This paper is prepared to help
Churches to improve on their Church Financial Management
“It is quite wrong to assume that
a Church with plenty of money does not need Stewardship Education. The more we have of God’s wealth to manage,
the more we need to be careful Stewards of it.
It is also wrong to neglect teaching Stewardship in Churches because
some have abused the system of finances.
Let every Church enrich the lives of members by teaching them how to
please God in their offerings and in their management of material things.”
If a Church will be effective in
her financial Management, the Church must elect capable finance officers to run
the affairs of Church finances.
OFFICERS OR WORKERS THAT HAVE DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY ON MANAGING FUND OF
THE CHURCH
1. FINANCIAL SECRETARY
a.
He must be a committed Christian, ready to serve the
Church.
b.
He must be a man of integrity.
c.
He must be a committed member of the Church who gives
regularly to the Church.
d.
He must have knowledge of Book Keeping or Account.
FINANCIAL SECRETARY’S RESPONSIBILITIES
i.
The Financial Secretary shall collect all income of the
Church, Tithes, Offering etc.
ii.
He shall pay all the money to the Treasurer through an
Income Book as show Appendix A.
iii.
He shall prepare the monthly financial report for the
Executive Committee meeting, quarterly report and Annual report for the Church
in Conference.
iv.
He shall keep all income ledger where all incomes are
posted on different headings.
v.
He shall keep an Expenditure ledger where all
expenditure is posted on different headings.
vi.
He shall prepare payment voucher for all expenditure
approved by finance committee, or Church executive committee or the Church in
Conference, this approved payment shall be finally endorsed by the Pastor of
the Church, before the Treasurer will issue Cheque for payment.
2. TREASURER
i. He must be a committed member of the Church who gives
regularly to the Church.
ii. He must be a man of integrity, a child of God.
iii. He must have knowledge of Bookkeeping and Account.
TREASURER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
A treasurer is the person
responsible for running the treasury.
i.
He shall keep all Church income, collected from
financial Secretary, into the Church Bank Account within 48 hours.
ii.
He is one of the Signatories to the Church Bank
Account.
iii.
He shall work with the financial Secretary to see that
all dues are paid regularly and promptly.
iv.
He is a member of budget committee
v.
He is Chairman of Finance committee
vi.
He shall pay all approved expenditures on receiving
approved payment voucher. Appendix B.
vii.
He must not loan out Church money or borrow out of it
himself.
3. AUDITOR
i.
He must be a member of the Church who gives regularly
to the Church.
ii.
He must be a child of God whose life testifies to the
fact that he is already broken down by the Holy Spirit.
iii.
He must be a man of integrity.
iv.
He must be knowledgeable in Book Keeping and Account
v.
A person who had served as Financial Secretary or
Treasurer should be preferred for this post.
AUDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES
i.
He shall be responsible for Auditing the Account of the
Church monthly and yearly and shall report to the Executive and the Church in –
Conference
FINANCE COMMITTEE
This Committee shall have the
Treasurer as Chairman and Financial Secretary as Secretary, should be composed
of seven members which shall include, Pastor, Youth President, building
Chairman, a woman, and Church Secretary.
FINANCE COMMITTEE’S RESPONSIBILITIES
The Committee acts as monitoring
body in ensuring proper management of the budgetary expenses
Since the income is usually
limited but the expenditure is usually enormous, the Finance Committee should
prioritize the priorities, and find ways of moving the Church forward. The finance must not be bias in disbursing or
allocating funds to departments.
Case study Proposed expenditure
forwarded to Finance Committee
I.
Ministers Conference meeting 10,000.00
II.
Pastors Salary 50,000.00
III.
Pension 15,000.00
IV.
Dues to Convention 30,000.00
V.
Dues to Association 7,500.00
VI.
Dues to Conference 7,500.00
VII.
Music Workshop 8 People 40,000.00
VIII.
NEPA Bill 2,500.00
IX.
Repair of Generator 2,500.00
165,000.00
The Church has an available fund
of 140,000.00 to spend and does not want the account to be on a deficit
balance. If you are a member of Finance
Committee of the Church how will you allocate the available fund?
CHURCH BUDGET
Another aspect where Church funds
can be effectively managed is in the area of Church Budget.
The importance of Church Budget
can not be over emphasized as it
§
Helps the Church to have a focus.
§
It enables the Church to plan the activities of
the Church for the year.
§
The areas of strength and weakness of sources of
income is shown during budgeting.
THE COMPOSITION
The committee should be headed by
Treasurer or someone who has knowledge of accounts and should be composed of
seven people. Pastor, Church Secretary,
Treasurer, Financial Secretary, a Youth, a Woman and a Deacon.
FUNCTION
The Committee shall prepare and
submit an envisioned revenue and expenditure for the following year to the
Executive Committee for consideration and thereafter to the Church for
approval. Below is an example of a
Church whose through Church budget, has been able to achieve more than what she
could have achieved without Budget.
A FAITH BUDGET FOR OUR CHURCH – From Experiencing God.
One year the people on our
finance committee said, “Pastor, you have taught us to walk by faith in every
area of the life of our Church except in the budget.” I asked them to explain. They said, “well, when we set the budget, we
set the budget on the basis of what we believe we can do. It does not reflect that we expect God to do
anything.”
Hummm, “I said. “Then how do you feel we ought to set the
budget:”
They said. “First, we ought to determine all that God
wants to do through us. Second, we need
to put down what that will cost. Then we
need to divide the budget goal into three categories. (1) what we plan to do through our tithes,
(2) what others have promised to do, and (3) what we must depend on God to do.”
As a Church we prayed and decided
God wanted us to use this approach to budgeting. We did not try to dream our own dreams for
God. We had to be absolutely sure God
was leading us to do the things we put in the budget. Then we listed what that would cost. We listed what we thought our people would
give and what others (denominational board, partnership Churches, and
individuals) had said they would give. The
difference between what we could reasonably expect to receive and the total was
what we would ask God to provide.
The big question was: what is our operating budget? Well, by faith we adopted the grand total as
our operating budge. At this point we reached
a crisis of belief. Did we really
believe that the God who led us to do these things also would provide the
resources to bring them to pass? Anytime
God leads you to do something that has God-sized dimensions, you will face a
crisis of belief. When you face a crisis
of belief, what you do next reveals what you really believe about God.
The budget of our Church normally
would have been N740,000.00. The budget
we set was N1,640,000.00. We pledged to
pray daily that God would meet our needs.
Any money that came in that we did not anticipate we credited to
God. At the end of that year we had
received N1,720,000.00. God taught our
Church a lesson in faith that radically changed us all.
OTHER AREAS OF EFFECTIVE
CHURCH FINANCIAL
MANAGEMENT
1. When a Church has surplus fund in the Bank.
(a)
You can invest in Treasury bills through your Local
bank to the Central Bank, you are entitled to quarterly interest.
(b)
You can buy shares of good company; to do this you need
an expert advice.
2. When the Church is continuously in deficit for some months.
(a) You need to set your priority the
Finance Committee should prioritize the priorities of
expenditure, the Church need to look for ways of
generating more fund.
(b) Your Church need stewardship education
and prayer.
Proverbs 3:9-10 says “Honor the
Lord with your wealth, give him the best you have. Then you will have all you need. Your barns will be full of grain and you
barrels will be flowing over with wine.”
(c) Visitation to members and encouragement
from Pastor.
RECORD KEEPING
Good record keeping is very
essential to an effective Church Financial Management.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS/LEDGERS ARE:
I)
Income Book - This is used between Financial Secretary
and Treasurer.
II)
Payment voucher – as discussed
III)
Income ledger: The Financial Secretary keeps weekly
record of all funds received into an income ledger according to their
headings. This Ledger helps the
Financial Secretary to prepare accurate, monthly or quarterly report. See Appendix C.
IV)
Expenditure ledger:
The Financial Secretary shall keep record of all expenses in an
expenditure ledger in their respective headings. This ledger helps the Financial Secretary to
give accurate report to the Executive committee monthly and to the Church
quarterly. See Appendix D
V)
The income & Expenditure cash movement Book.
a)
The cash book movement book enables the Treasurer to
monitor the cash in the bank
b)
It helps the Finance Committee when disbursing fund to
each department. Example is shown below.
c)
It enables Finance Committee to know the amount of
money available for spending.
EXAMPLE
Income & Expenditure Cash
movement Book
Date
|
Details
|
Amount
|
Dr.
|
Cr.
|
Balance
|
1/8/2008
|
B/f from
July
|
90,120.00
|
|||
3/8/2008
|
Sunday
Offering
|
24,745.00
|
24,745.00
|
114,865.00
|
|
10/8/2008
|
Sunday
Offering
|
21,770.00
|
21,770.00
|
136,635.00
|
|
15/8/2008
|
Building
Committee
|
20,000.00
|
20,000.00
|
116,635.00
|
|
17/8/2008
|
Sunday
Offering
|
30,000.00
|
30,000.00
|
146,635.00
|
|
24/8/2008
|
Sunday
Offering
|
27,000.00
|
27,000.00
|
173,635.00
|
|
26/8/2008
|
Worker's
Salary
|
51,000.00
|
51,000.00
|
122,635.00
|
|
31/8/2008
|
Sunday
Offering
|
25,000.00
|
25,000.00
|
147,635.00
|
|
31/8/2008
|
Building
Committee
|
100,000.00
|
100,000.00
|
47,635.00
|
|
31/8/2008
|
Dues
Ass, Conf. & Conven
|
27,000.00
|
27,000.00
|
20,635.00
|
|
31/8/2008
|
Pension
|
18,000.00
|
18,000.00
|
2,635.00
|
At the end of August 2008, the
amount as balance in the statement of account, will be 122,635 less COT/Vat,
because all payment made on Sunday
31/8/08 will not reflect as been paid in the bank account and the
Sunday offering will not enter bank in August but in September 2008. This figure may mislead the Finance
Committee. If the statement of Account
is used.
HOW TO USE CHURCH FUND
We should use Church fund for the
following purpose:
1.
Dues – Convention, Conference and Association.
2.
Salary – workers must be well remunerated.
3.
Evangelism – Revival, Seminar, Crusade, Discipleship
4.
The needy (1st Timothy 5:3, 5, 9)
5.
Workshop enhancement:
music, beautiful auditorium, beautiful area.
6.
Religious education, youth, BSF, Children, Music.
7.
Building project.
8.
Maintenance / utility.
9.
Community development, our presence should be felt
within the Church environment.
10. Mobility
– Church Bus, Car, Cycles, etc.
11. Social
promotion between members.
CONCLUSION
We must bear in mind that all
what we have belongs to God and must be used for God’s purposes. Malachi 3:10-11. Easy to read version.
10. The Lord all powerful says “Try this
test. Bring one-tenth of your things to
me. Put those things in the treasury. Bring food to my house. Test me!
If you do those things, then I will truly bless you. Good things will come to you like rain
falling from sky. You will have more
than enough of everything.
11. I will not let pests destroy your crops. Your grapevines will all produce grapes. The Lord All-powerful said these things.
APPENDIX A
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
…………………….
Date:………….
INCOME BOOK 00001
These are the amount collected during the
…………………………………………………………………………….service
of
N
|
k
|
||
1
|
Sunday School
|
||
2
|
Tithes
|
||
3
|
Morning Offering
|
||
4
|
Special Offering
|
||
5
|
Thanksgiving
|
||
6
|
Children Offering
|
||
7
|
Evening Offering
|
||
8
|
Building
|
||
9
|
Pledges
|
||
10
|
Others
|
||
TOTAL
|
Amount in words……………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………Naira..……………Kobo………...........
…………………………………….Received
by…………………………………..
Financial Secretary Treasurer
APPENDIX B
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
…………………….
PAYMENT VOUCHER 00001
Pay…………………………………. Payment Voucher No
Address…………………………….. Date……………………………...
……………………………………... Cheque No……………………….
Date
|
Rate
|
Amount
N K
|
|
TOTAL
|
Amount in words……………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………..………………………...……...........
………………………………………………………………………………………
Prepared by……………………………… …………………………………..
Signature of Approving Officer
Rank…………………………………...... Full Name………………………..
Date……………………………………... Rank……………………………..
Date……………………………...
………………………………….
Signature of Receiver
APPENDIX C
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
INCOME LEDGER
Sunday School
|
||||||||||
Date
|
Offering
|
CTP
|
Tithes
|
Offering
|
Thanksgiving
|
Evening Offering
|
Building
|
Pledges
|
Others
|
Total
|
4/1/2009
|
||||||||||
RESOURCES
1)
Stewardship Plan Book for Churches by Revd. S.O. Oladimeji
2)
Church Managing Her Finance by Revd. J.O. Asha.
3)
Experiencing God Page 108
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