One of the news stories in Portland this past week was an announcement by the Unitarian (don’t get me started) church in downtown Portland. They haven’t had the money coming in that they had expected and obviously had to make some hard decisions about what to do.
They decided to cancel all weekly activities (including weekend worship services) in the month of July, and during that month all of their staff (39) will not be paid. You can read full story HERE. Their pastoral care ministry will still be ongoing but everything else will shut down for a month.
Now that is one idea I had never thought of before.
Many churches are in the process of, close to, or already have laid off a number of staff. My church did this past summer and if things don’t change it will happen again soon.
But this news story that came out last week got me thinking…
What is the best way for a church to deal with budget shortfalls?
