tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post6427633744863628489..comments2024-03-27T15:47:46.091-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Synod Finances. . .Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-65180692876886879802010-09-11T18:57:40.963-05:002010-09-11T18:57:40.963-05:00It is a sad state of affairs when the Church must ...It is a sad state of affairs when the Church must compete with a bargain mindset which has, at its root, the idea that I win and someone else loses... Perhaps stewardship is in worse shape than we realize...Pastor Petershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-88717770785753039352010-09-07T12:52:05.308-05:002010-09-07T12:52:05.308-05:00Thanks for your comment.
My point simply is that ...Thanks for your comment.<br /><br />My point simply is that we are all children of our consumerist culture where we are always "looking for a deal." <br /><br />If we were simply to put a price out there and say, "Buy it" we would never have the same level of response that we do when we say, "Here's the price but here's your discount. Here's the deal. Here's your price" and so forth.<br /><br />I don't know anyway around it. We are all so used to this mentality.<br /><br />Some may say this is "cynical" but, sorry, it is simply the way it is. I can show you the hard data that proves pastors, as much as anyone else, are always looking for the "discount" ... can't blame them ... but it says something about how deeply we have all drunk at the well of American consumerism.<br /><br />Something to ponder.Rev. Paul T. McCainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04846468267196335350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-4037386170154214032010-09-07T09:18:48.070-05:002010-09-07T09:18:48.070-05:00It is a conundrum, Pr. Peters. Let me take this on...It is a conundrum, Pr. Peters. Let me take this one step further.<br /><br />We are all, whether we like to admit it or not, deeply enculturated in the "values" of American capitalism and commercialism.<br /><br />Let me give you but one example. At CPH we simply can not make a "go" of our high end professional books unless we offer an "incentive" to the "customer" to buy our books.<br /><br />The customers are pastors.<br /><br />Could we simply tell them, "This is what we have to charge to even begin to recover our costs on producing these books." No. We can't.<br /><br />We have to set a "list" price and then offer a discount from that price, a standing 20% off for pastors, so they feel like they are "getting a deal" or else they won't buy the book.<br /><br />I don't know how to dig ourselves out from under this kind of thinking.Rev. Paul T. McCainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04846468267196335350noreply@blogger.com