Evangelism and Financial Transparency
Anyone who has followed the church in the news knows that stories of funds given by the faithful to the glory of God being embezzled or misused are a staple. This news breeds distrust, especially among those who are already concerned that the church just wants them for their money. Breaking down the wall of excuses that keeps someone from getting involved in a church means building up their trust about the way finances are handled. Keeping all the processes around money open and transparent is not only something we should all expect of the church, doing so will also help build this trust and can remove an obstacle to growth.
A congregation should have in place proper controls about how money is handled from the offering to the bank and out from the bank to pay for expenses. The basic rules are two unrelated people count the money who are not otherwise involved in the finances. Deposits are recorded by someone other than the person who writes the checks. Someone other than the treasurer sees the banks statements each month and verifies the statements on all accounts using the church’s Employer ID Number, which functions like a Social Security number for your congregation. Good practice also means publishing this periodically so all who are interested may know the policies. Monthly financial reports should be posted where anyone interested can see them. The Diocese practices this by posting all quarterly reports online about 30 days after the close of the quarter.
A good, but daunting, guide to best practices is published by The Episcopal Church and available online free at this link: Business Manual of Church Affairs This lengthy tome covers everything and should not be read cover to cover so much as used as a reference. Reading the whole thing word for word is known to induce nightmare, while using the manual as a reference brings order.
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Letting everyone know how the money is counted and deposited and how expenses are approved and paid may seem like something only vestry need to know, but it is difficult to build trust if everything seems to be handled by a few who know everything. Publishing the policies and building confidence that they are followed matters to all who give to the church.
As stewardship season is drawing to a close and annual meetings are approving budgets, now is a good time to publish in your newsletter a brief overview of how the church handles its funds. While this may seem to have nothing to do with evangelism, making sure someone finding their way back to God knows that they can trust the church with the money entrusted to them may be exactly what is needed to break down that last barrier keeping them out of church.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary
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