The Church on the Changing Frontier Part 13

_Full-time Resident Pastor_--A church with a resident pastor who serves no other church, and follows no other occupation than the ministry, is said to have a full-time resident pastor.

_Part-time Pastor_--A church whose minister either serves another church also, or devotes part of his time to some regular occupation other than the ministry, or both, is said to have a part-time minister.

_Non-Resident Member_--One carried on the rolls of a given church but living too far away to permit regular attendance; generally, any member living outside the community in which the church is located unless he is a regular attendant.

_Inactive Member_--One who resides within the parish area of the church, but who neither attends its services nor contributes to its support.

_Net Active Members.h.i.+p_--The resultant members.h.i.+p of a given church after the number of non-resident and inactive members is deducted from the total on the church roll.

_Per Capita Contributions or Expenditures_--The total amount contributed or expended, divided by the number of the net active members.h.i.+p.

_Budget System_--A church which, at the beginning of the fiscal year, makes an itemized forecast of the entire amount of money required for its maintenance during the year as a basis for a canva.s.s of its members.h.i.+p for funds, is said to operate on a budget system with respect to its local finances. If amounts to be raised for denominational or other benevolences are included in the forecast and canva.s.s, it is said to operate on a budget system for all monies raised.

_Adequate Financial System_--Three chief elements are recognized in an adequate financial system: a budget system, an annual every-member canva.s.s, and the use of envelopes for the weekly payment of subscriptions.

_Receipts_--Receipts have been divided under three heads:

a. Subscriptions, that is monies received in payment of annual pledges.

b. Collections, that is money received from free will offerings at public services.

c. All other sources of revenue, chiefly proceeds of entertainments and interest on endowments.

_Salary of Minister_--Inasmuch as some ministers receive, in addition to their cash salary, the free use of a house while others do not, a comparison of the cash salaries paid is misleading. In all salary comparisons, therefore, the cash value of a free parsonage is arbitrarily stated as $250 a year, and that amount is added to the cash salary of each minister with free parsonage privileges. Thus an average salary stated as $1,450 is equivalent to $1,200 cash and the free use of a house.