“You’re thinking of the place all wrong, as if I have the money bank in a safe. The money’s not here,” says George Bailey. “Your money’s in Joe’s house… and a hundred others. You’re lending them the money to build and then they’re going to pay it back to you the best they can.” – It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra

I invite you to go watch, or rewatch “The Bank Run” scene from It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a marvelous scene about interdependence and trust, and it has been on my heart as we shift to a different mindset about how we manage the money of the church.

Our Treasurer stepped into the position and did a deep dive to understand not only the intricacies of our accounting, but also to identify the (perhaps unconscious) philosophies around why we do what we do.

A shift that he has recommended to the Board and me is, on paper, about consolidating accounts, but philosophically, is about embracing an attitude of generosity and abundance.

For years, we have created tiny budget funds for particular areas. The reasoning was understandable – we wanted to make sure that certain programs (like OWL) would have the money they needed, if they needed it.

But what that meant is that the money would often be sitting in that tiny fund for years, untouched, while we said “no” to other worthwhile ideas.

We want to move to the vision in It’s a Wonderful Life – call it, “the Building and Loan model.” The money goes into the general operating fund and the Executive Committee, whose mission is to empower and equip team leaders, can then approve its use for the creative ideas that teams develop.

(I’m not talking about getting rid of our budget- we still budget to pay our bills – this is strictly about programming. And we’re not talking about great sums of money – it’s more typical for a fund to hold something like $500.)

Does this take some trust, to feel assured that our important programs will be paid for? Yes. But we have trustworthy leaders who will always feel the weight of wanting to fund new programs while making sure we can still support old ones.

And I think that the minister’s discretionary fund is a good “proof of concept.” Now this is a fund that we do keep, that members add to. It has no planned budget because we can’t budget for the needs that pop up during the year. But the money is there when needed, and I can tell you from past experience, when times get hard for folks (as it did in 2020), other members take it upon themselves to contribute a little extra.

What might this congregation dream up if we felt that money shouldn’t be the reason we say “no” to a great idea?

I can’t wait to find out.