Loren Mead, Financial Meltdown in the Mainline? (Money, Faith and Lifestyle Series). Alban Institute, 1998.
Referenced in: Giving and Financial Stewardship
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Although this book was written over ten years ago, Alban Institute founder Loren Mead brings his extensive experience to bear on the issue of church finances, with a focus on the financial shortage being faced by declining mainline denominations. What Mead writes to mainline denominations is just as applicable to evangelical and non-denominational groups.
It is a hard-hitting, no holds barred look at the financial crisis in churches and related institutions, such as seminaries. He discusses the failure of seminaries to train ministers in church finances and overall lack of solid financial planning and management. Mead’s claim, supported by considerable data, is that churches are suffering because Christians are not giving generously, and Christian leaders are not speaking courageously and prophetically about the extent of the problem. This is fundamentally a spiritual problem of believers with a materialistic mindset and ministers who are intimidated by their congregations’ less than receptive reactions to the truth.
This book is in the same genre as Lyle Schaller’s The New Context for Ministry: Competing for the Charitable Dollar. The two volumes balance each other. Mead provides the same analysis ecclesiastically that Schaller provides sociologically. Both are older works with enduring value.
This is not as much a practical “how-to” volume (though it is practical) as it is a call to spiritual maturity, theological soundness, pastoral courage, and fiscal responsibility. A follow up volume by Alban, Generous Saints, goes to the next level to address the spiritual and theological dimensions.
From the Publisher
Intentionally provocative, Alban founder and former president Loren Mead’s dynamic work sets out dramatic and compelling challenges for today’s churches. Mead chose the word “meltdown” – a strong term indeed – very carefully and consciously. His clarion call urges congregations to direct attention to their dwindling financial resources and their unreliable fiscal practices, and to take major action now-or face disaster in the future. Mead addresses changing church giving patterns; the inconsistent ways congregations keep financial records; the lack of coordinated short- and long-range planning; the need for knowledge of sound financial techniques such as accounting for inflation; an overreliance on ÒrestructuringÓ to fix problems; and lack of defensive planning for operational costs.
About the Author
Loren B. Mead, an Episcopal priest, founded the Alban Institute in 1974, Since his retirement as Alban president in 1993, he has continued to consult with congregations, lecture, and write.
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