Electronic Giving: A Matter of Vision, Not Just Convenience
In 2011, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church was experiencing a financial crunch. In addition to the turbulence associated with the national economic recession, our discomfort was…
Browsing: Finances
Articles
Keys to Effective Financial Ministry
Not surprisingly, church consultant Clif Christopher’s new book, Rich Church, Poor Church: Keys to Effective Financial Ministry (Abingdon Press, 2012), makes many of the same points…
Will the Mainline Denominations Get It Right?
“We can either have a hard decade or a bad century.” New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman used these stark words to describe the…
Remaining Fruitful in the Midst of a Financial Reset
I think the American Church is undergoing a reset. America is getting older; and the Church is even older. For a generation, expenditures have increased…
Denominations Face Major Reset
Most congregations know the financial squeeze of recent years from the economic recession. What is more striking is that the financial downturn for denominations is…
Do Endowments Help or Hurt?
Some churches have endowments in which the principal is invested, with the earnings made available to support the work of the congregation. One pastor said…
Working Through the Stages of Grief when Cutting Your Budget
Our church was not reaching its budget and had to make difficult changes to reduce expenses by 16 percent. The finance committee realized a reduction…
What Report is First on Your Church Council Agenda?
When I started out in ministry nearly 35 years ago, I wandered into my first church board meeting with wide eyes and my mouth firmly…
Saving Money without Sacrificing Ministry
In light of the current economic environment, how are churches reining in their budgets without reducing the quality of ministry? Last month, the Lewis Center…
Working with a Volunteer Treasurer
A pastor in her first year at a congregation tells of a lesson learned the hard way in working with a volunteer treasurer. Last fall…
