Family Finances: Updated 2013 Budget

Rotator-(Leadership-Community)
Last Saturday, May 18, we gathered as a body of Elders, Deacons, ministry leaders, and good ole fashioned healthy church members for what we call Leadership Community.  During this meeting, we had two pieces to the agenda for the morning. The first was to talk about the finances of the church and the second was to talk about our first ever Vacation Bible School

From the very beginning of the church, the Elders and Deacons have sought to be very clear and open with how we are doing with stewarding the finances of the church. If you have been watching our weekly email, you will have noticed that we are behind in our tithes and offerings so far in 2013. At the start of our meeting, we opened with the reality of where we are at with tithes and offerings to this point. Here are some of those numbers: 

  • Weekly Giving vs Budgeted Weekly Giving
            - Total actual giving as of May 5th  =  $42,145 (18 weeks)
            - Budgeted weekly giving =  $55,389 (amount needed to stay on budget)
            - Average weekly offering =  $2,341.29  
            - Budgeted weekly offering =  $3,084.31/week

  • Forecasting our current trend....
            - Total forecasted tithes and offerings =  $121,752.00
            - Total budgeted tithes and offerings  = $160,377.00
            - Difference between forecasted and budgeted = $38,625.00

 

The Deacons sat down to asses our adopted budgeted for 2013 and see what changes we could make to our current budget. As we looked at the various ministries, we saw that we could make some cuts to the budget to alleviate some of the deficit we are trending towards. We presented this document to our people to explain the changes the Deacons made to the budget. 

Here are some of the changes we made to the budget that are reflected in the attachemnt:

  •  The largest line item that was cut was [Facilities: Savings for Rent]
           - We decided to hold off on putting money back into savings from the building expenses        
             which is our major difference (13,800). We realized that if we cannot pay our bills,
             much like our personal family, we cannot put money in to savings at this point.

  • The next line item that was cut was [Missions: Missionary Support Expenses]
           - We also cut the extra ministry support of 2,500 (this is not the Camiola giving). This
             money was to take on an extra missionary or support missions that came up.

  • Cuts were also made to [Administration: Advertising] (-$50.00) 
                                          [Hospitality: Printing for Services] (-$100.00)
                                          [Missions: Roseland Events] (-$600.00)

  • The difference between the previous budget and the updated budget is $17, 150.

  • This than gives us a new yearly offering of $146,377.31 which is a monthly offering of $12,198.11 and a weekly offering of $2,814.95. 

 

Budget 2013 (2)

Budget 2013 (3)

So what does this mean for us as a church? We all need to count the "Cost of Worship". We encouraged family members to pray about stewardship, specifically finances. Look at Philippians 2: 1-11 and see how much is "cost" Jesus to fully worship the Father. Jesus gave his entire life, so that we can no longer be objects of wrath, but children of God (Romans 5). Therefore, we are to give our all to God.

We all need to consider what is opulence for us? Outside of providing for our "daily bread" what can we cut out so that we can be more generous. We don't ask this question just so that we can pay pastors and staff. We ask this question so that we can reach lost people for Christ. We want to be a church that is passionate about reaching the lost and disconnected with the Gospel. The reality of the mission is that it costs money to do that.

We are a body of believers as the family of God. We have the blessing of the Missional Outpost as a place where the family can gather, be built up, and sent back out on His mission. However, this requires us to ask the tough question of "how am I/we doing at giving back to the Lord as an act of worship?"

If you as a family or as an individual have questions of how can you grow in your financial generosity, can I encourage you to contact one of the Deacons? We are more than willing to sit down with you and work together to answer that question. 

Rotator-(VBS-2013)

The second half of our meeting was to discuss our first ever Vacation Bible School! We will be having VBS from Sunday August 11 through August 15. Details are still being worked out and we will keep you updated as soon as we have more information. 

In the meantime, clear you calendars for this event. Start talking with your neighbors about this event. Use this as an evangelism opportunity with those families whom you have been building relationships with and are disconnected from the body of Christ. 

 

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