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Whether you are a pastor, a staff minister or elder, or a volunteer tasked with some level of financial management for your church, here are five fundamental facts that will set the tone for your budget work. As a bonus, at the end are some guided prayers you can download for free. Fact 1: Your church's budget is a spiritual document.Since your church's budget is a guide that helps you plan how you will deploy your church's resources to accomplish your God-given mission, it is a spiritual document. The budget outlines how you will compensate your paid staff, how you will allocate funds to serve and love your neighbors, and how you will maintain good stewardship of the property God has entrusted to you. Every cent of your church's budget is, at some level, spiritual. When you handle matters related to your church's budget, you are handling holy things. Fact 2: It's OK to have a faith element in your church's budget.There is an undeniable pattern in Scripture (Dt. 29:5, 1 Kings 17:8-16; Matthew 17:24-27; Mark 6:37-44) where God leads His people to do things for which they have insufficient means on hand. Such a pattern should not shock us. After all, (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV) "we walk by faith, not by sight," right? Part of God's purpose in leading in this way is to ensure He gets all the glory. Another part of His purpose here is to stretch and grow our faith. You may wonder how to distinguish between faith and fiscal irresponsibility. One key factor in each biblical example of this reality is God's leadership. God told His people to do something, before He gave them the resources to do it. It was a test of obedience. The Jordan River did not split until the priests' feet touched the water (Joshua 3:13). Once God's people took the initial step of obedience in faith, then His provision came. Don't be afraid to build some faith into your church's budget, so long as you are doing what you believe God is calling your church to do. Fact 3: The budget serves the church, not vice versa.View your budget as working for your church. Done properly, it is a helpful guide. But it is not Scripture. Things come up. Sometimes we get it wrong in our planning. There is a time for flexibility. Tied to Fact #2, sometimes God may lead your church or open a door for your church in unforeseen ways. When this happens, it is far better to update your budget than to miss out on what God has for your church. The budget can play an important role in the church's fiscal responsibility, but the church does not serve the budget. Fact 4: It's Vision > Goals > BudgetIt's not Budget, then vision, then goals. If you create your church's budget first, doing so will put shackles on your vision and distort your goals. Your church will not accomplish everything that it could have and God will not get as much glory from your ministry as He would have. Believe me. I understand that budgetary constraints have to give shape to the fiscal decisions we make in our churches. But if you sell yourself short in the first step of planning, you will hamper your ability to achieve your church's max. Fact 5: Discover God's will for your church's budget through prayer.Many churches treat "church business" as distinct from the so-called spiritual work of the church. Such an unbiblical distinction leads to significant problems. As I mentioned in Fact #1, the budget is a spiritual document. You are handling holy things. God's plan for your church requires funding. Out of obedience, you are all-in with God's plan. God understands that vendors charge your church for the goods and services they provide. He understands that costs continue to rise. He knows the unemployment percentage in your community. He even knows what your financial position will be twelve months from now. Why not talk to Him? "If [you] lack wisdom, . . . ask of God" (James 1:5). "Trust in the LORD" for your budget preparation (Proverbs 3:5-6). To help you with this, I have prepared some guided prayers. I offer them for FREE to you and your church. Adapt them as you see fit for your ministry. Follow me on social media for future content on Church Finance. Pastor Billy is the Lead Pastor of Town Creek Baptist Church in Leland, NC. He holds an MDIV from Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC and an MBA (Finance) from Regent University. He is available to consult with your church to speak at your event. Click "Contact" on this site's navigation menu to get in touch.
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Congratulations! You achieved a win. You blew through a checkpoint along the way to your next goal. Your hard work has paid off. You feel great, right? But it's not what you expected. You don't feel as great as you thought you would. Why? Because you are still facing challenges you thought you had overcome. Take a deep breath. There is a silver lining. Don't be discouraged. Let me help you. 1. Look at yourself in the mirror.You are not the same you that you used to be. You have grown. This is good news for at least a couple of reasons. For one, hurdles that used to feel 5' high now only feel 3' high. And, given your commitment to continued personal development, you are facing these challenges with an upgraded set of knowledge, skills, and abilities. 2. You've attracted heavier hitters.When you face familiar obstacles, you are better equipped to manage them, so they don't come as close to derailing you as they did in the past. But now that you are leading at a new level, you will face a new set of challenges. You've likely heard the expression that you don't know what you don't know. As you grow as a leader, you will face more nuanced headwinds. You may need to update your systems for personal growth, but whatever you do, don't interpret this pushback as defeat. You will always be growing. You will always be encountering the next Bowser. You never really beat the game. So, expect challenges. Fine tune your instincts. And give discouragement to God.
🔦New believers and those we call "seasoned saints" all endeavor to know and do God's will. The simple fact that God has a will for our lives stuns me, but His Word assures us repeatedly that God indeed does have things He wants us to do. It's not that He needs us to do these things. It's more that He wants us to enjoy the benefits of living a life that pursues His plan. The Bible even tells us certain things explicitly that are God's will for us, and then for other things, it simply tells us how to discover His will. 📖 1. It is Written - Some things never change.I mentioned that the Bible explicitly lays out certain things we can know for sure are God's will. And in the process of fulfilling these, we will discover His will on most other issues that arise.
🌍2. A Global Christian - Go Into All The WorldOne of the most obvious commands we have from God is commonly called The Great Commission. For one thing, these were Jesus' final words before ascending back to Heaven. For another thing, we find the Great Commission in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. Anytime you tell your kids something 5 times, they had better listen! You know what God wanted to be sure we did not miss? "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NLT) This mission is extreme in every way. It is extreme in the Person who gave it - there is no one like Jesus. The risen Son of God to whom all authority in heaven, earth, and under the earth has been given (Matthew 28:18). It is extreme in the Power that it promises. More on that in a moment. And it is extreme in the Scope it demands. Start where you are - your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, your community - and branch out from there "to the ends of the earth." Something amazing . . . the first century Christians had spread the news of Jesus to the edge of the known world in Spain within a generation without the use of YouTube or TikTok. When you consider the onslaught of persecution they faced, there is only one explanation for the Gospel's success, and that explanation is a He - God the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "You will receive power." Can you serve God without His power? Maybe for a bit. But all you do will eventually amount to nothing. Your labor in your own strength will not bear lasting fruit. Jesus told His followers (and the same goes for us) - wait where you are until you receive this power. You are going to need it. Why? God does not typically call us to do things we can do without Him. Jesus even said, "Without me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5). How do you receive this power? As a believer, you already have the Holy Spirit indwelling you and sealing you to the day of redemption. Take the first step of obedience as a new follower of Jesus and be baptized at a local Bible-believing church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then, pray and ask God the Father to fill you with His Spirit and use you in the fulfillment of His Great Commission as He sees best. Be a surrendered vessel unto honor for Him. He will direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6). If I can help you more specifically, get in touch through my website using the contact page.
Here's a little song I was taught as a child. It has appeared in some 622 hymnbooks since its publication in the 1860s, so you may know it too:
Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak, but he is strong. ❤ Jesus' Love For Us Cost Him Everything The Bible describes the love Jesus has for us as infinite and divine. No mere human has ever fully comprehended Jesus's love for us. Another stanza in that same song says: Jesus loves me he who died heaven's gate to open wide. He will wash away my sin, let his little child come in. This stanza echoes the message of Romans 5:8 (ESV), "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." His love for you and me cost Him everything. But why? ✝ Why Did Jesus die? You and I have sinned against God. Sin is putting a "yes" where God put a "no" or putting a "no" where God put a "yes." We decided we knew better what was right for ourselves than God, and so we sort of made ourselves a kind of god. In sinning against the infinite God, we incurred the infinite penalty of death and being condemned to an eternity in hell to face the full, never-ending wrath of God. "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:4-10 There's a few dozen porterhouse steaks of substantial truth in that passage. So you will want to read it over and over. The bottom line is that Jesus loves you more than you can imagine. In dying on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the death sentence that we sinners deserved, and as full deity, He rose again from the grave. The instant you believe in Him (it is by grace through faith), He washes away your sin record, gives you new life, and secures your eternity with Him. I know - it's amazing and more than we can imagine. If God had not revealed it in His Word, the Bible, we would have never created such a narrative on our own. This news is not of human origin. Isn't it time you believed and accepted Jesus's love? If this post resonates with you, get in touch through this site. I want to help you find a local church to grow in your faith. And if you have some other feedback on this post, you can comment here or get in touch also. Never forget - Jesus loves you. He always has. And He always will. |
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