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Church budgeting and finance management doesn’t have to be stressful 💡
Three questions that can transform your bookkeeping
Do you feel a sense of dread when it’s time to evaluate the books? Are you tempted to push it off until December? Do you wait to see how everything “shakes out”?
Well, you’re not alone. And—it doesn’t have to feel overwhelming.
One of the best ways to kick procrastination to the curb is to have a plan. As the classic saying goes, “No plan is a plan to fail,” and that applies to church budgets and accounting just as easily as it does to training for a marathon.
So often it can seem like we don’t have the right information — or enough information — to make financial decisions with confidence.
Whether that’s church expansion or mission trips, getting our numbers in order is more than a task to check off a list — it affects every aspect of what we can do as a church body.
Set yourself up for success with these three questions
Having the right information for decision–making is half the battle of successful bookkeeping and budgeting. With the proper strategy in place, that becomes less daunting.
There are three questions A CEO leading a finance team may ask, and they apply to church finances just as well:
What is the best outcome for the coming year?
What is the worst outcome for the coming year?
What is the most likely outcome for the coming year?
For example, the best outcome refers to when everything works together, revenue is up, expenses are down, and so on. A worst case could be misaligned missions, expenses at their highest, and revenue at its lowest.
The most likely outcome is probably a mix between those two extremes. By planning and determining what the best and worst–case scenarios look like, you can better plan for the in-between status you’ll encounter throughout the year.
This also provides a frame of reference for what is considered best or worst, supporting decision–making processes and giving a clearer picture of where to invest and what budget to set.
Try digging into those questions to uncover a solid strategy.
Rome wasn’t built in a day
The overwhelm sometimes comes in when we attempt to initiate change or disrupt the way things have always been.
Take heart — Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are effective church finance strategies. The important thing is to keep God at the center of our decisions and build accountability into each step of financial management.
Once we push past procrastination or uncertainty, we may find the answers we were looking for are not that far away.
No one wants to fall into the group of church leaders who push financial evaluations off until the end of the year, losing out on valuable insights and trend lines.
Yes, Rome wasn’t built in a day — but the willingness to start was still a crucial part of the plan.
Action Items:
Explore different budgeting structures
The default structure for budgeting and accounting tends to be a calendar year. However, many churches are adopting fiscal years. Some choose June 1st-May 31st, others may choose August 1st-July 31st — find what works best for your church and experiment.
Calendarize your income numbers based on previous years
Tracking patterns of income and expenses seems obvious, but the way you do so can have an impact on how those numbers are viewed and acted on.
Track previous years to anticipate trends and patterns that affect the overall operations of your church, and how they affect ministry capabilities.
Start each board meeting with prayer
The numbers are the numbers — we can’t pray for a different number on our financial reports to appear right then and there — but that doesn’t mean every meeting shouldn’t start with prayer.
We can hope for a different number and pray for wisdom on how to help it grow.
Starting with prayer won’t change the facts of math, but it can support a Christ-centered approach to managing what is there.
We are stewards of all we have. It is on loan from our Heavenly Father, and we are tasked with using it for His good.