Who Should Pay for Church Morning Tea?
By: Ben McEachen
One of the best bits about gathering at church to glorify God together is morning tea.
Admit it. You love a good, tasty and bountiful spread after the service. It’s a fantastic way to encourage connection, reflection and continuing to enjoy each other’s company.
But have you stopped to think about who should pay for the scones, coffee or crackers?
Should morning tea come out of the church budget? Should the volunteers who serve morning tea always foot the bill for what is dished up? Should we each pay for what we consume?
Accountant Pete Burrows shared with me three considerations to keep in mind when sorting out morning tea.
Group benefit = Shared cost?
“If it’s a group benefit, it should be a group cost!”
This blunt guideline from Pete about paying for morning tea upholds how no church member should be financially burdened with fostering community spirit.
However, plenty of churches operate with a roster system of volunteers and the inbuilt expectation that they will pay for the food and beverages provided.
Also, there are levels of expectation from congregation members – and visitors or guests – about the sort of provisions which will be available.
Combined, this can place considerable ongoing costs upon those who make morning tea happen.
What a volunteer is worth…
Serving God through your local church extends far beyond morning tea. Every role involves some level of generosity and sacrifice, particularly time, energy, skills and relational capital.
But morning tea exposes how some roles also contain financial costs. If these costs become prohibitively high or taken for granted, they may deter willing volunteers. Your church’s mission and community life may suffer, as a result.
If stewardship is serving within the resources God has provided to you, morning tea should not strain or drain the reserves of those who host it.
To avoid service in this area becoming transactional, your church can create an environment where generosity and practicality are united. Your church community should be gracious about what a volunteer is “worth” and if their “donation” is proportionate and valued.
Talk about it
A one-size-fits-all solution to the cost of morning tea is impractical. Instead, churches should be mindful of what’s involved and ensure expectations do not cripple those eager to serve.
Perhaps morning tea should be paid for out of the weekly offering. Or could a local Christian business sponsor what is on the share plates every Sunday?
Sounds strange, but putting a flat fee on consuming morning tea could help to cover costs.
Your church could invite members to share ideas, concerns, limitations and solutions. Together, the goal must not be breaking even (or a profit!) on morning tea.
“Food is not the end. It’s the means to greater relationship, greater connection, and also to loving your neighbor,” said Pete.
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
