I prepared this lesson for our elder/deacon meeting before we started discussions about budget priorities. We can have constructive discussions -- even sharp disagreements – about specific expenses and the timing of purchases. But we must have complete agreement on our foundations and purpose. I share this as an example that others may use.

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The word ‘Facility’ comes to English from Greek. The word ‘facile’ comes from the same root word. The original meanings are “to make possible, to ease, to have capacity for.”

Our church mission statement is “To Know Christ and Make Him Known.” Therefore our core priorities are

* Caring for people (John 15:17; John 13:35)
* Instruction and training (Deut 6:4-5; Eph 6:4)
* Allow people to use their giftedness (1 Cor 12; 1 Cor 14; Romans 12)
* Enable outreach to neighbors and nations (Matt 28:19-20)

All these wrapped together are Worship (Rom 12:1)

We’re in a war, and we don’t want to carry excess baggage – nothing useless for the task at hand. We need maneuverability and adaptability. (For more on this, see the Marine’s excellent manual, Warfighting.)

We can also be assured that our loving Father will not give us excess money that we can’t handle wisely. Frankly, we’re not that spiritually mature yet. Therefore we need to exercise leadership and discern between wants and needs. No leadership would be required if the answer was always “Sure.” We must have self-discipline and a consistent spirit of putting others first.

Let us also recall that we live in a very healthy tension between understanding that time is short and being exhorted to leave legacies for the next three generations. We’re instructed to “number our days” rather than our years, and to live so that our children and grandchildren our blessed.