Church Guidelines For Financial Integrity

Below are guidelines that can help a church provide general direction regarding how it will handle its finances. These guidelines are communicated each year as part of the church’s budget presentation.

We believe that the way a church handles itself in the financial arena is a reflection of its integrity in every area. The Elders, therefore, have established the following policies that will guide us in the years ahead:

1. Grace Church belongs to God. It is not a monument to one man or even to this present generation that serves through its various ministries. We are all merely fellow servants in the work of the kingdom.
2. In the last ten years the Lord has apparently chosen to bless our congregation both numerically and financially. Nevertheless, He gives and sometimes takes away. If He ever closes the door to this work, we will accept His leading and yield the outcome to Him. Until then, we will devote every ounce of energy to the task at hand.
3. One of the ways we can discern the Lord’s will regarding the continuation of our church is through the support He sends (or doesn’t send) from His people. Therefore, as the overseers of this church, we feel it is our obligation to make known to you our needs. We commit ourselves, however, to do so in a Christlike manner and with the greatest sensitivity to those who are visiting our church on any given week. We will never resort to what we consider to be disrespectful and dishonorable methods of fund raising, even when the needs are serious.
4. It is our belief that as you consider your giving, your first obligation is to the local church, in our case, Grace Church. After this has been met, you should prayerfully consider where God would lead you to give...including “parachurch” ministries that support and defend the same values we do.
5. We will not operate this ministry at a deficit. Although from time to time it is necessary to borrow funds for large capital expenditures, such as for a new building.
6. We consider the contributions we receive to be “blood money”–given by families who have to sacrifice to make their gifts possible. Our obligation is to spend that money conservatively and wisely in continuing the ministry.
7. We will carefully record each contribution and provide you with a quarterly update of your giving to assist you in your planned giving and tax preparations.
8. When we make a purchase, we will pay the invoice within 30 days, if possible. We do not intend to use the vendor’s money.
9. We will not try to raise more money than we need.
10. The Senior Pastor will not be the primary fund-raiser.
11. We will never sell or rent our mailing list to those wishing to use the names and addresses of our supporters.
12. We will strive to handle money given to Grace Church in a responsible manner.

To summarize, we will try to remember always that Jesus Christ is our possessor and our dispossessor. He ordained and blessed this ministry. It belongs entirely to Him.