Mastering Church Finances

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In terms of spending, the more control the board exerts, the less a ministry can respond immediately to current needs. The more freedom ministries have, the harder it is for the board to monitor exactly what's going on. Each church has to find the middle ground.
—Richard L. Bergstrom

Each month the trustees faithfully gathered to pay the bills of Community Church. Each month they were greeted by the familiar stack of invoices and requests for reimbursements from church members. And each month they were faced with the same types of questions:

—Which ministry is this new tape recorder to be charged against?

—Who charged $139.50 at the Christian bookstore? Are these books for Sunday school or youth ministry?

—What was the $48.79 worth of groceries charged at Safeway used for?

—Where is the receipt for the supplies purchased for women's ministry?

—There's no budget for computer software; why did the secretary purchase this without prior approval?

—The copy machine expense is running at three times the budget. How are we supposed to pay for this?

An annual budget had been carefully worked out by the staff and the board and approved by the congregation—still, the trustees didn't seem to be able to monitor spending. They couldn't really tell how much each ministry was costing the church.

From time to time, someone suggested they use a purchase-order system, requiring each person making a purchase on behalf of the church to get approval. Unfortunately, that policy also happens to be effective at hindering ministry, making simple purchases time consuming and awkward.

For instance. Bob works as a sponsor for the junior high ministry. He wants to buy some prizes for the upcoming overnight. In Bob's church, everyone is required to have expenditures ...

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