these dues are for choirs, things for the music dept., and 4 pastor and wife anniversary. but we only collect 5.00 a month and 1.00 for the bus ministery, and a free will offering is this too much? this with the 25.00 a month is good.
Naw, personally, I'm just not into the dues thing. What I personally prefer is to give an assessment per event. For example, if we're buying a gift for a Pastoral anniversary, I would just tell them that we need each choir member to contribute $10 (or whatever the amount) by such-and-such date.
To answer your question, YES, it is too much to charge dues, and a bus "tax" and raise an offering, IMO. I am sooooo opposed to charging a fee AND lifting an offering. That just doesn't sit well with me, and I'm willing to bet it doesn't go over very well with your members. They may not tell you, but I bet if an outside consultant came in and polled them anonymously, they would admit that they don't dig that.
I've been in church my whole life (in the choir) and I've never had a choir that charged us dues.
In life, the average adult is faced with frequent and consistent financial responsibilities. Some are planned and budgeted for, and some are not. I think the last thing a person needs is another financial obligation to add to the list, whether it's a dollar a month or ten. But, that's just me.
Keep in mind that I'm not currently a choir director, so you can take what I say with a grain of salt.
