WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT SPENDING?

 

            Money is talked about a great deal in the Bible. In fact, Jesus talks about money more than he talks about anything else except the Kingdom of God. Eleven of thirty-nine parables and one of every seven verses in the Gospel of Luke talks about money. This is a lot of talking about money.

 

            One of the bibles I own is The Financial Stewardship Bible by the American Bible Society, and what’s cool about it is all the verses talking about money and stewardship come pre-highlighted (in green). If I flip through the Bible, there is an awful lot of green! It sometimes makes me wonder why people struggle to talk about money in church. The Bible (both the Old and New Testaments) are pretty up-front about it. When someone “complains” that every time they come to church, we talk about money, maybe the response shouldn’t be an apology, but a promise to talk about it even more often, just like Jesus!!

 

            Of course, some of the scripture talks about tithing and giving. But some talks about spending too.

 

 

Isaiah 55:1-2, in the Message says it this way:

 

                        “Hey there! All who are thirsty,

                        come to the water!

                        Are you penniless?

                        Come anyway—buy and eat!

                        Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.

                        Buy without money—everything’s free!

                        Why do you spend your money on junk food,

                        your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?

                        Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,

                        fill yourself with only the finest.”

 

           Of course, other translations don’t talk about cotton candy and junk food, but I think this translation makes it pretty clear. Jesus takes this a little further in the Gospel of John and says this:

 

                        “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that

                        endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will

                        give you. For on him God the Father has placed

                        his seal of approval.” (John 6:27 NIV)

 

            Of course, we’re going to spend money, but we can’t seek satisfaction by laboring and spending money on the worldly stuff. Instead, w have to do it by spending it on food that gives us eternal life. What kind of food is this?

 

            There’s the story of the feeding of the 5,000. At the end of the story, everyone is fed and everyone is satisfied, but the story doesn’t end there. All the leftovers are gathered up in baskets. It doesn’t go on to tell us what happened to the leftovers, but it seems like common sense that we don’t take the time to gather items up if we’re just going to throw them away. Those leftovers didn’t go to waste! Remember, the story has a couple of lessons:

• ·         Everyone had enough, and everyone was full
• ·         But there was a surplus

            God provides, but God provides more than we need, not to grasp it all for ourselves, but to share it with others. This is the labor that we should be joining in. We, as a people, aren’t very good at this. As a group, Christians only give about 2.5% of their income. Why is it so hard? If we have a surplus, more than we need, why is it hard to share the surplus?

            Maybe because we have more than we need. I read that “when we have enough to take care of every need, want and desire, there’s less of a change we’ll seek God’s presence and help. The things that money can provide can quickly lead to spiritual apathy and fruitlessness.” (Christian Stewardship Network)

            How we spend our money is the best way to determine what we care about. Ask yourself and your folks a couple of questions:

• ·         What does your own spending reveal?
• ·         How can you alter your spending habits to honor God?
• ·         How can you make sure your heart is in the right place when spending?

            These are difficult but important questions to consider, as we approach our spending to be less about ourselves and more about impacting the lives of others.

 

   WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PASTOR DISCRETIONARY FUND                                 EXPENSES AND REIMBURSABLE EXPENSES?

 

            I wanted to write this blog after reading an article titled “A Matter of Good Stewardship: Tips for Responsible Handling of a Pastor’s Discretionary Fund.” My review of the General Council on Finance & Administration’s website (gcfa.org) has an updated article titled “Clergy Discretionary Funds.” Too often, I have encountered pastors or financial people who don’t understand the difference between pastor’s discretionary funds and accountable reimbursement plans.

Accountable Reimbursement Plans (ARP)

            Accountable reimbursement plans are defined as a fund or account set up for his/her ordinary, necessary, and reasonable business expenses incurred in the conduct of the ministry for, and on behalf of, the Church. Various costs that would be included here would be automobile (standard federal mileage rate), parking and tolls; office supplies and postage; office equipment, computer and software; books, subscriptions and periodicals such as professional journals; professional dues; religious materials, vestments and business gifts; continuing education and seminars; entertainment required for Church business; and travel fares, lodging and meals while on business for the church.

            The Internal Revenue Service defines a business expense is one that is directly related to the purposes and goals of the organization and is reasonably necessary to fulfill those goals. It is necessary that expenses relate to the church’s unique mission

and that they not be personal expenses of the pastor.

 

a.    For example, it would not be proper for a minister to claim a travel reimbursement for the expense of visiting a sick relative who is not a member of the church and who lives 100 miles away, even if part of the purpose of the trip was to give spiritual comfort. The primary reason for the trip is to visit a relative.

b.    If a pastor went on a two-week vacation with his/her family and also preached at two churches during the trip, reimbursement for the travel vacation expenses would not be proper. Some of the expenses related to the preaching would be appropriate if the pastor’s church encouraged such preaching arrangements during vacations, the pastor obtained approval for this, and the pastor incurred additional expenses on the trip for going to those church locations. If the personal nature of the expense is the primary consideration, it is not a business expense.

Pastor’s Discretionary Fund

            Clergy discretionary funds at a local church are for helping the poor and needy. The clergyperson administering the clergy discretionary fund is essentially acting as a trustee of the funds held in it, which are owned by the local church or annual conference and often funded by the contributions of numerous donors. As such, the clergyperson is obligated to use the clergy discretionary fund only for its stated purposes, and not for personal gain or benefit. The funds can’t be used to benefit the clergyperson or the family. It should not be used on projects which might present an actual or potential conflict of interest or an appearance of impropriety. Examples of this would include: cash payments to the clergyperson or a family member; paying the tuition/medical/etc. bill of the clergyperson’s child; reimbursing non-business related travel expenses of the clergyperson’s spouse; paying one month’s rent for a cousin of a clergyperson, even if the cousin is poor or needy; and providing funds to support the activity of another nonprofit entity lead by a family member of the clergyperson.

            This link will take you to the GCFA article which takes time to give many examples of appropriate disbursements, inappropriate disbursements, and other issues that should be cared for. For example, using the pastor’s discretionary fund to buy groceries for a family in need (with proper documentation and receipts) is appropriate, but buying a bag of groceries for all families in the church (even if some are in need) is probably not appropriate.

            https://www.gcfa.org/media/1280/clergy_discretionary_funds_rev112816.pdf

            No matter what, good written procedures should be in place at our church, and these policies and procedures should be communicated to your pastor and council and SPPRC, and continually communicated to new pastors as they come on board and to new members of the council and SPPRC.

            Policies are important, but must be communicated AND followed. Proper documentation for both types of “payments” are vital and being careful to separate the two types is also vital.

 

                             NARRATIVE BUDGETS

 

            I spent a few blogs talking about year-round stewardship and different things to do each month of the year, to encourage yourself and the folks in your congregation in their generosity.

            I mentioned during the month of October, that at this point, you should have a draft of your line-item budget done.

            I also talked about working on a narrative budget. Have you used a narrative budget in your church before? Are you using one now? If you have, great job! If you haven’t, it’s not too late. I know it seems like a lot of work. First, I talk about a line-item budget, which is bad enough, and now I’m telling you to create a whole other budget.

            I don’t know about you, but most people don’t find reading line-item budgets very interesting, and, with probably very few exceptions, they don’t motivate the generosity of people. Of course, a line-item budget is necessary to be able to track giving and expenses, but it’s simply a tool that enables this work to be done.

            A narrative budget has a completely different purpose. As I said in my earlier blog, “it’s a great way to tell the story of your budget without resorting to a business-like budget that no one takes the time to read.”

            There are many ways to have a narrative budget. It can be a tri-fold, with basic information and some pie charts and pictures. It can be far more detailed in a booklet form. The very first narrative budget I ever created utilized the mission statement of the church. It had four basic parts to the narrative budget, which included worship, education, outreach and nurture. I then allocated every line of the church budget to those four categories. Some lines went 100% to only one category, some spread over two or three or all four. It was a fascinating exercise to see how the church was using its gifts to do ministry. The narrative budget then went on to tell the stories contained in those four categories. Looking back, I should have used less words and more pictures or drawings. It is pretty cumbersome.

            I encourage you to do some checking around and see ideas for narrative budgets and find a way to share the stories, the ministries, the mission that is supported by the gifts received by your church. I have found a good resource that guides a first attempt at a narrative budget, but there are a lot of resources out there.

 http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Giving_Thought_to_a_Narrative_Budget.pdf

            If you are interested, I also have a Power Point on narrative budgets and how they can fit into your work that I would be happy to share with you.

 

 

 

                      YEAR END CHURCH TASKS

 

            It’s the second week of December, and there’s not much longer until Christmas (good news) and the end of the year (some good, some not-so-good news).

            It may seem like 2022 is a year we’d like just to end and forget about, and while I can appreciate that, for those of us involved in the financial-side of things, even a little bit, there is some work that needs to be completed before the end of the year. Don’t panic, though. I’m going to prepare a list of items to consider. You may have already taken care of some of them. Congratulations! If not, there’s still time. You can also contact me if you have any questions or need any help (susanranous@unyumc.org).

1.    Housing allowances and exclusions. Check with any clergy you have on staff or that may be starting at the beginning of the year. Do they have housing exclusions in place for 2022? If not, let them know that the benefits of housing exclusions can only be taken advantage of after the housing exclusion is approved. Has Staff-Pastor-Parish-Relations, Finance, and the pastor reviewed any Housing Allowances in place? Are they correct?

2.    Tax Withholding. Remind your employees that they can change their withholding or allowances for 2022 by completing the new 2022 W-4 form. While you aren’t required to withhold federal or state income taxes from clergy, clergy can elect withholding. Check with them before the end of the year. If no new form is submitted, then withholding will continue as it was in place at the end of 2021.

3.    Giving Statements. Send out giving statements to all of your identified givers. I know you have to do this again in January for tax purposes, but it’s a nice reminder to folks before the year is up and while they may be feeling more generous, to catch up any commitments or pledges they made. It’s also an opportunity to say “thank you” for their generosity during the year and ask if they’d consider (a) catching up their giving and (b) making an extra gift toward the ministries of the church. Tell them what their giving has been able to accomplish so far!

4.    If your church gives gifts to its employees, the Internal Revenue Service states that all gifts of this type, unless they are so small as for it to be impractical to compute the value, are taxable benefits and should be added to the employee’s W-2 as taxable income, and have taxes withheld.

5.    In order for a giver’s gift to be counted toward 2021, the gift must either:

a.    Be received in the church on or before December 31^st.

b.    Be paid via credit card on or before December 31^st.

c.    Be postmarked by the post office on or before December 31^st.

Simply back dating a check or advising the church to give them credit in 2021 is not correct.

            The new year will bring another list of tasks, which I will cover in a future blog.

Don’t get discouraged! The tasks aren’t insurmountable, and I am available to answer questions or guide you, if the need arises.

 

                  YEAR-ROUND STEWARDSHIP #4

            I am finishing up sharing information about year-round stewardship, as we come into the last three months of the year.

October

• ·         This should be the month that you should have a draft of your line-item budget. That means you can start working on a narrative budget. I will talk about this in a later blog. It’s a great way to tell the story of your budget without resorting to a business-like budget that no one takes the time to read.
• ·         With this, leadership can model the generosity that you would like folks in the pew to follow. Leadership should spend some time this month focusing on generosity, being intentional and challenging about it, for themselves and for others.
• ·         Have you identified folks to talk to about planned giving? This could be a good time to visit one or two to have that conversation.

November

• ·         This is the month we celebrate All Saints Sunday, where we lift up the names of those saints who have passed during the past year. It’s also a good time to recognize memorial and other gifts “in honor of”.  What ministries will those gifts benefit? Tell those stories! Send a “thank you” note to the family of those whose passing was recognized with memorial gifts, or who made gifts in honor of a loved one. Include a story of the celebration, something about the ministry being celebrated.
• ·         Mail the pledge packet to every household. Include a cover letter, request for prayerful consideration, return envelope and an estimate of giving or commitment card. Include a copy of next year’s narrative budget, a step chart showing weekly giving ranges.
• ·         Receive commitment cards and dedicate them. The focus on Commitment Sunday should be the financial pledge, not the prayers, presence and service that is also part of stewardship.

December

• ·         Send thank you letters to every pledging household.
• ·         Send giving statements prior to the end of the year, so people can “catch up” or make extra gifts before year-end. Remember another statement will need to be sent in January including all the gifts made during this year. This is required for tax purposes.
• ·         Provide information about different ways to make gifts. Discipleship Ministries has a bulletin/newsletter insert titled “year-end is a time for giving” that talks about:

o   Cash gifts

o   Giving of appreciated property

o   Giving and retaining income for life

o   Giving unneeded life insurance

o   Memorial gifts

o   Wise tax planning

o   Expressing faith