Church – Balancing Financial Integrity with Progressive Spending

One of the most difficult topics for the church to address is finances. Nobody likes having to touch that subject (unless you really like tension and awkward situations). But the fact remains that if the church is to be trusted by its members with their money, it needs to be open, transparent, and accountable for what it does with the money it’s given.

Far too many churches are secretive as to the way they spend the money.

For instance, let’s say that a church decides to start a new ministry for the homeless. And let’s say that the new ministry is supported by hundreds of area churches, so much so that every month the homeless ministry takes in more money that it spends.

Now let’s say that the church itself is in a bit of a bind. Membership is down, and the money isn’t coming in like it used to, and the church is actually spending more money each month than it brings in.

If this church wanted to, it could funnel some of the leftover money from the homeless ministry over to the church so it could pay its bills. Problem is, the money given by the area churches to support the homeless ministry wasn’t intended to help a dying church pay its power bills or payroll. It was intended to go to helping the homeless.

You’d think that such a scenario would be somewhat rare, and perhaps it is, but I know of at least one church that does this consistently each and every month. In fact, if it weren’t for their “other ministries”, the church couldn’t pay it’s bills.

Is this ethical? Is it right?

I don’t think it is. But, the reality is, the members of that church have no idea what’s going on. Sure, a “financial statement” is read every month, but no one pays attention. On top of that, many of the indicators of foul play are “masked” in the financial reports with words like “loans” and “missions”, when in reality it’s nothing more than the church robbing Peter to pay Paul.

And we wonder why some people in the church don’t give. It’s simple, they don’t trust the church to handle their money in an open and ethical manner.

But, getting back to the original purpose of this post, financial integrity can be achieved many ways. The most common way is by using an “oversight committee” of church members to review the financial statements and talk directly with the pastor and/or financial employees.

But this bring in its own set of problems.

Oversight committees can be too invasive in the spending process. The same can be said of school boards (for those churches with Christian schools), or any other form of oversight committee. When given the right to ask questions, they take that as liberty to ask questions of intent, not integrity. There is a difference!

For instance, let’s say that a committee meeting is taking place. They oversee both the church spending and the homeless ministry spending. Instead of simply keeping the church leaders accountable as to where the money is going (if it was given to the homeless ministry, it should be spent on the homeless ministry), the committee members often times think they have the right to question the validity of every purchase made.

“Pastor, what’s this about us spending $5000 for a digital video camera? Could we not have gotten a cheaper camera? I see them at Best Buy all the time for well under $1000. Why didn’t we get that one?”

You see, when someone who knows absolutely nothing about a particular field of expertise, yet they think that their opinion on the matter is valid, you start having problems.

Oversight committees are a good idea, but they need to be aware that it is NOT their job to question every purchase made. They are simply there to see that the money is being spent where it was intended to be spent, and making sure the financial reports reflect accurately the spending. Nothing more.

So, how can a church maintain its financial integrity while at the same time have the freedom to spend money in the areas that the leadership determines to be necessary?

It’s simple. Just make it clear what the purpose of the oversight committee is. They are to review the financial records, question the leadership about things that may seem fishy, and make sure the church’s money is being spend where it is supposed to be spent. They need to be informed that their job is not to question individual purchases if they are within budget. That’s the leadership’s job, not theirs.

I think this could seriously solve both the issue of immoral financial practices, and the issue of committees holding back necessary spending just because they don’t personally understand it. See, everybody wins

Bonus: For an even smoother run oversight committee, try purging it every year and starting over with other members. This way, if you happen to get one of those more pushy members, you don’t have to deal with them for up until the day they die. Just a suggestion

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