Church Financial Policies

GRACE CHURCH

 FINANCIAL POLICIES

We believe the way a church handles itself in the financial arena is a reflection of integrity in every area. The Elders, therefore, have established the following policies to 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. We can discern the Lord’s will regarding the continuation of our church through the support He sends (or doesn’t send) from His people. Therefore, as the overseers of this church, our obligation is 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. 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.
6. We consider the contributions we receive to be “blood money”–given by families who have sacrificed 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 regular 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. We will never sell or rent our mailing list to those wishing to use the names and addresses of our supporters.
11. We will strive to handle money given to Grace Church in a responsible manner.

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

BUDGET

God has given us a great vision for a 21st Century church. As you read through our goals you will see they are consistent with our vision. We can’t accomplish everything all at once, but with God’s help we can achieve a little bit every year and begin to see our vision become reality.  Without question, to accomplish our goals will require money. This is the purpose behind our budget. Our vision determines our goals...our goals determine our budget.

For example, if you look at the whole budget, you will find money designated for several evangelistic events throughout the year.  Our budget reflects that we are serious about reaching souls.

Our Operating Budget includes two funds: the Ministry Fund and the Building Fund.

The Ministry Fund is the amount we will have budgeted for our missionaries and to operate our church and its various ministries. This would include areas like worship, education, facility maintenance, staff salaries, and general operations. This is where your tithe goes when you give on a weekly basis.

The Building Fund represents money we intend to apply towards our building debt.