I drove by a shopping plaza and I saw several stores that had recently closed. I overheard someone say that all of these stores closing is a sign of the economy. The 2 people talking mentioned how the economy was the villain and the cause of all of our woes and they moved on.  

I stopped to think for a moment and I thought, "The economy isn't the villain. The economy is simply revealing the problem." 

"What's the problem" you ask. It's a bad plan. Let's think about this: 

– It's a bad plan to live off credit, which is what many of these businesses did and when the credit ran dry, their business was over. 

– It's a bad plan to not have a marketing plan that continually drives customers to your store.

– It's a bad plan to think we're always to going to live in the "7 years of plenty". 

Here's the kicker: churches do the same thing. But we can learn the lesson and grow wiser. 

– Get your financial world in order

– Create an outreach strategy that makes sense and won't break the bank.

– Don't overcommit yourself and put the church in a tough financial position

– Budget conservatively. You can always bump up your budget if God blesses above what you expected. 

– Reducing a budget is a lot harder and usually bring casualties. 

The economy has made our lives a little tougher, but if it's forces us to seek God more and put together a better strategy then maybe we should be grateful.