Monday, September 28, 2015

Common Mistakes Made In Church Financing

By Della Monroe


Even though churches are known to be places of worship, they also need finances to run the place. In the past, there have been several incidences where negligence has led to mismanagement of church funds and as a result questioning the managing board. In running these places of worship, there are a couple of common church financing mistakes that they do and below are possible solutions to counter these mistakes.

Lacking vision is one common mistake leaders make as one can go nowhere without a vision; there ought to be a vision to have a mission. In this aspect, churches should be managed as a business whereby there are financial plans and a laid out plan that is agreed by the congregation in order to have the support from every member in pushing these goals forward and realizing them.

In this, there must be a working margin whereby there are details of church revenue and expenditures on the financial plan that are reasonable. Also, depending solely on offerings made on Sundays is not very reason and therefore the management may consider looking more ways to generate income for more development and a smooth running of this place of worship.

Previously, there have been cases where churches fail to ask for financial boost from the congregation for the fear of misinterpretation that may put off some members. This is because of the many instances where churches have been accused for using religion as a cover up to steal and fleece its congregation. Even so, true believers are reasonable and therefore would want what is good for the church which is why they will not have a problem contributing as long as it serves for the good of everyone.

Churches fail to show their congregation the benefits they are getting from their contributions. In most churches, people only give money but they do not get to benefit so with time they lose the morale to contribute. The leaders are therefore asked to come up with ways in which they can show the main financial contributors that their efforts are not in vain.

Moreover, even with people being willing to give, it is unfair to keep them contributing every time; instead, they should contribute in buying things that are needed and in making necessary developments. Otherwise, there might be a breach of trust and as a result people will slowly lose their motivation to the initial visions they made and agreed upon.

In an effort to keep up with the advancing world in regards to technology and other aspects, churches tend to acquire loans that leaves them with huge debts to cover which is an problem that becomes too much to handle at times. When it reaches this point, the revenue generated only ends up repaying the debt instead of making developments.

The best way to go about handling churches finances is handling them like one would do for a business; for this, the people chosen in the committee to handle finances should be qualified in this field in order to ensure they are competent enough to account every single expenditure and can make decisive decisions in handling these finances.




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