A Different Kind of Budget
by John Kimball, CCCC Director of Church Development
One of the interesting things I have seen as a local church transitions in the LifeFlow process is that the congregation’s perspective on giving changes. Generosity often increases as God’s heart and priorities again permeate the people. Nowhere is this more evident than in the church’s budget and how it’s prepared. This often happens in the following areas:
| 1. | _ | A Floor, Not a Ceiling — as a congregation’s life and ministry together begins to align more and more with mission, the view of their budget’s purpose will often also begin to shift. When a church is sliding toward “survival mode,” a budget is used to restrict spending. It provides a “ceiling” of how much may be spent under each category. But once the Spirit starts moving and the church begins to see fruit again, it’s not unusual for budgetary attitudes to also transform. The budget becomes a “floor” — a set of faith-based minimums the church expects to spend for ministry. |
| 2. | Prepared in the Trenches — another shift I have often seen is in the way the budget is assembled. Struggling churches tend to calculate the smallest possible overall increase they feel they can allow and then spread that increase over all the budget categories. Doing this often seriously limits key ministries, not allowing them to have the resources needed to grow (and ironically to increase the number of giving units in the church!). But when a congregation begins to experience new fruit and vision, budget development includes (or is done by) the people who are actually doing ministry in the church (i.e., the Children’s Ministries Director outlines the needed Children’s Ministry Budget; the Youth Director outlines the needed Youth Ministries Budget; etc.). Each contributor to the budget may still have to explain (or even defend) their plans, but even so this is a much healthier way of establishing ministry spending for the next year. | |
| 3. | Ministry Focus — directly related to #2 above, the entire focus of the budget begins to transform. When one looks at most churches, their budgets are very organizationally driven — the budget demonstrates that the priorities of the congregation are the staff and the building. But as the ministries begin outlining their own budgetary needs, even the categories in the budget begin to change. The clear focus of the budget becomes ministry, not overhead. It’s at this point that something spiritual begins to happen, which leads me to my final observation. | |
| 4. | Trust Shifts — as ministry becomes the primary focus of a church’s budget, familiar financial fears begin to give way to trusting God for provision. This last observation doesn’t happen in many churches, but when it does it is usually an organizational evidence of real revival. Churches that allow their budget to focus on their facility, their staff and the maintenance of the “institution” of their church often have large sums of money invested away in accounts for various purposes. Some of these may be specialized — and others may have been designated gifts — but the bottom line is that they are considered “untouchable” because “the church must have something to fall back upon…” Please hear the gentle spirit with which I give this next thought: Many such churches are finding their financial security in their accounts and not in the Giver of all things. And if there is anything that many congregations have learned since 2008, it’s that such security is completely misplaced. More than one church has lost that security to our nation’s economic collapse. But when Christ’s ministry becomes the single, driving force behind a congregation’s budget planning, trust begins to relocate! Trust moves from being in some thing (investments) to being in Someone! And the freedom such a shift brings to the whole church is amazing. The church is no longer in bondage to financial fear. The church begins to resource what the Holy Spirit is actually doing in her midst. And the congregation is now free to spend what the Lord has provided them to advance the rule and reign of Jesus! It’s a beautiful thing. |
Who knew that the routine act of preparing the church’s budget wielded so much power? Yet when the budget changes from what “we can do” to what “God is doing,” it releases the congregation toward a deeper level of faith and obedience.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6–8)
