So yes, I live in the southern part of the United States, and the rumors are true... we do have a multitude of churches! And yep, I'm doing this post on a Sunday morning instead of attending one of those many churches which is total taboo for southern Christians. However, there is a message in my madness, so stick around to finish my article and you might even agree with the point I'm making.
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In 2016, I briefly worked with a woman who was from Ohio and relocated to North Carolina to be closer to her mother. She asked me, where are all of the resources for out clients in the community such as food banks, shelters, etc.? We explained how we live in a rural area and those kind of resources are scarce.
She was completely puzzled and asked "don't the churches provide those kind of resources?" I explained that with my experience most churches cannot afford to provide those type of resources. She proceeded to tell me that in her Ohio hometown, the churches had their own soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Something I had only dreamed of having at my church when I was a church-goer.
She mentioned that she noticed we have many churches, and didn't understand why there were so many and they could not come together to use their resources to provide services to those who are poor within the community. I explained the dreadful truth that many of us Christian southerns hate to explain to those who are not from the area, but I will explain it here because the truth needs to be called out for what it is. Many say that there are many churches in the south because people get mad, and decide to go start their own church with their own rules... I wish I could sit back and pretend that is the petty reason for most people starting their own church. From what I've witnessed, there are rewards to having your own church:
1. Power and Social Reward- There is a respect and adoration that pastor's and preachers receive. Within a church setting, the leader of a church is the highest level of position a person can have.
2. Churches can be lucrative- The money that comes into a church is not taxed. Once the overhead is paid, a church leader can set salaries and housing allowance expenses as he/she pleases as long as he/she makes a board of people who are willing to give him/her what he/she wants.
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However, because of either of these two reasons, or maybe even both we have more churches which spread the people and resources out to be thinner and thinner within the community. Many churches struggle to stay afloat and pay the overhead cost of the church, leaving little money left over towards community outreach and support.
My voice of reason comes in with this simple question... would they give it all up if they knew it could help the community?
My coworker shared that in her Ohio hometown, there is only 1 Catholic church, 1 Baptist Church, 1 Non-Denominational Church, 1 Presbyterian Church, etc. and they are large, and can bring in a huge amount of revenue to help the community. That is why the churches can provide these resources, unlike here in the rural south where you could have 3 Baptist churches on the same road, let alone the different ones within the community.
If all of the Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc. pastors came together and agreed to allow the people of the community vote in one pastor for one large church per denomination and combine the churches of the same denomination, I am sure there would be more resources because there would be less overhead since there would be fewer churches, and only one pastor's salary to worry about. So I ask it again, would a pastor be willing to give up his or her title, church, and income if he or she knew that more people could benefit in the end?