What Suze Orman taught me about ministry and money
what we share is priceless
When I was a shiny new priest, single and in my early 30s (way, way back in the distant year of 2000), I went a clergy conference in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, where I served. We met at the magnificent Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in upper Manhattan.
As a special favor to the Diocese, the speaker that day was well-known financial consultant Suze Orman. She was amazing - and she changed my life.
She was there to talk with clergy about money, and about taking our finances seriously.
We were all intimidated, afraid, and conflicted.
We weren’t supposed to care about money - we weren’t in ministry for the money. At the time, I was making $19,000 a year. In New York City (and living in a church-owned apartment. But still…).
Suze was having none of it.
’How much do you think I usually get paid an hour for a talk?’, she asked us (as part of the favor, she was speaking to us at a reduced rate).
$25,000. An hour. That still seems astronomical to me, though I’m sure she makes much more than that now.
She turned to us and said: ‘I bet some of you don’t make $25,000 a year for people to listen to you speak’.
I felt seen - and not in a good way.
But what she said next was what changed everything for me:
”Do you think that what I have to say is more important and valuable than what you have to say?”, she challenged.
“I don’t. I think what you have to say as clergy is far more important than what I have to say. I just wonder if you value it as much as I do.”
About one hundred clergy sat in stunned silence. She was right. At least, I heard her loud and clear:
It’s not about the money we personally made in from our ministry (though I still think it is a bit about that…). It’s about the value we place on the work that we do - the Good News that we share.
If we don’t value it, who will? And if it’s not seen as valuable, who will listen?
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the decline in religious faith in our culture is in direct proportion to the amount of money we charge for our work.
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It goes both ways - we don’t value it, we don’t insist on being paid fairly for our work, and so others don’t value it, and don’t see a reason to pay for our work.
So churches decline because they have less money, then there’s less money to pay ministers, then ministers accept less pay (and devalue their work even less), and church attendance shrinks more, and there is less money…
Almost as soon as I write these words, I hear the protest in my head:
a. But what about those who can’t afford ministry?
and
b. Are we really charging for access to God?
The answer to b. is no.
Worship itself should always be free and open to all. Everything else we do as ministry, we should be compensated for (this also helps us sort out everything we do as ministers!).
The answer to a. is two-pronged:
1. People find ways to pay for what they need. For what will transform their lives. In fact, they are even more invested (literally!). When people are offered something for free, they paradoxically resist taking it (because they don’t perceive it’s value…).
2. There are always ways to work out reduced-price access for those who truly can’t afford it and really do need it. (Even Suze Orman gave the clergy a discount…).
The main point, though, is about what we believe about what our work is worth.
I maintain that sharing the Gospel is priceless. We literally cannot put a value on it. But we can put a value on the work we do to connect others more deeply with their relationship with God and their neighbor.
Like all good ministry, It all starts with what we believe.