decisions can put a church in financial jeopardy
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS LESSON
1. How to frame an organizational problem
2. What happens when accounting loses track
3. All systems in an organization must work in harmony, constantly
4. Features of a dying enterprise
5. The role of money
BACKGROUND: Once upon a time, the church was fully operational, built about twenty years prior. It was a complete campus containing the following:
a. Church building with a 1000 seat worship center, classrooms and offices.
b. Church school with grades 1-12
c. Lunchroom, serving hot meals for all students
d. Gymnasium for all type indoor sports
e. Maintenance building for bus and campus maintenance
f. Parsonage on a thirty-acre campus with athletic fields and other outdoor activities
g. Staff consisted of senior pastor, associate pastor, administrative personnel, and a full slate of school staff
h. An additional fully furnished house gifted to the church
The situation of the church as described by the senior pastor was:
Behind on bills
Giving had declined
Attendance had declined
Cash in advance basis with suppliers
A growing malaise in the membership
Committees and workshops were lackluster
Maintenance and appearances have been ignored
Needed maintenance was lacking on buildings, grounds, and buses
Problems and Symptoms
The problems of a church are man-made, they have their origin in the actions, thoughts and plans of people. It may be that people misunderstand God’s guidance and go off on their own; that happens. What we will explore in this book are problems that did not need to be. In looking at this objectively, before attempting to identify problems, one must review the decision-making processes that were used to get to this point.
Problems can have multiple dimensions. The “presenting” problem, especially if the situation is systemic, is usually not the root of the main issue. What is identified at first is symptoms even though often they must be dealt with before going on. There were several obvious problems but in order to do anything about them, the specifics had to be established.
1. Money was mishandled:
a. Entered in or taken out of whatever account needed it or had it.
b. People had contributed designated money to a fund to support missionaries. That money was quietly redirected to church operating expenses.
c. Missionaries had not been given the promised support for several years;
d. Nor had it been explained to the people contributing to missionary support.
e. Numerous overdraft charges from the bank.
2. The church hosted an annual multi-church jamboree early in the year with hundreds of people coming. There were many guest preachers, speakers and music groups.
a. The expense of this was scattered throughout various bookkeeping accounts. Income from this event was also scattered through various accounts.
b. Some expense was recorded as income and some income as expense. No way to determine the financial outcome without major research (which was accomplished with a colleague).
3. People, both staff and church members, were making commitments and expecting the church to pay for them. The bills would come in and often there was no indication of who made the commitment.
4. There was a steady pattern of guest speakers who were promised a specific honorarium plus offering. Some were hugely inspirational speakers, but even they were falling well short of paying for themselves. These were enjoyable events, even uplifting for many, but not affordable or even scheduled well. If it is so inspirational, people will support it!
5. Offerings were at an all-time low. Attendance was averaging well under 200, consistently much lower than the average of the past few years. This church was designed for attendance five times larger.
6. The infrastructure of the entire campus had deteriorated with no plan in place for extensive repairs.
The first step in the critical journey that commenced that day was seeking God’s will that my understanding would be clear, and decisions would be proven. Big order for any undertaking, and this would be no different. As we go through this financial problem with this church, I will show the steps applied. I described the steps to the church leaders and the results were measurable. Results that are not measurable are not necessarily repeatable. Achieving levels of excellence requires both repeatable results, and clearly understanding that you are getting the right results. As the saying goes, you must do the right things, right.
Negotiating Bills
1This index lists over 5900 incidences of negotiations throughout the Bible covering more than a dozen categories. Keep in mind that negotiations have been a part of life throughout scripture and churches often need to avail themselves rather than docilely accepting what is presented to them. I will show how negotiation benefitted this church. The following scripture illustrates the power of negotiation.
In Joshua 2:14, we see negotiations with lives at stake. “And the men answered her, "Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee."
I called the electric power company.
“You are 60 days overdue on your electric bill,” straight to the punch line.
“Your current overdue balance is $6800.“
“Can I put you on our prayer list?” I asked.
“Of course, but we still need payment,” the lady said.
“Can I pay part of it now and the remainder next week?”
“How much can you pay now?”
“Maybe 500.” Only $6300 shy.
“Let me check.” A few minutes later, she came back with “OK but I have to have a bank account, routing number and check number right now.” This indicates a level of trust that has to be changed.
We committed to the five-hundred-dollar payment in order to keep the lights on. Then we had to find out how much money was available
