I have met dozens of pastors, who if completely honest, would say they are intimidated by strong, competent business leaders.
Recently, Ivy Sprague of MAG Bookkeeping, wrote a very insightful article to help pastors with some practical steps on how best to leverage these individuals in your church. I wanted to pass her thoughts on to you.
Before reading, if your church is looking for virtual bookkeeping assistance, there is no group I recommend more than MAG Bookkeeping. Owned by Bryan and Shannon Miles and led by Randy Ongie, no organization in this space will serve you better. Click HERE and check them out. Now onto Ivy’s comments: _________________________________________
Most pastors have no training as business leaders, but that’s really what they are. They lead their church, and many churches operate very much as small businesses. There are many financial decisions related to running a business, or a church, which causes pastors to often feel like they need additional input and oversight.
It can be a little overwhelming and scary, so a financial advisory board is a great solution that we highly recommend. It’s not a cookie cutter answer — this board should exist to meet the specific needs of the pastor and the church. The best way to go about creating one is to start with a list. What do you want this advisory board to help you do?
Here are some examples of what those items might be:
- Review income and giving trends and recommend a percentage budget increase for the next year.
- Evaluate and bless a staff compensation philosophy and verify that you are following it consistently.
- Review drafts of annual budgets and ask questions or share observations about the items in that budget.
- Review monthly financial reports (summary) and work with the executive pastor to review and question those reports if needed.
- Be available for special financial projects as requested for things like building loan details and other debt or large leases.
- Help shape financial policy around issues like what to do with excess cash, cash reserve minimums and maximums, etc.
Once this list has been developed, you can start to think about the type of people who might serve on the advisory board. You might want people who are spiritually mature, committed to the church (regular givers who are totally on board with your mission, vision and core values) and those who may be trained in finance or business financial with practical experience.
If you’ve created a task list for your financial advisory board and identified a handful of church leaders you’d like to include, invite them to serve on one round of budget preparation or another task on your list and see how they do. Do they respect each other? Do they challenge each other and you in a healthy way? Do they add value? Will your staff and leaders respect their work?
If the answers to these questions are all YES, then you will be well on your way to creating that crucial oversight that all churches need.
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