Bible Students

Abstract

This paper will provide an overview of how churches can manage their budget. The church budget includes finances, materials, spaces, and volunteers. The church budget is far more than simply finances, and includes all of the things which come in and are used by the church. A church that does not seek to manage both finances and the “extra” budget items will not faithfully use their resources. All resources must be budgeted. These four budgets will be explored through how to gain, keep, and use them faithfully. Additionally, it will cover some difficulties with these budgets and potential creative solutions to solve them. 

Introduction

Church administration involves a difficult balance of getting, saving, and using resources. These resources include finances, materials, spaces, and volunteers. All four of these are difficult to manage on their own, and without careful planning can become impossible to manage all together. A church budget is often thought to be finances alone, which is one place disaster can creep up. When the other budgets of materials, spaces, and volunteers are ignored, the church can face great difficulties. However, when all four budgets are taken care of, the church can be masterfully managed behind the scenes. This often requires thinking outside of the box in order to come up with up-to-date and cutting-edge solutions for the specific circumstances every church is in. 

Finances

Finances is a very common aspect of budgeting. The finance budget includes balancing ministry expenses, debt, donations, salaries, and mercy ministries. Balancing the finances well requires paying careful attention to money coming in, money staying, and money going out. All three of these will be covered below. 

Getting money

Churches often receive money from tithes, but can receive money from many other methods as well. However, there are also difficulties bringing money into the church, especially when churches are funded primarily through donations. 

Difficulties of Getting Money

There are a handful of difficulties with collecting money from congregants and outsiders. The church usually does not offer a service for a price, but offers its services free of charge and accepts donations (tithes and offerings). This means there is not a high pressure for the audience to pay, as it is usually entirely optional. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Getting Money

There are many methods a church can use to think outside of the box for raising money. This includes spreading information about finances, having a convenient place to receive finances, for-pay services, and fundraising events.

The first step to raising finances is informing the congregation that there is a need in the church body for the finances. For example, during announcements a pastor can announce the progress on raising funds for a new portable building, which will help the quickly-growing youth ministry with space. Additionally, if the preacher preacher exegetically he will come across biblical reasons to give quite frequently. If he preaches topically, he will want to preach on giving long before the church needs the resources for a specific project, lest his preaching sound more like lobbying than faithful teaching. 

Second, the church can offer easy and accessible giving stations. This includes both in-person boxes in areas such as the congregation hall or sanctuary and online giving stations. Online giving can be done through the website of a church, and be posted on both the main page of the website and through a link on the bulletin. 

Third, the church can raise money through through for-sale services. This would technically no longer fall under a not-for-profit church, and have to be a separate legal entity. However, a coffee shop, preschool, or counseling center can all be an extension of the local church, ran as a regular business, whose profits then go to the church as fundraising. Alternatively, the church can run a donations-only campaign through a bake sale or vacation Bible school. Both of these would be free services which encourage donations but do not require them. 

Saving money

Saving money is incredibly important, especially in an organization funded primarily through donations (which can greatly fluctuate). Saving money is not unspiritual, but is wise planning for the resources the Lord has provided. 

Difficulties of Saving Money

Saving money can be another difficult and overlooked aspect of management. Money can be stolen through an untrustworthy person having access to the funds, used on frivolous ministry spending, or lost if invested during a difficult economic period. All of these pose real threats to a local church. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Saving Money

Protecting against losing money in a church requires thinking outside of the box. First, money should be protected from theft. Bank accounts should be protected well with complex passwords and passwords should not be shared with non-essential individuals. Additionally, any physical money should be accounted for by multiple individuals, as to keep everyone accountable and away from suspicion. 

Next, frivolous spending should be avoided. Ministries do not always need the newest accessories, and do not need to be constantly replacing things as trends come and go. Rather, churches must use their money wisely, which will be covered in the next section. 

Using money

Difficulties of Using Money

Churches can easily use money on nonessential things which end up costing a large part of the budget. Before this kind of optional spending is done, the church must make sure to pay the essentials. If the church does not first pay its essentials, it can quickly become bankrupt. Two ways to use money well include making sure to cover the essential debts, and spending it on things the church truly needs.

Thinking Outside the Box about Using Money

Debt is a common reality for churches. Buildings often cost more than the church currently has in its savings. However, this is not always bad. If the debt brings in more money than it costs, then it is a clear advantage to have. For example, if a counseling center brings in far more money than the accelerated debt payments on the building, then it is paying for itself and more and should be considered a beneficial use of money. 

Additionally, churches must make sure to pay the essential things first. These essential things include salaries, debt payments, utilities, and promised contributions (such as 10% to a missions organization). These payments are essential before any extra spending by ministry departments.

When ministry departments do spend money, they should spend it sparingly. The church can often reuse things to save money, and does not need to always have updated materials or settings. For example, if a vacation Bible school hosts an underwater event, they do not need to purchase expensive decorations. Instead, the team can create large coral structures using wooden rods, expanding foam, and bright spray paint. When the VBS the following year is a camp theme, the same coral can be spray painted green and brown with green tissue paper attached. What started as foam and wooden rods was transformed to bright coral and then transformed again into dead trees and bushes. Money does not always need to be spent on expensive things. 

However, when the church does spend money, it should primarily go to building up individuals. Ministry money spent should primarily go to empowering individuals. The ministry of the church is primarily making disciples for Jesus, not having fancy programs or curriculum. The workers (both paid and volunteer) are the most important asset to the church (Matthew 28:16-20). If the building was gone, the church would still exist. If the people were gone, the church would no longer exist. Money should primarily go to educating and equipping individuals. This includes workplace training, online courses for graciously handling children with autism, training in conflict-resolution, and making volunteers and staff feel cared for. Buying food for volunteers can help make them feel very appreciated. 

Materials

Churches use a large amount of materials and tools for teaching, training, and fun activities. Materials and tools include laptops, chairs, curriculum, games, and other items the church uses to enhance their ability to fulfill their call. Materials can be bought or rented, but often they are also given to the church free of charge. 

Getting Materials

Difficulties of Getting Materials

Churches often need a lot of materials. For example, the church may need a laptop for every employee, which is replaced every few years, may need 200 chairs for Sunday services and events, and may need three different sets of curriculum for the children, youth, and young adult ministries. All of these materials cost money, which may be incredibly difficult for a struggling church. However, there are ways to reduce the cost and increase the usability of items. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Getting Materials

There are many alternative methods to gathering materials than simply buying them brand new. First, the church can ask the congregation if they are willing to lend any materials. For example, a Bible College graduate may be willing to create an 8-week curriculum free of charge, and a family may be willing to bring a snow-cone machine to VBS free of charge. 

Second, the church may consider renting items rather than buying them. For example, if the church is using a bounce-house for a children ministry event, they would likely rent it for the day rather than buy it, unless they use it very frequently. Churches who use an item every month would likely be shown wise if they buy the item, rather than rent it.

Third, online services such as YouTube allow for a church to post any curriculum or video materials they may need, free of charge. Educational videos, how-to videos, and more can all be created and posted free of charge. These are only a few of the alternative ways a church can collect materials without spending over the budget, and there are many more. However, what should a church do once they have the materials? 

Saving Materials

Difficulties of Saving Materials

One of the major difficulties of saving the materials a church owns is storage. Churches have a limited amount of storage, and can not infinitely store items they accumulate. With borrowing and lending materials, the cost of storing materials is lessened, but the burden still exists. 

Another major difficulty for storing and keeping materials is wear and tear. Materials naturally become damaged over time with use and misuse. For example, sanctuary chairs may become overused and damaged after only a few years of use. Additionally, chairs in the youth room may deteriorate even faster. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Saving Materials

There are a few ways to save and keep materials without simply replacing them. First, materials can be lent or rented to other churches in order to keep down storage costs. While this may lead to faster deterioration, it will help with the cost of storage if materials are being stored off site. Churches can also store materials at an individual’s house, and borrow materials from individuals (which would naturally be stored at the individuals’ houses). 

Additionally, materials can be taken care of well in order to extend their life. For example, using a shampoo machine on sanctuary chairs may reduce the wear and tear over time from dirt and dust. Additionally, not allowing youth students to jump on chairs can significantly increase their lifespan. 

Using Materials

Difficulties of Using Materials

One of the difficulties to using materials well is that there are only so many materials a church has access to, so materials must be prioritized for specific areas. If churches have only 200 chairs, and 160 of them are in the sanctuary, then the youth room can not set out 80 chairs. Rather, the church will have to make a hard choice on where the materials are needed the most, and this often requires creativity. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Using Materials

The methods previously listed give some of the answers for how to use the accumulated materials well. When the materials are treated nicely, they will last longer. If the materials are rented to another church, they may provide additional income to offset any damages on the materials. When curriculum is created in-house, lessons do not need to be very expensive to create for lay-Christians. Using materials well means being creative about how and where they are used. 

Spaces

Church services and events take up a certain amount of space, depending on the activity and how many people are attending. Different churches and different events need drastically different spaces in order to host the activity and amount of people who will come. A midweek youth group of 10 students and 3 adults may need a small room for a Bible study or a small field for an out-door game. A community evangelism outreach may only need a corner of a room to pray and get ready to go out into the community. Whatever space the church has for its activities, church spaces are incredibly valuable. The church often runs into the problem of a lack of space. However, when used strategically, space does not have to be a problem for churches. 

Getting Space

Difficulties of Getting Space

Gaining permanent space at a church can be a great challenge. Constructing new sections of a building may cost a lot of money and time, and would not make sense for one event. Renting out a space is an option, but is costly again. On the other hand, a church may have plenty of space, but no one to fill that space. Building new rooms, buildings, or outdoor areas is very expensive. However, churches can usually find new spaces for activities without breaking the bank. This requires thinking outside of the box. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Getting Space

There are many ways to have spaces for activities without spending a lot of money. Churches can reuse existing rooms, bring in a room divider, use an outdoor area on site, go to a public area, or rent a space. All of these have their advantages and disadvantages. 

First, a church does not need to find new space for every activity. If the highschool room is only used for highschoolers three times a week, it can be used for other activities as many times as needed throughout the rest of the week. A leadership meeting, counseling session, event preparation, and community finance course can all be hosted in a highschool room during regular hours (10am-12pm or 6pm-8pm, for example, depending on the activity and audience) without interfering with the activities of the highschool. In fact, a church’s children’s ministry with a handful of rooms can act as the church-run private preschool during the week when Sunday school is not in session. A junior high room, similarly, can be the home base for a homeschool co-op group, and certain church office layouts can double as areas for professional for-profit- or lay- counseling. If there is a need for more room for less individuals, a room divider can be used to turn a larger room into two smaller rooms for the two activities. 

An additional method for multiplying space is to use an open-air venue. This can either be rented by the church (for more formal events) or hosted at the church itself (either on a large field or in the parking lot). Open-air events can include Trunk-or-Treat (trick-or-treating in a parking lot with candy in the trunks of cars), a barbeque, or a senior graduation party.

Saving Space

Difficulties of Saving Space

Keeping the space one has at the church can be a challenge, as the different areas can easily be forgotten in considering where to hold different events or double-booked for events. Additionally, spaces can become cluttered, either becoming dirty or becoming a temporary storage unit. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Saving Space

Keeping the spaces kept orderly and useable is very important if they are going to be used well. Spaces can be cleaned regularly and cleaned out regularly. Additionally, the areas can be prioritized for the proper ministries first, before secondary events. 

Cleaning areas is very important. The church can either hire an outside company or clean the areas themselves. Rooms often will need sweeping or vacuuming, and occasionally need window and wall cleaning. Rooms that are for children will need wall cleaning more often than rooms that are primarily used by adults. Floors may need to be cleaned with a shampooer, which can be rented or bought for continual use by the church (especially for vomit, accidents, and spilled drinks). One suggestion for room cleaning is to briefly clean the room after every single use. After an event, the event coordinator or a volunteer can vacuum the floor and put chairs away. This makes cleaning quick and regular. 

Keeping rooms without clutter is also very important. Often, churches can have more materials than available storage space. Chairs can be stored at the walls or back of a room, but too much storage out in the open can look unorganized. One suggestion for hiding excess storage is to use a black tablecloth over the stacks of chairs, or a room divider to make a temporary storage area. A long-term suggestion is to designate a permanent area for storage (a back office, divided room, or closet). Additionally, for smaller items shelves can be built alongside one wall to house items such as curriculum, VBS decorations, and event signs. 

Finally, keeping space available necessitates prioritizing the most important ministries. For example, if a ministry seeks to reserve the sanctuary for band practice at 10 in the morning on a Sunday, the answer must be “no,” as the Sunday service must take priority. The regular teaching ministries often take priority in the church, so those ministries should not be overridden by other ministries attempting to reserve the space at the same time. A fast rule of thumb for prioritizing ministries is to compare the effect it has on people. If a Sunday service only hosts 10 individuals each week, but the highschool or community class brings in 50 people at the same time on a Sunday morning, it may be worth considering giving the larger influence the higher priority.

Using Space

Difficulties of Using Space

One of the greatest difficulties around using the space properly is that the spaces are poorly managed, dirty, and disorganized. However, if those problems are taken care of, how should the rooms be used effectively? 

Thinking Outside the Box about Using Space

Space in the church is a very valuable resource. However, space is often left unused. There are many examples of what church space can be used for during the week when there is not a regular service, in order to faithfully steward the space given by God. 

First, church classes can be offered inside the building. These classes could either accept donations or be a paid service. Small-groups who can not meet in a local home that week could meet in a room of the building. Counseling can take place in the different rooms of the church. The church could act as a safe-haven during the night for families fleeing from domestic abuse. A Church gym can be used as a public amenity during the week to introduce locals to the church facilities. The church can be used during the week for many activities, and not be left empty. When the church is left empty, the space is missing out on being used for the Kingdom. 

Volunteers

Volunteers are the absolute most essential asset of the church budget. The church would not be able to the events and activities it does without the help of many unpaid hands. Volunteers can both be over depended on and under appreciated. Depending on volunteers and appreciating volunteers must involve some kind of compensation and much training. 

Getting Volunteers

Difficulties of Getting Volunteers

A major setback for recruiting volunteers is the looming question: “Why should I volunteer?” This is a valid question. Volunteers are able to offer their help to the church both to give their expertise and passions to the church, as well as be grown spiritually and professionally. Often volunteers do not know how they can help, where they can help, or what they will be able to gain from helping. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Getting Volunteers

As mentioned, volunteers should be grown professionally and spiritually. Volunteers are able to help the church a great deal through their expertise and willingness, and in return the church must be willing to pour back into them. The pastor can help spread awareness by mentioning areas of need for the church during the announcements. Additionally, the church bulletin can raise awareness for the areas of needs. Finally, a once-a-month or once-a-quarter “volunteer fair” can be held, where different departments have a stand out in the congregation hall to spread awareness and interest for help in their department. 

Saving Volunteers

Difficulties of Saving Volunteers

One difficulty with keeping volunteers around is that they do not feel used well or do not feel appreciated. Volunteers can leave due to interpersonal conflicts, strife with leadership, or a disinterest in the ministry. All of these are real and present dangers to the volunteer pool.

Thinking Outside the Box about Saving Volunteers

One of the best ways to help volunteers feel appreciated is to invest in them. Volunteers are gifted by God to contribute to the Body of Christ. Those giftings can be discovered, grown, and used all in the local church. Therefore, the church can spend time, materials, space, and money on volunteers to both empower them and motivate them to contribute and stay around to keep being invested in.

Investing in volunteers can easily be done through collecting online videos. The use of video platforms such as Youtube allow for a cost-free method of distributing professional and spiritual growth tools. For example, a church’s highschool ministry can ask volunteers to watch hand-picked videos, such as: “Conflict-Resolution with Teenagers,” “How Puberty Changes the Brain,” “The Effect and Prevalence of Pornography with Today’s High Schoolers,” and “The Gospel in Post-Modern Terms.” All of these videos would be free to distribute through Youtube to the volunteers. Additionally, the highschool pastor can create videos to post on Youtube and distribute, such as: “Behavior Trends in Our Youth,” “Today’s Slang,” “Places for Youth to Volunteer Outside Our Walls,” or “Discipleship Locations and Ideas Around Town.”

Using Volunteers

Difficulties of Using Volunteers

It can be very difficult to effectively use volunteers. Some of those difficulties involve volunteers who do not know their gifts, those who do not know how to use their gifts, and those who do not know where to use their gifts. Some of these difficulties are resolved by informing them on these opportunities. However, some of the difficulty still remains. 

Thinking Outside the Box about Using Volunteers

One of the creative ways to use volunteers is to create roles for volunteers, not volunteers for roles. Volunteers can be helped to know their passions and gifts by examining what they enjoy and what they have experience in. For example, take 4 volunteers: Jack, Sam, Julie, and Emma:

Jack took eight years of piano, three years of highschool theater, many college speaking courses, and has an interest in alternative teaching methods. Sam has an interest in children, and was on student council in highschool. Julie loves to read, has experience as a Christian school teacher, and enjoys making props and crafts for the church. Emma has experience in children’s ministry administration, and enjoys high-energy activities. 

These four volunteers could all be part of a children’s ministry drama team. The activity (drama skit) is built around the individuals, rather than individuals who are placed to fit pre-existing roles. A drama team can greatly use the giftings and passions of these four individuals, while assigning them to be a classroom monitor (a more regular children’s ministry assignment) would not take advantage of the giftings being offered. 

Conclusion

As has been explored, the church budget is both a difficult and worthwhile thing to seek to manage well. The church budget comes with many difficulties, including an inability to gain resources, a difficulty with keeping materials in pristine condition, and challenges of supporting budgets with finances and donors. However, the advantages to budgeting well are clear: A well-defined and planned budget will produce wise methods of using, lending, and potentially profiting off of the many resources a church has access to. 

Bibliography

Anderson, Leith. “Volunteer Recruitment.” in Leadership Handbook of Management and Administration, ed. James D. Berkley, Revised and Expanded Edition. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Books, 2007.

Fields, Doug. Purpose Driven Youth. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan, 1998.

Ferguson, Doug & Jon Ferguson. Exponential. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan, 2010.

Powerl, Kara, Jake Mulder, & Brad Griffin. Growing Young. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Books, 2016.