Building the Kingdom

With a new calendar year comes a new financial year. If you’ve yet to put a financial plan in the place, here are some tips inspired by Luke 14:28

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.”

When Jesus talked about building a tower he wasn’t exactly talking about church budgets. Jesus was talking about the cost of being a disciple; a follower of Christ. We are advised to ‘think things through before we act; think about the consequences of our actions’. Surely this sound advice relates to all aspects of our lives, some may even call it common sense!

Certainly it is sensible then to be taking the same approach with our church finances.  If we are to ensure local mission and ministry continues, we need to estimate expenditure and think about how we resource God’s vision in our communities today and into the future.  After all, if we do not plan before we embark on that church extension, are we risking reputational damage or even ridicule if we fail to see it through?

A good way to plan is to set a church budget. Whether you’re completely new to budgeting, are familiar with a spreadsheet or have already jotted down some figures on the back of the latest church bulletin, this article looks to help with the fundamentals.

So what is a budget?

A budget is an estimate of income and expenditure over a specified period of time.  A budget serves as a statement of intent, of purpose and priority and should reflect the church’s mission.  It is a roadmap for the church in numbers and communicates how ministry will be provided.

What is the intent?

The way a local church uses generous gifts indicates its priorities and mission. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)  Only when priorities are clear can a suitable budget be prepared.  The priority may be as simple as resourcing and maintaining local church ministry at current levels, or if the church is planning a new missional activity and funds are required, a budget for growth may be needed.  The benefit of a budget is that you can make these decisions early on instead of resourcing initiatives on a ‘first come, first served basis’.

What is coming in?

Estimate what the income will be for the year. Look at income from previous years, is it a growing or declining trend? Where does most of the income come from? How much of this income is guaranteed? There is no point in drawing up a budget with increased PCC fees if weddings and funerals are declining.  If there is an increase in Sunday service attendance, it would be reasonable to estimate an increase in voluntary contributions to the church.

What is going out?

Estimate your expenses in the same way. It is best to break them down under headings. Again, review last year’s expenditure. The following headings may be helpful:

• Parish Share
• Church running expenses – insurance, maintenance, utilities
• Mission giving and donations
• Staffing costs – wages, social security and pensions
• Governance costs – Independent Examination fees, PCC training

How do we draw up the budget?

Pull together your estimated lists of income and expenses, this is a quick and simple way of creating an initial draft. Make any adjustments for the rising costs of things like gas and electricity caused by inflation (the general increase in prices and the fall in the purchasing value of money). This type of budgeting is known as ‘incremental’ budgeting.

Be mindful with an incremental method as we don’t always want to recreate the past. Alternatively use a ‘zero-based’ approach; this means listing and reviewing all costs rather than referring back to the previous year. This method helps to justify all items of expenditure in line with the church’s priorities.

A budget is usually prepared by the Treasurer but is approved by the PCC as Trustees who are ultimately responsible. It is important that whoever prepares the budget remembers to speak with all those involved to make sure that nothing is missed and everyone is mindful of the church’s priorities. Also consider other factors that may affect the finances: is there a loan to repay and could repayment costs increase? When is the boiler due for replacement?  It is best to also keep a note as to why a particular number was recorded, it might seem obvious at the time but you might forget six months later.

Consider building in some contingency in case things don’t go to plan. This could mean limiting expenditure early in the year until you get a clearer picture of how things are going.  The budget should also be prepared in a format that is used to report to the PCC on a regular basis.

We have a budget, now what?

Now you have your budget approved, check the actual numbers against it on a regular basis (for smaller churches quarterly might suffice if the finances are going as planned). Monitoring actual numbers against the budget and checking differences or variances will help alert you to any issues and enable you to ask questions. For example, have you spent more or less than planned? Have all income and expenses been included?

If the numbers don’t go to plan always remember to look at the church’s priorities and prayerfully discern what action to take.  Always inform others and don’t ignore the problem. At the end of the year any surplus, the money ‘left­over’, forms your unrestricted reserves.

Further guidance is available from our friends at Stewardship.org: Financial Planning and Budgeting for Churches.

KEY POINTS

• A budget enables us to exercise our duty of care before society and God. It is a focus of faithful stewardship, gratitude and accountability.
• The responsibility for the budget belongs legally and spiritually to the PCC as Trustees.
• If we don’t plan or plan without allocating resources, then we face potential ridicule and decline.
• Ultimately we cannot invite people to give generously if we have no idea of the cost of ministry.

Finally, if your church doesn’t have a standard financial accounting package with a module for budgeting, below is a excel spreadsheet template. The templates can be used for headline budgeting or more detailed and longer term planning as needed.

Excel Budget Template

The Second Mark of Generosity

Continuing the series of articles discovering what “Marks of a Generous Church” might be, I’m interviewing people called Mark about generosity and church.

A simple concept really.

My second Mark is 46 years old, has two teenage children and a lovely wife called Lindsay. Often mistaken for another 46 year old, the slightly more famous but equally charming singer, radio presenter, and TV presenter Aled Jones, Bishop Mark Tanner invites me into his new pad to talk generosity.

It’s a Friday evening and Mark looks exhausted. I’m not sure if it’s from dodging paparazzi (presumably something he’s done all his life. Incidentally, have you ever noticed that they’ve never actually been seen together in the same room?), or from his new and demanding role as the Bishop of Berwick.

After a brief catch up- I’ve known Mark for a couple of years, as I was at Cranmer hall when he was Warden- the interview begins.

And I have to say Mark Tanner is a lovely man. He has a calming presence, he’s gentle and witty and is desperately passionate about Jesus. I can’t imagine anyone having a bad word to say about him. Except this: the speed at which he speaks when he’s excited about something, which is a lot of the time. Mark Tanner can talk for England.

So writing up an interview that took only 53 earth minutes to record has been very testing. He said so much, and it was so jam-packed with insights and sense and vision, that I’ve had to split his answers into “Generosity Wisdom” and “Generic Wisdom”. The latter can be found here, in a separate blog I’ve compiled, which begins with how Mark ended up in ministry.

Bishop Mark, (he immediately asks me to drop the bishop)… Mark, when you were growing up what was your family’s approach to charitable giving?  We didn’t talk about money much at all. But we were taught to give 10% of our pocket money to church, so I remember I started off getting 10p a week and I’d save a penny and give it to church. And I’m really grateful for that early habit.

As a parent, how have you approached it? We’ve been more explicit and intentional, I think. Our own personal discipline is to set aside 10% of our money, and give 5% of that straight to the church and 5% we give away creatively to charity. It’s part of our family life, a conversation we have with the children about giving away that 5%. That’s part of the reason we don’t just give 10% to the church. It’s important we all think about how we’re giving.

So why give 10%? Is that a Biblical thing? Or a benchmark? For me, it’s based on the Bible but not in the sense of “You’re sinning if you don’t give away 10%.” Because we live under Grace, not under law. But I find it a really helpful guideline. This discipline I learned as a child is something I just got used to. Even when I had very little, like when I was a youth worker, I still did it. I was paid next to nothing and it’s very easy for people to say “How can you give it away?” But the truth is, once you get used to it, you find you receive infinitely more back than you give.

My own theological understanding of tithing is still underdeveloped, so it’s something I’m exploring, but in my job I’ve found that “tithing” is quite an emotive topic. Often if I mention that word, people seem very sensitive about it, and quite negative. What’s going on there? I don’t talk about tithing, really. If I was preaching I’d talk about generosity being the key. But it’s immensely helpful to have a pattern by which you give. I think there are guidelines in scripture that are a helpful way of thinking, but I don’t think that’s there’s a command in the scriptures that says you MUST do it. I want to encourage people to ask themselves, “How do I do this?” And to give generously.

Here’s an example: John Wesley worked out how much he needed to live on, and he gave away the rest. And he started off not really giving away very much, but by the end of his life he had money coming in from absolutely everywhere, and he still lived on the amount of money he needed. So, say in modern money he needed £20k to live on. Whether he was earning £21k or £250k he still kept just £20k for himself, and give the surplus away.

That sounds far more challenging than tithing! Because when people have a lot of money, if they give away 10%, they still actually have a huge amount left. That’s absolutely right. I remember a friend telling me about a person who was earning hundreds of thousands of pounds. Apparently he asked, “So how much money should I give to God?”

And the response was, “Well there aren’t rules. Quite a lot of people think in terms of giving 10% of what you have away.”

He said, “I can’t do that! That would be giving away £30,000 a year!”

So his friend said, “Well how about we pray to God to reduce that amount of money.”

And the man said that would be great.

So the friend said, “Well how much do you want to give away?”

He said, “Well what about giving away £1,000?”

He said, “Well that’s fine, I’ll pray that you’re just earning £10,000 a year then!”

I love that story because he’s asking “Do you want to keep £9000 or do you want to keep £270,000? It’s all relative.”

Is teaching about generosity important to begin at a young age in the church? I think it’s vital we bring up our children engaging with the whole life of faith.

We live in a world that says “Money is everything so I’m going to earn as much as I can and keep it to myself.” But, actually, we live with a God who says “I’m giving you everything.”

So for me, I’m not saying give away your money because the church wants it. I’m saying you have a God who says to you the more you give away the more I’ll give you. It’s actually about living in the freedom of that generosity. Like the rest of following Christ, it’s quite challenging. So I think it’s key to start early.

Does generosity make you happy? Yes, sometimes. Not always. Sometimes it’s hard. And let’s face it there are times when it’s really tough to know how to be generous.

I was in London the other day and I was running late, so I bought myself some chips to eat on the way. And this gentlemen, you could smell the beer on his breath, said, “Can you give me a fiver so I can have some tea like you’re having?”

It broke my heart. Because I wanted to say “Of course.” The bag of chips was almost empty otherwise I’d have said “Just take the chips!” And I thought, if I give you a fiver you’re not going to spend it on food you’re going to spend it on alcohol, and I don’t know quite how to respond there.

Generosity can be quite complicated then? Yes. Honestly I don’t know what the generous response is in that situation. So like a coward I say “I’m really sorry,” I lower my head and I carry on walking, and feeling terribly guilty about it.

Generosity is hard even when you want to be generous. It’s why I think it’s so important to practice being generous when there are straightforward ways of doing so.

Generosity goes beyond money doesn’t it? So are there other ways we can be generous in difficult situations like that? Absolutely. When I was a Youth Worker in Coventry city centre, there was one bloke who’d sit and play the guitar. He used to ask me for money every time I went past, and I was paid next to nothing so I genuinely didn’t have money to give him.

But one day his guitar was dreadfully out of tune so I said, “I can’t give you money but I’ll tune your guitar if you want me to.” And then I was worried he’d think I was being rude! But he said, “Great mate!” So I sat next to I’m and tuned it and gave it back, but then I stayed, and then we had half an hour sitting on the street just playing. That was really great. We exchanged names and he’d say, “Hi Mark” when I walked by and I’d say “Hi Geoff”.

I remember 2 or 3 times I bought some chips for me and for him, so I could be a bit generous that way, but it started off by being generous by thinking: I’m not ashamed to be sitting with you in the street, tuning your guitar for you. Strangely giving money can be anti-generous because you can fob someone off with it.

Do you think we value money, time and skills equally in church? It’s absolutely vital that we do.

But in my darkest times of ministry I’ve felt massively taken for granted. You do something when you’re tired and you feel no one notices. It’s so easy to feel you’re not appreciated. Of course we need to be better, as a church, at appreciating and noticing and valuing. But I think there’s a challenge for me in that I take pleasure in being generous because I’m able to be generous.

Taking pleasure in giving? So is generosity more of a state of mind? I think it is. I remember once the youth group had been sticking chewing gum down the urinals in the gent’s, so they’d flood every time. It was a Monday morning and we had no money for a plumber so I went and got a new u-bend, and set to and changed it. Nobody knew I’d done that. It was a fairly unpleasant stinky job to do but I remember every time I’d nip in and use it or see someone coming out of there I got this sense of “actually I made that possible and that’s really good”.

And I mention it not because I’m proud of the fact I did it, but because whilst I was doing it I was thinking how am I going to look at this?

Am I going to think, “Blooming heck I’m the vicar here and I have to change urine soaked pipes”? Or am I going to think, “What a privilege to be able to give the church the continued use of this urinal”?

I remember I decided as I was kneeling on the floor, I’m going to think of this as a privilege and not as a chore. It was a real challenge.

I think we need to learn to take a wry sense of pleasure in the fact we’re able to serve.

Where do you see generosity in churches? In the time people take to care for their buildings, to open up, lay things out, cake baking, grass mowing, the welcome, the smiles, the handshakes, the helping people in distress, the support and care people show. The generosity in imagination. Then there’s the financial side of course. There’s generosity in so many ways. Generosity is everywhere in our churches. The Church of England couldn’t survive without it.

Have you ever been surprised by generosity? When I was a youth worker I was literally on the bread line, and the car I had to run failed its MOT, and it needed about £400 of work. That was over 10% of my salary. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have £4 never mind £400! And an hour later an envelope came through the door with exactly the right amount of money. It just said “For the youth worker’s car”. God provided. Whoever was behind that generosity…well it was overwhelming. I have a suspicion about who it was. This person was very generous.

Was it important for them not to sign the note? Well Jesus said “Don’t let your left hand see what your right hand is giving”. But For me that’s not about anonymity. It’s about genuinely practising generosity. If I took you out and bought you a meal, and was looking for gratitude from you, or I was trying to buy your time, that’s actually a purchase. I’ve bought something I want. Whereas generosity is about saying, “This is in my custody and I’m giving it to you. I’m letting go of it.” So often the things we think are generosity aren’t generosity.

What’s easiest to generously give, time, talents or money? I think that’s different for all of us and at different time of our lives. We all need to allow ourselves to be challenged in the areas we find difficult. So for some, writing a cheque is nothing, but they absolutely wouldn’t want to give up a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. I think we all have the challenge to interrogate ourselves and say “Am I practising generosity across the board?”

What would you do if you won the lottery? Mark gets very animated at this point. Ah now I’ve thought about this a lot! In Doncaster I was part of a social club and they’d ask me this every week. I didn’t play the lottery but they always asked, so I thought it through.

I’d set up a trust and I’d have 2 or 3 trustees with me and we’d keep the capital and give away the interest. The rule would be that nobody could apply for this gift. And, they’d have to give away 10% of what we gave them. So imagine you’re a charity. I’d send you a cheque for £10,000 because I thought what you were doing was good, and you’d have to give £1,000 of that away. And you’d have to write to me and tell me who you’d given it to, so we could then consider them next time we were giving money away.

It would teach you it was a gift that came out of the blue, and you didn’t ask for it, and, you had to apply generosity yourself. We’d build up this database of who we’d give to. I think it would be such fun. All sorts of people and organisations would just get money out of the blue, and they’d be giving money away.

And the capital? I hope it would continue to earn interest.

No holiday? Ah that’s interesting. I confess I’d struggle not to buy myself a new motorbike and an E-type Jag but you can’t have a bishop driving around in an E-type jag can you!?

Finally, do you have a favourite Bible passage on generosity? 2 Cor 12:9  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” That sense of Paul being right up against it and God just saying “Look in me you’ve got everything. My grace is utterly sufficient.” I come back to that time and time again. God’s generosity. It has to be the start and end for me.

The interview with the Bishop of Berwick, draws to a close and we hug and say our goodbyes. I leave feeling I’ve captured only a fraction of what this man has to offer us about faith and how to live like Jesus, but what I have captured is a start.

Generosity is complex, and challenging. Sometimes we don’t even know how to be generous in certain situations, which is why it’s important to practise generosity regularly in the obvious situations. Mark says this begins when we’re young, and highlights the importance of teaching generosity to our children. We’ve got to get into the practice of it.

Generosity isn’t necessarily about giving a specific amount or percentage away, but rather about being disciplined and thoughtful in a way that is right for each of us.

Generosity is a state of mind and sometimes the challenge is in not seeking gratitude or affirmation, but in taking pleasure in giving anonymously, quietly and out of service to others and to God (even if it means having to kneel on a toilet floor!).

And God. Mark says God gives us everything, and it’s sufficient, so generosity has to start and end with God. Amen.

7 Simple Steps to Symbols of Generosity

(and here’s the quick implementation guide)

A few years ago I was worshipping in a rural church in East Anglia with my husband, and when it came to the offertory, we appeared to be two of the only people in the church who gave anything. I was a new Christian and unfamiliar with the ways of the church, so it made us feel a bit uncomfortable and confused.

Years later I’d realise that the rest of that congregation probably contributed via Standing Order, and so when the plate came round, it went straight past them. Ah so that explains it. But even once I understood this, something still bothered me. It seemed a shame that so many of the congregation didn’t take part. It didn’t seem to fit with the spirit of the thing.

That’s technology for you I suppose. Giving via Standing Oder is so efficient that you don’t even have to stretch your arm out in church! But it does seem rather a shame.

So I was very pleased to find that some churches print off little tokens that could be placed on the plate by those who contribute by Standing Order. This means they can physically take part too.

I love this idea, but wondered if the cards could have a wider use. So, thinking hat firmly on, I developed the concept even further to address a much broader set of issues we seem to have with the offertory!

Because let’s face it, in a lot of churches we try to get this awkward money bit out of the way as quickly and as discreetly as possible. We avoid looking at the plate by reading the words in our hymn books and we avoid hearing the clatter of coins by singing those words loudly. The offertory hymn covers a multitude of… embarrassments!

But what if things were different? What if we properly celebrated this bit of the service that conjured up a sense of joyful giving, or prayerful gratitude?

The token idea that I’ve adapted (ready-to-use template found at end of article) tries to help with this. It’s very simple. Basically, as everyone walks into church, they pick a token from the basket, held out by the welcome team, and when it comes to the offertory, they place it on the plate along with their usual method of giving.

But there’s more!

It’s not just any token. This one says:

“This is a symbol of the different ways I give generously to serve others, and recognition of the many ways God gives generously to me.”

These words reflect that generosity comes in many forms such as hospitality, time, resources, skills and money. And central to the offertory, which happens just before the Eucharist, is God’s generosity. That’s what this token also represents.

And there’s yet more still…

Read on for the different ways this idea can completely change attitudes to generosity in your church.

1. Prayer. On the reverse side is a prayer. This helps people to see the link between God and generosity. In the template I’ve produced there are dozens, so each week people are likely to pick up and use a new generosity prayer.
2. Mission. These prayers could highlight God’s vast generosity, the mission of the church, and might especially help those who don’t know what impact their generosity has. These prayers help people to see generous contributions fund things like clergy and lay training, stipends, mission activities, youth events, Messy Church resources, etc.
3. Inclusivity. It’s not just Standing Order contributors. It includes everybody, even the vicar and the choir, who may not be able to keep their purse under their robes but could easily pick up this small card on their way into church. Everyone chooses a prayer card from a basket regardless of how or what they give, their prayer (their generosity) is blessed at the altar along with all the other prayers and gifts on the plate. This helps us to understand that we all give something at some point and we’re all included in God’s generosity. Those who can’t give (because they forgot, they weren’t aware or they’re too poor) can take part in a church-wide blessing of generosity.
4. Collaboration. you can use prayers I’ve written, or… the prayers on the back could be written by your PCC, or by your youth group. Or they could be written one week, by your whole church at the various services people attend, so that a collection is built of the prayers of the entire body of the parish.
5. Participation. Instead of the vicar/rector/worship leader blessing the offering using the standard liturgy “Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory…” or their own prayer, they could pick a card at random each week and read that out. This could help whoever chose (or wrote) that prayer to feel very much part of the worship, strengthening bonds and participation.
6. Pause. Why not consider using the offertory as an opportunity to pause… and think back on the previous week/month about all the ways God has shown generosity and all the ways you have given generously of yourself, including the gifts given today on the plate. As the plate comes around, and everyone is holding their prayer card, each could be reflecting on all the ways they are blessed and bless others. It could be done in silence or with an appropriate piece of music playing (possibly the organist, a CD, or our worship band). By not singing a hymn, the church could take time to pause and focus. And when it comes to the blessing, the music could end and everybody could hear the words of the minister/worship leader.

These suggestions could help your church to do so many things with just one small piece of card.

From creating a clear and obvious link between the mission of the church and the gifts that people contribute, to the participation and collaboration of every member, to the pressure it could take off visitors or others who can’t give much or give in other ways, by other methods or at different times. Wouldn’t a church that celebrated the offertory like this communicate to an outsider that it was a generous church? I think it really would.

(and here’s the quick implementation guide)

Prayer Token Templates

Another Treasurer Shares Best Practice

This is another brilliant and helpful example of a talk delivered by a treasurer, which was very well received.

Coming from the perspective of generosity, rooted in Biblical principles, and seeing the local parish as being part of a much larger whole, this talk focuses on how contributions are spent on mission and supporting other parishes.

Its author (Kathie Lambert from All Saints, Preston-On-Tees) who delivered this at their recent APCM, has generously given me permission to share it, in order to assist others and to help alleviate the stress of writing such a talk from scratch. Great that these resources are being shared amongst our great big diocesan team.

Again I have removed some parish-specific financial details, so the focus remains on style and content, rather than the figures.

Kathie the Treasurer said:

“Firstly, I would like to thank you all for supporting me in my role as treasurer over the past year. It has been a steep learning curve.

Two basic facts about our finances:

1) the church has no debt. We owe nothing to anyone – except to the Lord, to whom we owe everything.

2) We do not have excessive reserves. That’s deliberate. We believe that money should be put to work for the kingdom and not stashed away in banks. We do have adequate operating reserves though so we can pay our bills on time. And we do pay on time. I think this is an important witness; “those Christians, you can always rely on them to pay their bills on time.”

I fully believe that when we are generous with the money God has given us, He will supply all our needs.

I read a quote the other day which challenged me and spoke to me personally.

If everyone in your church followed your pattern of giving, would your church thrive, survive or nosedive?

Although All Saints’ is a thriving church, there are many more things we would love to do and would do if we had the finances.

But our income is growing.

Our 2016 financial report says that our total income last year was over £x.

£x of this is the incredibly generous giving from many members of the church.

Then over £x was claimed back from the government  through gift aid.

The remaining income is everything else; like the rent from the flats across the car park which we own. And the hiring out of our church centre. Our solar panels earn us money as we sell surplus power to the national grid. And we also receive a very small amount from weddings and funerals.

What about expenditure?

Sir John Templeton once said “I have observed 100,000 families over my years of investment counselling.  I always saw greater prosperity and happiness among those families who tithed than among those who didn’t.”

What is true of family budgeting is true of church finances.

So, before we spend anything else,  we give away the first 10% of our voluntary income to outside missions in the UK and abroad outside of All Saints’.  The Missions Support team recommends to the PCC where this tithe should be spent.

Secondly, our biggest outgoing is Parish Share. This is about 40% of the church’s total spending.

Parish share pays for the vicar, his housing, his pension contributions and also honours former vicars’ pensions too. Because of parish share some churches which were dying are now flourishing.

For example, Stockton Parish Church is booming. It’s a community where the Gospel is preached and many have come to know Jesus. But it relies on parish share because many of its members are unemployed or asylum seekers.

St Mary’s Long Newton is another church which has been blessed by wealthier churches like All Saints’. It is absolutely thriving with a growing children’s ministry and a vibrant Messy Church. If our churches were completely independent of each other both these churches would probably have closed years ago.

2 Corinthians 9 says,

“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

This is why we are committed to being generous, and not stingy, with parish share.

Thirdly, nearly 30% of our spending is on teaching, outreach and mission in All Saints’. This pays our staff (not including the vicar) who work here and lead our volunteers. It also includes things like equipment for our children’s and youth work and Connect ministry, the Alpha course, the Life exhibition and so on.

This outreach budget also pays for training to keep those who are ministering sharp and able to keep delivering with high quality.

General Upkeep may not sound exciting, but it is vital. It enables us to be a hospitable and welcoming church. It’s things like insurance, gas, electricity, tea, coffee and toilet rolls… You’d soon notice if it wasn’t there!

Thank you so much to everyone who gives to the Lord’s work so generously.

I would also like to thank the finance team who help me in my role.

• Gill Wake counts all the cash and makes a trip to the bank every week to pay it in.
• Craig Aston regularly reads all the utility meters and feeds the information to our providers so that we pay what we owe, not what they estimate.
• Margaret Vaughan deals with Gift Aid and claws back thousands from the taxman.
• Terry Doyle does the payroll so our staff get paid evey month and I know how much to send to HMRC.
• John Belmont patiently explains Exel spreadsheets to me over and over again.
• Jennifer Brown is my assistant treasurer. I would be lost without all of them.

But most of all, I would like to give thanks to our Almighty God who has  ultimately supplied all our needs.

Finally, a reminder.

Billy Graham once said,

“A cheque book is a theological document, it will tell you who and what you worship.”

If you have not reviewed your giving for some time, I would encourage you to do so as a spiritual exercise.

Thank you. Are there any questions?”

Image credit: Macaca fuscata, social grooming by Noneotuho, CC BY-SA 3.0

How to Deliver a Tough Talk

Public speaking can nerve-wracking. Am I talking too quickly or too quietly? Am I too close to the microphone… or too far away? Then there’s all those faces staring at me. And what about the ones who have already nodded off? Delivering a speech isn’t easy, and it can be even tougher if the subject is money, and you’re the treasurer! Read on to find out what to say, and how to say it well.

I recently had the pleasure of listening to a talk at the end of a service that was delivered by a member of the congregation; the parish treasurer. He was sharing information on parish finances, ahead of a large parish-wide annual meeting at Stranton church, Hartlepool.

And I was pleasantly surprised!

This talk, in different circumstances, could have been awful. It could have been only about the facts, only about deficit and hardships and the need to “get more money in”. It could have been devoid of hope and the Gospel message. But thank God, this treasurer had worked hard with the incumbent to prepare a clear and honest speech that inspired, informed and encouraged. Yes it was about the accounts, but it put the mission of the church at its centre.

He has kindly allowed me to share this with you (I’ve removed some specific details), which I hope you might find a useful resource in the future, especially if you yourself are a treasurer who dreads these annual talks. Here’s how one treasurer got it right.

“As we come towards the end of our teaching on Generous Giving [the vicar] asked me to give a Treasurer’s view on the practicalities and possibilities of Parish Finance in the ministry of Stranton Church.

Of course, our recent teaching has covered generous giving in the widest sense, including prayer, voluntary service, and financial giving, all being parts of our response of faith to the good news of Jesus Christ.  By spending a few minutes now talking specifically about Church Finance I don’t want to downplay the importance of committing ourselves and our time in prayer and voluntary service.

But as Treasurer of Stranton Church I have a particular responsibility to present the finances of the Church in a way that informs members about how our giving directly supports ministry, and can enable us all to better respond in a planned and generous way, knowing that everything we are and everything we have comes from God, and this how we should respond in accordance with the teaching that we have received.

The Church Accounts for 2016 are currently in preparation and will be presented at the annual meeting in April.  In this preview summary of our main sources of income and the ways in which they are being applied, I bring this to you today as an opportunity for prayerful and planned review of your financial support.

If you are a visitor to our Church I hope you will not mind being patient for these few minutes

Just under half of our total income as a Church comes from the regular planned giving of members.  Through Loyalty Scheme, Envelopes, Bank Standing Orders, and Payroll giving.   This amounts to over £x a year, or £x per week.   On top of this, the amount receivable through Gift aid Tax claims was over £x.  In 2016 we also received over £x in bequests which was unusually high, and was the reason for us being in financial surplus, which we will be carrying forward to help meet the cost of renewal of the Church’s lighting in 2017.

We also received lesser but useful amounts of income from open plate collections, appeals for specific mission support, Fees, Signpost Magazine sales, and other sources including insurance claims and an organ recital.  St Matthew’s Community hall generated external income from lettings and other fundraising that more than covered its costs.

These other sources of income certainly helped us to run our buildings and make investments in mission, but the principal use of funds was in meeting our Parish Share payment to the Diocese to meet costs of clergy stipends, Training, Housing and diocesan support which committed one third of our income.  Our next biggest calls on finance were the pay and pension contributions of Lay worker and part time administrator.

We also supported local, home and overseas mission with £x in payments of various kinds including costs of Youth For Christ team. The materials used in services, overheads of Burbank Church, Messy Church and heating lighting and maintaining of the Church building cost a similar amount again.  We also met the out of pocket expenses of staff, upkeep of Clarkson Court and a small staff training budget.

Provisionally we ended the year with a surplus of around £x but this would have been a deficit if we had not received the two generous bequests.

If our income does not rise in 2017 we would certainly be heading for an overall deficit and as we do not hold large reserves to sustain that for long, we would have to decide what areas of ministry we would cut back on.  Our challenge for 2017 is to meet above inflation increases in Parish Share contributions, fund any pay increases for our lay worker Clive and Administrator Trish, and meet the additional the cost of our quinquennial building inspection.

As Stranton is an Anglican Church, there may be some lingering tendency for us to think that somehow our costs are met from endowments and external funds, but the reality is that our investment in mission in this parish is now funded directly through the generosity of members.

If our ministry is going to continue to grow and thrive we all need to review our giving regularly – a problem with standing orders is that they are a bit “File and forget” –they can continue unchanged for years if we don’t actively look at our giving.  But regardless of the method, planned prayerful giving means we should respond with the first fruits of our lives rather than the loose change in our pockets.

So in addition to thanking the members of this congregation who have been loyal and regular financial supporters in the past, I also present something of a challenge to us all, to respond to the love of Him who by the power at work within us does far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, so that to Him may be Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, now and for all time.”

If you want to know what the money you contribute to church is spent on, click here.

Trouble Brewing: The Great Refreshment Debate

This article might be a little provocative, but then, if we only wrote/read about that with which we agree, would we continue to grow? I hope this will at least stimulate debate, even if it falls short of direct suggestions or wisdom!

…………………

In December’s article “Room at My table”, the theme was generosity through hospitality. For me, hospitality is an integral part of generosity, and if we can get hospitality right as a church, we’re on the right track. I often encourage people to think about what a really hospitable church would look and feel like.

Churches across the land are good at finishing a service by inviting people to stay back for a chat and a brew, i.e. offering hospitality. This is a story about that after-service gathering. It’s not really a story about any specific church but, in many ways, it is a story about all our churches. And it’s a story that asks a question: “What message are we sending?”

…………………

“And don’t forget, at the end of the service you’re all invited back to our hall for refreshments.”

The vicar was going through the notices before we sang the final hymn and he blessed us and sent us forth to go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Amen.

I always try to hang around for coffee after I preach on Sundays, as it’s a nice way to get to know people and hear what they really thought of the sermon. After a few custard creams people let their guard down and tell the visiting preacher exactly how the sermon could be improved.

As an outsider / visitor / novice church-goer myself, I still feel like the Spectator of Parish Life. Sometimes, I have an internal voice that sounds suspiciously like Sir David Attenborough observing the congregation in their natural setting. Strange but true. On this particular Sunday, Sir David’s charming voice was saying:

“The parishioners were in their natural habitat, gathered around tables in small groups. The mostly female group was drinking coffee and tea, while a few males stood in smaller groups talking. There were plates of digestives, pink wafers and the odd bourbon, the biscuits of choice for the Anglican. The Parishioners appeared relaxed and content in their environment.”

Having been delayed by signing the register, I’d avoided the queue for refreshments, which, it’s important to remember, I’d been invited to partake in.

A very cheerful gentleman put his hand on my shoulder and steered me straight up to the kitchen hatch- behind which all the caffeine magic happens- and insisted, “Someone get this lassy a cuppa!” while another parishioner said, in a spot of post-generosity-sermon-banter, “And you’ll not have to pay for it mind, that one’s on me. See, we’re generous here!”, and they kindly paid for my brew. This was handy, as I had no money on me, having given it all at the offertory.

I was shown to a free seat to enjoy my coffee, and was thoroughly looked after by the jolly people of St. Somewhere’s, who made me feel ever so welcome.

But here’s the rub. Since my appointment 10 months ago, I’ve been lucky enough to visit and preach at dozens of churches. This exposure has been a great learning experience, and has taught me, among other things, that we, the Church are brilliant at refreshments. And, on a seemingly completely separate topic, we’re often rubbish at dealing with the subject of money.

Seemingly separate. But actually linked. You see we get in a right stew over “After service refreshments”. And we’re in a blend when it comes to providing refreshments, charging for refreshments, generously contributing supplies for the refreshments, inviting people to join us for refreshments and putting a plate out for donations for refreshments.

The crux of it is, are we collecting money, or are we offering hospitality? Of course, many people would say we’re doing both – the money covers the cost of the hospitality.

But then, is it really hospitality if people have to pay for it? Many of us would say that no-one actually has to pay for their cup of coffee, but how would a visitor know this? …

In the end, I’m not sure if we really can say we are both offering hospitality and also collecting money.

But wait there! I hear you cry. What if we want to pay our way? Isn’t that being generous? You might disagree with me here, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s like paying for goods rendered, much like in Starbucks, only much, much cheaper.

But more importantly, shouldn’t we consider the people who weren’t expecting to pay, gave all they had during the offertory, or can’t afford to pay? Could we put aside our desire to “pay our way”, in order to be more inclusive?

“Bridging the Gap” Project Officer, Ray Leonard, says “Charging could exclude people who don’t have the money. They’re invisible because of the shame associated with not having enough money, so the problem is never known by the church.

“We’re called to be warm, welcoming and hospitable. Why would we introduce anything that might be a barrier for someone? A suggested donation would be better, but even that has its problems. Someone who doesn’t put money in might feel they’re being judged.”

So if the cost of refreshments isn’t covered by the “customer”…then, by whom?

What if the cost was met by common church funds? If after-service refreshments were first and foremost about generosity through hospitality, would it create the right atmosphere for strengthening bonds between the existing congregation, building friendships with newer members, and bringing into the fold the folks on the edges?

But wait there! I hear you cry again. Can our church funds stretch this far? What about our commitment to contributing our Parish Share to the common diocesan pot[1]? Isn’t the sale of coffee and biscuits an important revenue for our church? Don’t we need this income?

Yes… perhaps. But when it does come to fund raising, whilst every little helps, let’s bear in mind that it probably is just that: very little. If we charge 50p for a coffee, we move firmly into the realms of fundraising (or cost covering), and out of the land of hospitality. And yet we don’t make an awful lot of cash in the process, whilst potentially excluding visitors from partaking.

So, charging for hospitality, is it really worth it?

[1]                      If you don’t know what Parish Share is or what it pays for click here

Jack and the Beans Talk

Once upon a time there was a poor widow who had an only son named Jack. Jack was a hair stylist and worked at Goldilocks, in Stiltskin’s Retail Park. All they had to live on was Jack’s earnings which didn’t amount to much, and he had quite a bit of credit card debt. Still living with his mother in his twenty-second year wasn’t ideal either, but needs must.

Every Sunday, Jack took his mother to the church on the hill in his Vauxhall Corsa. Each week he winced as she put their contribution on the plate during the service, for they had so little to spare, but he was too afraid to tell his mother. Jack had been reckless with money when he was a boy (something to do with selling a cow) and it had taken years to regain his mother’s trust. His mother was serious about contributing generously to church funds because she was a big believer in sacrificing things dear to her as an act of faith, reminding her that God is sovereign and everything is really His. Jack struggled with this, being rather too fond of money to happily give it up.

Today Jack didn’t feel like after-service coffee so he left his Mother to chat with Mrs Hubbard and he took a wander around the cemetery behind the church. He wanted some space. He hadn’t gone far when he met a funny-looking old man, who said to him: “Good morning, Jack.”

“Good morning to you,” said Jack, and wondered how he knew his name.

“Well, Jack, and where are you off to?” said the man.

“Nowhere really, just wandering.” Jack sat on a bench under a giant tree and absentmindedly checked his phone to see if he had any new followers on Twitter. He hadn’t.

The funny-looking old man, who had a crooked nose and crooked legs and crooked stick, walked straight up to him and sat beside him on the bench, sucking in the cool morning air. A moment or two passed in semi-awkward silence. The old man broke it by slapping his thigh and exclaiming,

“Oh, you look the proper sort of chap who’s concerned about this and that,” Jack looked up from his phone. “Tell me about your giving.”

“Excuse me?” said Jack, taken aback. What a personal question, he thought. Who does he think he is? I always attract weirdos. I must have a sign on my forehead that says “Talk to me if you’re…”

The man interrupted his train of thought.

“Your giving. What do you give? How do you feel about it?” said the man, and as he did he offered a brown paper bag to Jack. It was full of assorted beans coated in chocolate, salted caramel and icing sugar. They looked delicious and expensive. “Here you are, Jack, help yourself,” and he presented Jack the paper bag.

Jack paused, irritated and a bit unsure of accepting sweets from strangers, which he was fairly sure he’d been told not to do, but he could see they were from Thornton’s and the packet was newly opened, so he picked a few out and popped them into his mouth. He crunched on his beans and his irritableness seemed to disappear like the fog that had been lingering in the cemetery and was vanishing in the weak sun. With his mouth full, he asked the old man, “So, what do you want to know?”

“I want to know why you find giving hard,” said the man.

“We’ve hardly got anything to give,” he mumbled, still chewing on the beans.

“Yes, thought so,” said the old man looping strands of his wispy beard around his forefinger and staring in the distance. Jack took another handful of beans. He couldn’t help himself. This one was gingerbread flavoured.

“When we give our money to the church, I’m worried we won’t have enough for ourselves.”

“Giving is always an act of faith Jack. But more so when you have little to start with. You show great faith by what you give. But what if I told you about a very special gift? How would you like to give something away and still have just as much of it?”

This man’s insane, thought Jack. But he was curious and he wanted another gingerbread bean. He reached into the paper bag and took another handful.

“Whaddya mean?” spluttered Jack, showering his lap with gingerbread bean crumbs.

The old man emptied what was left of the bag of beans onto the bench and counted them. Twelve beans. Jacks eyes widened. He’d eaten at least a dozen beans, possibly twice as many. But the small bag, which, Jack was very familiar with by now, couldn’t have held that many. Yet here they were on the bench. How could this be? Was it a trick? He’d eaten so many beans.

As Jack’s stared in disbelief, the old man scooped up all the beans, popped them back into the paper bag and slid them into an inside pocket of his tatty jacket.

“Never mind all this beans-talk Jack, let’s talk about the greatest gift you can give.”

Jack didn’t feel like he had any great gifts at all, apart from styling hair. The old man went on, “You have a great gift dear Jack, but you keep it all to yourself. You fret and you worry about giving, and yet all the while you are hoarding great treasure.”

Jack was irritated by this strange man and his beans and his talk of great treasure that Jack was absolutely sure he did not possess.

“So what’s this great treasure I have then? How can I give it away and still have it? What are you on about?”

“You can give it away and not just have it, but have more of it. It grows!”

This is exactly what happens, thought Jack, when you talk to strangers in cemeteries. He’d had quite enough and unless this man was going to open that bag of beans again, he was off. He got to his feet and was about to go but the man leapt up and implored him,

“You have a gift Jack! You have faith,” he pointed his stick back towards the church. “You have the greatest story ever told. You’ve heard it since you were a boy and yet you never share it with anyone. It’s treasure Jack. You talk and talk all day at work but you never share the story of your faith. This is the gift you have Jack and when you share it, you don’t lose a bit of it. You give it away and you still have all of it left. It’s the most special treasure of all. In fact you don’t only get to keep what you started with Jack, but your treasure grows. Your faith gets stronger.”

Jack was stunned. He didn’t know what to say.

“You’re not poor Jack. You’re rich. And you can give it all away without worrying about bills. Give away the story. Tell all your friends. Tell your clients. Tell your neighbour’s dog.” Jack still wondered how this man knew so much about him. “And the Good News is that it’s for ever and it’s for everyone.”

BEFORE YOU GO! You are very welcome (and indeed encouraged!) to use these blogs in parish magazines or as content for Home Groups etc. 
Please cite the website so others can find their way here. 

What’s Going On In Church?

A lot happens in church that goes completely over my head. When I started attending a couple of years ago I was amazed at how strange it all was. Interesting rituals were taking place that everybody but me seemed to understand.

I became a Christian in Afghanistan and for my first 9 months I worshipped in tents in Army outposts in Helmand Province. Sometimes church was cancelled because the chaplain’s convoy got attacked or diverted. Sometimes I missed a service because I was out on patrol. At least out there I didn’t need to know anything about being an Anglican. I’m not sure I even knew that the word Anglican meant Church of England. I thought it was a window fitting company.

Does anyone else feel like me? Do you know your chasubles from your chancel? Do you know your charismatics from your cloisters? New Christians have a lot to learn. It’s a completely new vocabulary that often leaves us nodding along and smiling whilst inside wondering ‘Why does the colour of the vicar’s scarf keep changing?’

Just when I thought I’d got it, I realised that Anglo-Catholics have an entirely different vocabulary to Evangelicals and was back to square one. So I bought a Matt Redman CD, dug out my church dictionary, and began dropping in the word “fellowship” to sentences whenever I felt the urge.

But what if it’s not just new Christians who don’t always know what’s going on in church? Might there be people in our parishes who’ve been members of church for decades but couldn’t explain why we stand for the Gospel reading, why we do ‘the Peace’ or why the font is at the entrance of the church? Probably. And does anyone really understand what the offering is all about? This is a question I’ve been pondering myself.

Until quite recently, I had no idea that the money I put on the collection plate had anything to do with faith. I thought it was a bit like paying subs. It never occurred to me that I was taking part in an act of worship. Maybe that’s because in all the churches I’ve worshipped in, and that’s a lot as I travelled a lot in the army, this part of the service was…a bit…rushed? Awkward? Forgotten about?

I didn’t know that what I was actually doing when I fished around for the loose change in my handbag, was presenting to God a gift that said both ‘Thank you’ and ‘I love you’.

Then I realised that every week I’d been hearing a prayer which was key to this part of the service, but I’d never noticed:

“Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the splendour, and the majesty; for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.”

Maybe I wasn’t concentrating, or I’d put it in the ‘don’t understand’ pile (with all the other new things that I was learning). But those words “All things come from you and of your own do we give you.” It was a spiritual act. It was about faith. The offertory was an act of worship and I’d missed it.

Then, to my great confusion, I learned that not everyone calls it the offertory. Some call it the offering and some say collection. These differences reflect the different traditions and ways Christians worship. This variety is wonderful, but it can be confusing! For example some say the offertory is the moment in the service when we are simply presenting our gifts of money, which represents us (the offering of ourselves) to be used for the Kingdom of God.

There’s a direct link between what I give, and the continuing work of the Church. This works for me, as I think everybody should have the chance to hear about God’s love and who Jesus is. It makes sense, especially when I think of why we pay Parish Share.

And some believe that when the offering is brought up with the elements (bread and wine), it represents the idea of us sacrificing what we have, as during Holy Communion (the Eucharist) we remember that Jesus sacrificed everything for us.

No doubt, even within these two ends of the spectrum there will be Christians who hold different views. To try and simplify it, so as far as I can tell, some see the offering as an offering of themselves, and others see it as our response to Jesus’ sacrifice. And no doubt many think it’s a bit of both, and perhaps many more (like me until recently) haven’t ever really considered its representation at all.

So what does it mean to you? Is our offering an acknowledgement of all that God has generously and freely given us? Are we offering ourselves on the plate for God’s work? Is our money offering more about the sacrifice we’ve made, as we lead on to the Eucharist and remember everything Jesus sacrificed for us? Or is it something else? What does this act of worship mean to us?

As for me, what changed my mind about the offering, was the sacrifice bit. That’s what converted my giving habits.

When I paused and reminded myself that Jesus literally gave up his life for me, (I often have to do this), I felt ashamed when I thought of my own offering. That’s a strong word but it’s exactly how I felt. A slightly older and much wiser Christian friend assured me that God isn’t into the shame game. He just loves me and always desires the best for me.

That’s comforting, but nonetheless, my attitude changed and I started thinking differently about my offering. It was not generous, was not a sacrifice, was not a representation of how grateful I am, or how I love Jesus. What I’d been giving before was an amount that could easily get lost in my untidy handbag. Since deciding to give generously I actually feel that I’m taking part in an act of worship, rather than paying subs. Now what I give is part of my relationship with God. It’s saying ‘Thank you’ and ‘I love you’.

BEFORE YOU GO! You are very welcome (and indeed encouraged!) to use these blogs in parish magazines or as content for Home Groups etc. Please cite the website so others can find their way here. 

My Money Story (part 2 of 2)

Learning and then sharing Money Stories is a remarkable way of helping couples to explore their different approaches to money. It can resolve some of the tensions that money can bring. It can be helpful to discuss the different priorities or attitudes we have towards money. Then we know why our husband hates opening bills, or why our wife always keeps cash on her even though most places take card; she’d hate to be caught short. We understand why our brother insists on picking up the restaurant bill or why we, ourselves, never discuss our salary with our parents. We begin to see why it was much harder to sign on than we expected, and why we feel we should be seen to donate so much to charity. Our Money Stories hold the key.

What the Bible tells us.

Money Stories help us understand one of the most challenging Bible stories about money. Let’s look at the story of The Rich Official, Luke 18:18-25 (The Message version)

One day one of the local officials asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to deserve eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good—only God. You know the commandments, don’t you? No illicit sex, no killing, no stealing, no lying, honour your father and mother.” He said, “I’ve kept them all for as long as I can remember.” When Jesus heard that, he said, “Then there’s only one thing left to do: Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. You will have riches in heaven. Then come, follow me.” This was the last thing the official expected to hear. He was very rich and became terribly sad. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let them go. Seeing his reaction, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who have it all to enter God’s kingdom? I’d say it’s easier to thread a camel through a needle’s eye than get a rich person into God’s kingdom.”

How could a rich and religious man not do what simple fishermen did: leave everything to follow Jesus? This young man is not the hoarder in barns , the prodigal playboy, or one who disregards the poor in Luke’s other stories (Luke 12:13-21; 15:11-32;16:19-31). He has kept the law from childhood, yet he walks away from Jesus with a broken heart, knowing full well what he is leaving behind. Alongside faith his Money Story is shaping his attitudes and ultimately compromising his faith.

Did he learn early on that wealth was a sure sign of blessing? Did family wealth isolate him from his community or make him hard of heart towards the poor? Did he come to believe that his identity and status lay in his wealth? We don’t know. But what we do know is that he is the only person in the gospels to turn down a direct invitation to follow Jesus. His Money Story was so powerful it even took priority over his faith. We mustn’t let our hidden money messages and inherited attitudes come between us and following Jesus.

Over a period of time, consider the following questions and maybe do this exercise with a friend or partner.

• What are your earliest memories of money as a child? Are they funny or sad? Does they make you angry, resentful, or grateful?
• Was money talked about at home or was it a taboo subject? Was money a cause of anxiety to you as a child? Does one memory stand out for you?
• Did you have pocket money? Did you earn it or was it given to you?
• Did you work before leaving school? A Saturday job? A paper round? What did you like to spend your money on?
• What was your first job when you left school? How much did you earn? Do you remember what you spent the first week’s wages on?
• Have you ever been given money? How did that make you feel?
• In a relationship (a marriage, with a friend, or a sibling for example) do/did you and your partner have similar or different attitudes to money? What are/were the causes of tension and disagreement? How were they resolved?
• What have you heard in church about money? Has church been important in shaping your Money Story?
• Excluding a house, think of one big item you have bought. What was it and how did buying it make you feel?
• Have you ever regretted buying something? What made you do it?

A Prayer for Money Stories

Loving Father thank you for all that you have given me. All that I am and all that I have is a gift from you. Please help me to remember this and to follow your Son Jesus Christ. Help me to understand how my Money Story affects how I live my life. If my attachment to money is preventing me a good relationship with you God, please give me strength to change. Lord, in your mercy, hear my prayer. Amen.

BEFORE YOU GO! You are very welcome (and indeed encouraged!) to use these blogs in parish magazines or as content for Home Groups etc. Please click follow so you can get the next post for free sent directly to your inbox.