortunes, but something else. I always show mine to my husband and then read his and see if they “make sense” compared to who we are. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.


But this time, I have to say, it sounded more like a proverb or than a fortune.

It is too late to start digging a well when you feel thirsty.

I actually took a picture of it and have it on my phone. I’ve gone back and read and re-read it a few times. I was really impressed. It made so much sense to me. I grew up in rural downstate New York (Oxford, New York if anyone knows the place). The road I lived on did not have village water; so we all had wells.  I remember when it was really hot in the summer, sometimes the water would get a peculiar smell and taste (known as sulphur water). Many people don’t care for it, but I always liked it; it tasted like home.  When I moved to Syracuse, I found that “city water” was pretty tasteless!


My parents’ well was deep, so we never ran out of water, no matter how dry or hot the summer. However, there were some people that had to drill a new well or drill down further in their current well.  It took some time, especially if the well had gone completely dry and they had to find a new area to drill.


As the saying said, when it’s dry, it’s too late to start drilling, because your thirst isn’t going to get quenched for a very long time.


There are movies and stories about a water diviner who comes, holding a stick that will show where water is and where you need to drill. There’s a play, The Rainmaker, that has a con artist come to town promising rain during a drought.

It’s always dry, and it’s been dry a long time; and it takes a long time for water to make an appearance.


A theology of stewardship and how money is used and raised is the same way.

·      *   If we wait until we’ve run out of money, what will we do while we’re trying to raise new money?

·    * Will there be donors when everything’s dried up?

·         

     *If we just spend the money we have, not worrying about the future, what happens when there’s an unplanned event and there’s nothing left?

·       *  Will that unplanned event “speak” to the people that will give?

·        * If we don’t worry about the future, believing that everything will be cared for, how can we ever be ready for the future?

·         The future is going to come, planned for or not. Wouldn’t it be easier to plan? 

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been very lucky in my life; I’ve never been really, really thirsty. Sure, there were summer days when a nice cold glass of water tasted good. And I went through more than two large bottles of water when I was on a mission trip to Haiti in July! BUT water has always been available to me. I have been lucky. Thirst is a real issue, and drilling a well, while it might be a solution, is a solution that should already be cared for prior to the point where thirst is a problem.


Stewardship is the same. Of course, God provides. God is a God of abundance, not scarcity, but WE have a responsibility as stewards to do the work of “drilling” before the well has run dry.

·         Isn’t it easier to plan?

·         Isn’t it easier to drill?

·         Isn’t it easier to care for what God has provided?

Rev. Susan M. Ranous

Deacon of Stewardship

Certified Public Accountant

7481 Henry Clay Boulevard

Liverpool, New York 13088

(315) 427-3668

susanranous@unyumc.org

Hello!

My name is Rev. Susan M. Ranous. With my new appointment on July 1, 2020 as Deacon of Stewardship to the office of Connectional Ministries of the Upper New York Conference, I am continuing my ministry of stewardship.

To introduce myself, I am a Deacon in Full Connection in the Upper New York Conference, as well as a Certified Public Accountant. These two things, while they appear completely unrelated, work very well together. My specialty as a Certified Public Accountant is in the area of clergy tax. My specialized ministry as a Deacon is in stewardship, clergy tax and church finance. See?

Stewardship is so much more than just money and finances, but money is, of course, part of stewardship. With the financial needs of churches, I am able to use my accounting background to work with churches in that area, but then continue that work to help congregations and persons understand and formulate a theology of stewardship.

This is my first blog entry, which is more a basic overview and introduction to my ministry. This is work God has called me to. I will be preparing webinars and workshops on various topics, as well as posting items of interest on this blog. I am available to work with individual churches and clergy, as well as the Districts, the Regions and the Conference.

While my appointment is to the Conference as a staff person, I am not being paid a salary, but, instead, am paid by fees for the work and consulting.

I can be contacted through your District Superintendent or directly via phone (315) 427-3668 or email: susanranous@unyumc.org.

Stay tuned for further developments! 

  

    Blessings, Susan