![]() ![]() When we asked a group of about a hundred pastors last year what their budgeting process was like, the vast majority responded that it was more or less a “copy and paste with minor changes” deal. They’ll start with a copy of last year’s budget on the table, have a discussion about what was spent and what minor changes they want to make, and then they’ll call it a day. As a result, pastors often default to giving the budgeting process to volunteer teams or fall back on the “do what we did last year” syndrome. Pastors are taught how to preach, but they are rarely taught how to lead and manage an organization. You cannot expect your church to budget around Vision if you don’t have one! Warning Sign 2: Copied and Pasted from Last Year Or perhaps the church’s Vision is generally shared, but it lacks clarity so that it can be acted on by the church. For example, it might be a clear Vision, but it isn’t shared among the congregation. The problem is that churches rarely have a Vision that meets this definition. The first step to budgeting around Vision is to actually have as Aubrey Malphurs defines in Advanced Strategic Planning, a “clear, shared, exciting picture of God’s future for your church as it can be and must be.” They ask, ”How can we keep things going?” instead of asking, “ Where are we going?” As a result, they budget to maintain the status quo rather than budget to fund Vision. Churches that are in plateau or in decline tend to think operationally by default. The most fatal mistake that churches make is that they budget around function rather than Vision. Here are four warning signs of a bad church budget: ![]() Read through these and see if any of them resonate with you. I’ve put together a list of four common mistakes that churches make when they build a budget that keep them from being effective. They see it as a spreadsheet prison that keeps them from over-spending. Unfortunately, I have found over the last three years of consulting full-time that most churches see budgets as a piece of paper they feel required to have. To be fruitful, churches need to budget well in order to maximize the resources they have. I had a passion for seeing people who are far from God draw near to Him by faith.ĭo you know what I didn’t think about one time? Budgeting.īut the reality is that churches require resources to keep the lights on and to do the work of ministry. I had dreams of sharing the gospel, comforting the down-trodden. I remember when I received the call from the Lord to go into ministry when I was in junior high school. Building a budget has got to be the least attractive part of going into ministry. ![]()
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