Innovations in Paying Workers

Something is seriously corrupt in the lack of accountability and transparency about how church leaders distribute our money to themselves. We need a new openness not just in disclosure of what goes on with the finances, but in changing the compensation system itself. Although frequent disclosure of any and all vested interest in the status quo would be a welcome addition to most sermons!

It may not be possible to sew this patch on an old garment, or to fill this new wine into an old wineskin: such innovations belong on the frontier of missions and church starting.

But if we want to increase growth rates, we must embrace new paradigms. The old compensation system isn't growing us there; it is merely an protestant extension of papist ways. Change how the money flows, and watch hearts change.

What I'm imagining is pools of funding managed the way academics grant funds for research projects, but managed the way today's business handles telecommuters and outsourced labor. We have to get the workers beyond the four walls; there are clear models for the church in academia and business for doing so, and to think that it can be done without changing tithe distribution is stubbornness.