Introduction
There is no doubt that people are naturally suspicious about what happens with their money. We see it all the time in every sector of society.... Government waste, non-profit
exorbitant "administrative costs", corporate CEO insane salaries, and church leaders with personal yachts and Cayman Island off-shore accounts and houses.
The sad fact is there is a lot of misuse of money in this
world. So no one blames you the reader for having a
suspicious eye with your church offerings.
Leaders Free from Money-Loving
In fact, God Himself gives many standards for the behavior of church leaders
with regard to the offerings made by the congregation. Paul tells us in 1
Timothy 3 that elders must be "free from the love of money" (v3) and deacons
must not be "fond of sordid gain" (v8). He tells us also in Titus 1 that
elders must not be "fond of sordid gain" (v7). The love of money is not a
character flaw that affects certain income brackets and avoids others.
Anyone can be a lover of money. We intentionally seek out men and women
for leadership who are generous because you cannot be generous and a hoarder at
the same time. Our pastor, elders, and deacons all are considered
honorable examples when it comes to money.
Systems to Free Us from Accusation
But God also says in this passage that leaders must be above reproach.
To be above reproach means that even an accusation will not stick. The
principle we see here is that we handle money, financial records, and the like
all out in the open. The checkbook is always available for someone in the
congregation to peruse. The church budget is always available for perusal.
In fact, both year-end financial statements and the budget are presented
annually to the congregation for the membership to approve. Something
additional that we have decided as a church is to insulate our pastor from any
accusation of mishandling money. Our pastor is honorable with money, but
society so mistrusts the office of pastor in general, we want to remove any
doubt in people's minds by removing our pastor from any dealing with income or
expenses. He is not a check-signer. He doesn't count the offerings.
He never sees at any time the offering amounts of anyone in the church. If
he talks about money in his preaching and teaching, it is not pointed at any
individual. One other way we insulate other church leaders from accusation
is with the buddy-system. It sounds like a elementary school field trip,
but it really works to remove doubt. No single person counts offerings.
No single person writes checks. No one can dip into the church treasury
alone. Two people count offerings together at the same time and place.
Two people sign all outgoing checks whether paying a bill or reimbursing a
church member. We have a financial secretary who handles all the income,
he does not handle the expenses. We have a treasurer who handles the
expenses, he does not count the income and he only sees the contributors' total
gift amounts once annually. All these systems are in place to ensure that
we remain above reproach.
Where does your gift go?
Rest assured that it does not go into
installing multi-million-dollar phone systems. It is wisely and
prayerfully used. We have three accounts within our church budget:
Property, Operational, and Ministerial. Again, the membership approves the
budget annually. The elders oversee the disbursement of income into that
budget's allotments bi-monthly. And finally, the membership approves a
financial statement which illustrates how the income did get used in accordance
with the approved budget. Everything is above board. Everything is
out in the open. God is honored in this and the praise all goes to Him
from whom all blessings flow!
