Recently my church, which I'm a lifetime member of, had a whole sermon about upcoming renovations and cost. Some of the renovations are a coffee shop area, upgraded kids center, indoor playground, and various other little renovations.
They gave the budget for these, which was about 4 million. Now of course they spoke about giving, praying about it, and that nobody is expected to give the same amount, but the sacrifice would be about the same.
The pastor mentioned how much he was giving to the project (3 years of personal home mortgage payments and 3 years worth of funeral/wedding financial gifts) and stressed that we pray on how much to give.
Now what stinks is this was the first sermon I brought guests to and needless to say, they aren't coming back. But even so, in my own heart, I'm wrestling whether this is right or not.
What would be y'all's thoughts on this? My opinion is there isn't a church that ain't gonna hit you up at some point, and for me and my family to leave would lead to an endless search for a church that doesn't exist. Maybe it's the coffee shop area that's throwing me off, I can't tell