Let’s start with the obvious—handling money is hard. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CFO running a Fortune 500 company or a college student with a part-time job; few things can test a person’s character, patience, and commitment, like managing money. To further complicate the issue, there are countless articles, often with conflicting advice from financial experts, providing guidance on everything from building credit, leveraging loans to invest in growth, strategic investments, managing cash flow, cash reserves, and the list goes on and on. And the list of financial advice isn’t limited to the secular world; there are mountains of information aimed at churches to provide sage financial best practices. While for-profit and non-profit organizations need a budget to set income and spending goals, ensure proper allocation of financial resources, remain mission-focused, and demonstrate accountability and transparency, church budgets are different. The church doesn’t exist to make a profit; it exists to accomplish the great commission, and building a church budget is the means to achieve this essential command.
Treasure On Earth
In Matthew’s Gospel account of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” chapter 6, verse 19 provides insight into how Jesus expected us to manage the resources entrusted to us. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” Jesus warns us of our propensity to desire the accumulation of material things and money above God. We see this consistent message throughout scripture, like when Paul warned Timothy about the evil associated with loving money in 1 Timothy 6:10.
Does this mean churches should forego a healthy reserve account or invest in upgrading their facility? Of course not; that’s not the point. As followers of Jesus, we must see scripture in its entirety, and the Bible contains plenty of advice on how to steward (manage) God’s money appropriately. That includes saving for emergencies (Proverbs 13:11, Proverbs 21:10, 1 Corinthians 16:2).
Treasure In Heaven
Jesus went on to say, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” – Matthew 6:20. That’s the beauty of a church budget. It’s a means to an end. It provides a plan to fulfill the church’s mission. The budget allocates resources to pay the staff to build up the Body of Christ through teaching, children’s and youth ministries, supporting local and global outreach efforts, and providing pathways for people to find Jesus and grow deep in their faith. The issue is not how much money the church has to budget but how the church budgets the money it has.
What Do You Treasure?
The money is not the problem. Interestingly, in both scenarios, the investor has financial resources – it’s the investment of the money that matters: earthly or heavenly. Jesus summarized by saying, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The church budget is a window into the church’s heart; it shows where it invests its treasure. That doesn’t mean church budgets must allocate 100% toward global outreach to reveal the heart of Jesus. The truth is that operating a church is quite different in the 21st century than the 1st and requires budget line items for utilities, insurance, marketing, curriculum, maintenance, and, yes, salaries. For example, if the church invests 45%- 55% of the total operating budget on compensation (a known healthy percentage), it reveals the church’s heart to appropriately compensate “those who are laboring hard at preaching and teaching,” as found in 1 Timothy 5:17, it’s not storing up treasure on earth.
Handling money takes a lot of hard work. However, a well-crafted church budget that focuses on the mission reveals the heart of the church, and that is an investment in building treasure in heaven.
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