What Causes Poor Church Financing?

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By Della Monroe


The church has always been known as place of worship; however, this place of worship does not run on its own but rather requires money to keep it going. Due to poor management, there have been various incidences where churches finances have been mismanaged which consequently raise doubts on the reliability of these institutions. In order to avoid such mistakes in church financing, there are some things one ought to keep in mind for a smooth running of this institution.

One common mistake is lack of vision. Although running this institution should not be a business, it needs just as much care as a conventional business needs. Even the bible says that where there is no vision there is no mission. The managers are required to have a financial plan of how they will get and use the money for the benefit of every member of the congregation.

Also in this regard, a financial plan should go into specific details on the expenses to be incurred on the running projects and the source of revenue. Given the projects that most churches tend to take up, depending solely on offerings is unrealistic and therefore other sources of their revenue should be created for the success of these projects.

Many churches are usually afraid of asking for financial help from the congregation because many people interpret this as an institution that is only interested in money. This is because there have been so many churches opening for the sole purpose of making an income. Members are therefore required to be more open minded and be willing to contribute money to help the development of their church.

In order to make this convincing and have a congregation that is willing to make these contributions every time there is need to, the management should make an effort to at least reveal to the congregation the fruits of their labor and in this case the evidence of where their funds have been spent on, accounting every single coin; this ensure that their morale to contribute is not destroyed.

In addition to this, asking too much can be nagging and should be avoided as running all these project might lead to breaching of trust. As imperative as these developments may be, this should first be a place of worship and the rest should follow otherwise this may be perceived as a business which is an image that churches should not portray.

Just like in running other businesses, churches tend to also make the mistake of getting themselves deep in debt in the name of wanting to make development in order to keep up with the ever advancing world especially technology-wise. With this, all contributions made only end up in settling these debts which stagnants developments.

Church finances must be handled just like someone would handle their own business. Churches must make it a point of hiring qualified financial managers to take care of this responsibility and make sure an audit is done at least annually to keep track of how the finances are being used. This will significantly reduce the cases of funds mismanagement.




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