Churches have the responsibility to manage the money they receive with wisdom and discretion. Not only do congregations expect that their offerings are funding relevant ministries and causes, but the Lord expects that resources are used to grow the kingdom of God (consider Matthew 25:14–30). How can the church stretch their dollars while fulfilling their mission to spread the gospel? Here are some ways to save money every church should prayerfully consider.
1. Create a Financial Focus Group
Opening the books to volunteers and employees can help you identify areas where wasteful spending is taking place. Bringing a team together that can offer a different perspective on the church budget will help you see the expenses in a new way. Encourage your team to speak out about areas where there is room for improvement – and explain that no area is off limits for discussion. Once you’ve agreed upon some areas where wasteful spending is occurring, eliminate those expenses to find more room in the church budget.
2. Stay Away from Credit
The Bible says that the borrower is slave to the lender (see Proverbs 22:7). While certain loans might end up benefiting the church, it is a risk that should be carefully evaluated. Many times, there are creative alternatives that should be considered first.
Credit cards are commonly used in churches but can lead to overspending – and interest payments. It’s often too convenient to slide the church’s credit card only to realize later that impulse purchases were made. An alternative to credit cards are prepaid debit cards, which can be filled after a purchase request is reviewed by your financial board. This will prevent overspending and provide an additional layer of accountability.
3. Regularly Review Employees’ Job Responsibilities
Without a regular review of church employees’ job responsibilities, old tasks that aren’t needed might continue to waste funds. Review each church employee’s job tasks and provide performance appraisals to make sure they understand the duties they are to perform. Any work done needs to add value to the church, not subtract from it.
4. Consider Outsourcing Non-Ministry Tasks
Janitorial work, tax preparation, and landscaping are a few areas where churches might save money if they outsourced the work instead of having ministry-related employees do it. It is more cost-effective to pay professionals (who are efficient at their trade) to do the work than a salaried church employee.
5. Find More Volunteers
Volunteers are probably already an important part of your church. Why not bring on more of them? Having one or two church employees whose job it is to bring volunteers into ministry might be worth the extra money. Make sure that those bringing in volunteers are firmly established in the church and knows the congregation well.
6. Host a Financial Peace University Class
Financial Peace University is a nine-week church-based financial program developed by Dave Ramsey that can help people pay off debt, build savings, and give more than they thought possible. You can sign up to host a class for church employees and members. As families learn the importance of proper financial management, those good money-saving habits will spill over into the church’s budget.
7. Audit Transactions
It is not enough to have your financial focus group create new policies – they must also ensure those policies are being properly implemented. Develop an audit process that will catch improper use of money within only a few days of it happening.
8. Rethink Processes
Payroll systems, mail management, and other common church processes typically become outdated in time. Rethink both manual and automatic processes of the church, and start from the ground up. Sometimes, scraping an entire process instead of adding to it is needed in order to simply how things are done. Through this simplification, money can be saved.
9. Network With Business Owners in the Church
Every church has business owners who have expertise to offer (and perhaps even discounted services or products to provide). Networking with business owners who can provide bulk discounts or offer a word of advice when needed can save the church a lot of money. Don’t be pushy, but express your interest in their businesses and encourage your congregation to offer help where they can.
10. Pray
The Lord knows the needs of the church. Pray that the Lord will meet those needs in accordance with his will, and remember that God loves his people and will look out for them.
“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” – Matthew 6:26NASB
This article was provided by Bob Lotich of Christian Personal Finance, a website offering free courses and articles to help Christians better manage their money according to Biblical principles. Follow him on Google+ and Twitter!