If you have not read the section of the site on Church Purpose, please do so now in order for this practicum to be most helpful to you. Click below:
Church Leadership Basics: God’s Purpose for the Church
A church’s budget is a good litmus test for how the church is following God’s purposes. Review your church purpose and then hold the budget up against it asking yourself the following questions.
- Does the budget reflect what you state as your church purpose?
- Is the budget truly a reflection of love for God and others … or a love of self, a love of buildings, a love of technology?
- How purposefully is the budget being developed or are you simply doing it how you always have done it?
- Are you willing to invest the time and effort into the budget to get it right so it lines up with God’s purposes?
- Are you running into problems getting people on board with this kind of approach to budgeting?
- Does such a deliberate approach to budgeting go against your personality or style?
- Are you making sure prayer and God’s Word is guiding the process and not mere administration?
This post poses more questions than answers. If we’re going to budget purposefully we must ask the hard questions.
The Steering the Church Toward God’s Purposes Leadership Guide includes these questions along with some brief thoughts to consider as you respond.
All Posts about Budgeting and Finances:
- Budget Fit Your Church Purpose?
- Budget Process of Body Life?
- Budget Fostering Body Life?
- Church Financial Management & Budgeting Resources
- Budget Reflect the Great Commission?
- Church Finances & Christlikeness
- Praying About Church Finances is the Christ-like Thing to Do
- Encourage Integrity in Giving
- Managing Finances with Integrity
- Finances & The Way the Church Functions
- Gospel Affects Even Our Finances
- Grace Affects Giving
- Financial Consultants & the Church
- Financial Management in the Church
- Church Finances & the Spiritual Gift of Giving
- Prayer an Integral Part of Church Finances?
- Perspective When Praying about Finances
- Priorities When Praying about Finances
- God’s Word Helps with Church Finances
- Generosity Affected by the Name of the Lord
- Help for Working on Church Budgets
- Before Closing Your Doors, Remember God’s Resurrection Power
- Impact of Leaders’ Example on Church Finances
- The Impact of a Leaders’ Attitude Toward Money
tend to just do budget – Next time before we do budget plan to run these questions thru leadership team.
Be advised: easier asked than answered.
How true, Bill. Though it might not be easy to be deliberate in this, and we might not always like our answers, at least it heads us in the right direction. Until we stop and ask the tough questions, we won’t even begin to head in this direction. While we would like to be able to say we have arrived, the important thing is that we are at least progressing toward God’s purposes, even in the way we budget. Remember the words of Philippians 3 — “Not that I have already obtained all this . . . I press on . . .”