FINANCES IN POST PANDEMIC CHURCH #2
This blog
will continue from last week’s blog, including the remaining financial lessons
from the “Leading Ideas” blog offered through churchleadership.com. I am continuing
to cite that blog, but am paraphrasing much of what I learned.
1. Reassess
expenses. This is something that should be done regularly. However,
with over a year of the pandemic, and things starting to change because of it,
now is the time to look at what changed and what didn’t, what needs to remain
and what doesn’t. Are there changes that should be permanent? Once you’ve
answered these questions and reviewed the changes, look at the expenses, building
use, staffing patterns. What are the changes that should be considered?
2. Have a
realistic budget. How many times have we set a budget that
either doesn’t balance, or has an income line called “short fall” or “faith
line”? If you ask me that question, I would be embarrassed by my answer. Too
many to count, perhaps? Obviously, we hope for the best: (a) that more people
will start coming to church; (b) that people will start giving more; (c ) that
there will be fundraisers that will come in the next year. I absolutely believe
that money will follow ministry, but just setting an unrealistic budget and “hoping
for the best” without making any realistic changes or predictions, simply sets
you up for failure.
3. Maintain
(or set up) a reserve fund. A reserve fund isn’t an endowment fund,
nor is it simply using the “left over funds” from the prior year. A reserve
fund is the result of a deliberate and conscious decision. You sometimes hear
it called an emergency fund. Families should have an emergency fund set aside.
Professionals think an emergency fund should be enough to cover expenses for
three months. Churches should do the same. Of course, there is nothing you can
do that will make you disaster-proof. Who could have anticipated a pandemic,
for heavens’ sake? But there are boilers that won’t start, roofs that leak, and
other issues that affect income by reducing it or affect expenses by increasing
them. Set up a reserve fund. Budget for it. It will help keep you from going “over
the edge” when something unanticipated happens.
4. Know
where you stand. Don’t be caught off guard when something
happens. If you keep an eye on where you stand, keeping track of trends,
ratios, key indicators, you will be better able to respond to something going
on. If you simply wonder why revenue is decreasing, you will lose the chance to
respond to it. Look at your giving trends: are there fewer people, are people
giving less, are less people giving, etc. etc. Look at your staffing and
expenses: do they keep increasing without an increase in ministry, are there
positions that aren’t appropriate for current ministry, etc. etc. Establish
systems that will help you keep track of what is going on and respond before it’s
too late.
Something I’ve
said when asked, if that the majority of the problems that we are facing as
churches during and post-pandemic were not caused by the pandemic. They existed
before any of this happened. The pandemic forced us to confront the issues and
not continue to ignore them. There was nothing to fall back on. Manage what you
have wisely, engage your givers, and look at new approaches to your financial
picture and policies.
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