A More Accurate Way to Measure
Giving Through the Year
by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

“In what situation do we find ourselves?" is always a key leadership question.   Only with an accurate perception of reality can planning of next steps begin.  Nowhere is an accurate definition of “the situation in which we find ourselves” more critical than in church finances. Virtually every ministry of the church is touched by its financial resources. Since leadership is so shaped by funding, great care needs to be given to tracking giving throughout the year.

Nine out of ten churches use one of two methods in reporting progress in reaching their financial budget goals. Some churches report monthly. Dividing their annual budget by twelve, they define what is “needed each month” as 1/12^th of the annual budget. Along side this amount they report the month’s receipts. The total in both categories is cumulated as each new month arrives. Other churches compare their budget needs and receipts on a weekly basis, dividing the budget by 52 weeks to determine what is “needed each week.”

These practices appear perfectly logical except for one fact. No actual congregation gives in such a rational way. Congregations do not receive money equally each week or month throughout the year. Therefore, people are giving according to one pattern while churches monitor their giving based on another pattern.

Budget Example



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Download an Excel template to use for Monthly Monitoring
Download a PDF of the Monthly Monitoring template

Download an Excel template to use for Weekly Monitoring
Download a PDF of the Weekly Monitoring template

Leaders do not need answers.
Leaders must have the right questions.

In communicating ideas to others, it is easy to frame the message based on what you know instead of what the audience is interested in knowing.  One person uses this question to stay honest in preparing such communication: 

If I were in their places, would this make sense to me?

Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership and Director of the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership, is editor and principal writer for Leading Ideas.

Copyright © 2006 by the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Leading Ideas material may be freely distributed with attribution (exclusive of material protected by separate copyright).