The bible places a premium on trustworthiness amongst those who are stewards of Kingdom resources. The way church leaders manage finances of the community of God’s people is as important as the sermons they preach. For over a decade, we have worked with the financial team of various churches to set up, fix or maintain their accounting systems and give financial management counsels. In all these years we have seen how challenging it can be to combine the work of ministry with managing the church finances, therefore we consider it helpful to share these few points that can help church leaders to ensure proper management of church funds while equally attending to the spiritual needs of the congregation.

It is necessary to manage the church funds with utmost care, professionalism and transparency. This is because poor financial management can lead to chaos in general management. Poor management of funds often leads to poor planning of activities, poor implementation of planned activities and a list of financial problems. On the other hand, some church leaders struggle with adequately raising enough funds for church management even though they have capable members. This is largely because such leaders avoid preaching on money, donations or monetary gifts. Money talks in church settings are often one that involves carefulness, and to avoid any form of controversy, some leaders avoid it entirely. Unfortunately, this often leads to a poorly funded church, unable to meet certain needs of its community.

Hence, it is important that church leaders are enlightened on the rudiments of financial management and Church accounting. Here are a few vital points church leaders must know about financial stewardship in the church: 

• Expenditure and Income Management: the journey to proper financial management begins with an analysis of expenditure and income, especially the recurrent ones. This gives you the true picture of what comes in and what goes out, x-raying the financial status of the church. A church leader should be able to tell, on paper and off the top of his/her head, at least an average amount spent and received every month. In our experience working with churches as professional church accounting experts, we found out that they often leave out some expenses. However, it is those little and negligible expenses that drain the purse. With the guidance of sector experts, this analysis can be properly made.

• Strategic Planning & Budgeting: another common financial mistake in church circles is spontaneous spending. To cut down on this, church leaders should plan their church’s spending accompanied by an approved or agreed budget for each of the planned items. Budget management is often an overwhelming task for people who are not professionally trained as accountants or those who have little or no prior experience in that area.  Thankfully,  church leaders or even the church volunteers do not need to worry about having to undergo professional training to do all that. All that can be handled by professionals who are experienced in managing finances of this sector. All the church leader requires is to have a basic understanding of the accounting process, as stakeholders.

• Debt management: quite a number of churches lean on debt offers to execute certain projects. Considering that these decisions are often made without the guidance of financial experts, it is common to get into bad debts. Bad debts and poorly serviced debts can cripple the financial growth of a church. Therefore, debt management is an area church leaders must pay attention to. There should be a strategic plan for debts owed and debts the church intends to go into. Debt servicing plans and the cost should also be factored into the budget.

• Managers’ Qualifications: for a church to thrive financially, those who manage its finances and make financial plans ought to be people who are professionally trained or experienced. Volunteers with limited experience can be guided by bespoke church accounting support on what to do, while they play oversights. Leaders who have ministerial functions should concentrate on their role while delegating the day to day handling of finances to sector specialists.

• Strategic Fundraising: money talks are always not easy to have but they are unavoidable when it comes to raising funds in the church. Since these cannot be avoided, church leaders must then see to it that their financial management is built on a system that ensures transparency and accountability. Donors appreciate having an understanding of how their contributions are impacting the overall growth of the church and the community it serves. Regularly sharing what was accomplished with the funds will go a long way in encouraging donors to give even more willingly to the church. Another way to encourage donations and gifts from members is by making the process easier and faster. At GoodtoGive, we introduce our mobile apps to our clients for online payment collection and this always brings an increase in donations as it becomes easier for people to donate and give offerings online. This together with automated church accountancy services encourages stress-free fundraising.

• Review & Reporting System: transparency and accountability cannot be achieved without proper review and reporting. Putting this in place ensures that fraudulent activities are nipped in the bud. These reports should also be presented to the church stakeholders on a monthly, quarterly or bi-annual basis. The role of church leaders is to review the reports before they make it to the public. The services of Specialist accountants are also needed here. Upon review of the report, the experts know the questions to ask and what to address before it is presented to stakeholders.

While we make this information available for church leaders to access and learn, we however understand that no leader will achieve the desired financial outcome by doing everything himself or relying on volunteers who may be passionate but lack the adequate knowledge and skill set to achieve the desired goal of proper management of church finances. This is where we come in. 

With over a decade in the sector and having worked with over 400 clients, we are your best helping hands for putting your church’s finances together. We offer specialised accounting services for churches and charities and we will be more than pleased to help you straighten out the rough areas of your church finances and even train your financial team, if you have one. 

For more details and to get in touch, click here or call us on 0207 731 2041. You can visit our  office at Suite 42, 10 Ritz Parade, Hanger Lane London W5 3RA.You can also write us via info@goodtogive.co.uk