Your congregation has been generous and now you need to set a budget. But just saying the words budget time in staff meeting makes many of the pastors’ eyes glaze over. How can you set a budget, align the staff within those perimeters, and insure that they don’t go over their budgeted amount?
Budget Process Analysis
For a homework assignment in the XPastor Online Course, Operations 103—Finance, I chose to compare the budget process of First Assembly in Winston-Salem, Lakeside Church in Greensboro, Georgia, Berean Bible Church in Greene, New York [...]
Book Review: The Wall Street MBA
When I picked The Wall Street MBA by Reuben Advani from the bibliography of the XP Online Course on Finance, I wondered what the connection to church ministry would be. It turns out that the connection [...]
How They Do It: 5 Churches Explain Their Budget Years
Most churches use the traditional calendar year---January 1 to December 31---for their budget years. But not all churches do. Some use a fiscal year---often July 1 to June 30---and those that do say it helps [...]
Budget Vision
People get nervous when preachers talk about money. These thoughts aren’t about giving, but about the stewardship of how a church uses what is given. A church budget is a vision document. It tells the story, [...]
Is Your Church Reaching Its Budget?
Would it surprise you to learn that, of the churches recently surveyed by Giving Rocket, only fourteen percent were meeting or exceeding budget? Knowing that churches rely entirely on donations to survive, not meeting the [...]
Seven Financial Stewardship Principles for Churches
A common, biblically-based theme in the church world is that parishioners should be good stewards of the money God has entrusted to them. Especially emphasized is the principle of Christians paying tithes and giving generously. However, stewardship [...]
Strategic Stewardship—So the Bucks Won’t Stop Here
It has been said that there are three kinds of leaders—the kind that makes things happen, the kind that watches things happen, and the kind that asks, “What just happened?” The shifting economy demands that [...]
Staff Compensation
Determining how to compensate your church staff is not an easy task and we can easily find ourselves at one of two extremes. We can treat our church staff the same way many businesses treat [...]
Funding the Vision: The Role of Clarity in Financial Reporting
When it comes to funding your ministry and reporting on the finances of your church, few questions matter more. Making clarity your passion as you communicate your church’s finances equips the people of your church [...]
How to Budget in a Changing Economy
For years, budget planning followed the same pattern for many ministries: Review last year’s budget, gather all wish lists, and increase the budget accordingly. Then we were hit with the worst recession in decades, and [...]
Drain the Swamp: Your Finances in the Summer Slump
Let me give you four steps to prepare for the summer drain in finances. For many churches, perhaps even yours, there is a lull in giving during the summer. The drill runs something like this. [...]
Zero-Zero Based Budgets
I think David worked WAY too long, looking at WAY too many line items on WAY too many departmental budgets. Don't understand what I mean? Just read on, and be aware that his tongue was [...]
An Economic Impact on American Churches
Having been invited by David Fletcher to participate in a panel on the topic of the current economy’s impact on churches, I decided to pull together some up-to-date information from Executive Pastors around the country. [...]
Leading with a Business and a Ministry Response
Here’s the situation. Your giving to the General Fund is down, not to mention missions and other special giving. Some of your people are losing their jobs, and many others are in fear of that [...]
How Vision Sets the Budget: A Glimpse at the Largest Church in America
With anguish in his voice, Bill said, “It’s budget time again at our church. I get so tired of working through these numbers. The pile of papers seems endless. How do I get off of [...]
Church Finance$ 101
For many years, I gave a lecture to a "Basics of Ministry" class at Dallas Theological Seminary. I don't do much teaching at the Masters level, as I generally work with pastors in the Doctor [...]
Caesar Takes a Pastor’s Salary
Few issues are as misunderstood, abused and confused as the tax implications of a pastor’s salary. The issue is so different from compensation in the business world that some CPA’s have given errant advice to [...]
Year-End Giving and Cash Reserves
As we’ve been talking with churches about cash reserves, the topic of year-end giving has been cropping up in the conversations. Now is certainly the time to be thinking about it. An Evangelical Christian Credit [...]
Cash Equivalents and Alternatives: Reduce the Cash You Keep on Hand
If you handle the finances for your ministry, you know how inefficiency can keep you from staying on mission. And if your ministry is growing, you’re aware of the increased demands being placed on staff [...]
Every Church Needs a CFO
I once heard a good definition of a CFO: “Someone who solves a problem you didn't know you had in a way you don't understand.” There is some truth in this statement. However, in actuality, [...]
The Business of Church
There is a distinctly business-like aspect to overseeing a church: churches have assets to manage, employees to pay, and members who rightfully demand accountability for their financial contributions. The business side of church leadership is [...]