Vryheid Church of Christ Workshop: Church Finances 16 & 18 June 2011 Day 1: Managing Personal Finances and Giving Facilitator Sabelo Mdlalose Buhle Park Church of Christ www.buhleparkcoc.co.za
Program Schedule Day 1: 16 June Money Matters at personal level Managing Personal Finances Giving Church Finances Managing Church Finances Church Growth Day 2: 18 June Money Matters at Church level
1. Managing Personal Finances Money plays an important role in our daily lives more especially in today s life were almost everything depends on money. Money is therefore used to Fulfil/Manage our daily material activities God created all that is in the world( Jer 10:12) and therefore He owns everything (Ex 19:5) including our money (Hag 2:8) He placed Man on earth (Gen 1 :27-28) to be Stewards/ Guardian of His creation (1 Pet 4:10, Gen 1:28) We will give account to God at the end (Rom 14:12) Why? Therefore as Christians we have a Responsibility to properly manage finances as faithful stewards (Mat 25:14-30 [Parable of Talents], 1 Cor 4:2)
Modern Managing Tools for Money Past Income trends And Expenditures Short-term (< 1 year) Budgeting (Present)? Planning for our money Strategy to manage future needs from expected Income Plans are nothing, but planning is everything Long-term (> 1 year) Day-to-Day cash flow planning, (Monthly, weekly, quarterly, etc) E.g. Grocery for each month Long range planning, (Investments & Long-term expenses) E.g. Bond (house) payment or once off investment to buy shares
Personal (Family) Budgeting Purpose To help you plan for future (Shortterm & long term) expenditures within your expected (Projected) Income To assist you to manage your money properly Advantages Informs you of your spending pattern Helps you prepare better for the future. Provides areas were you can reduce/avoid expenses
Managing Expenses Golden rule LIVE within Your Means! (Heb 13:5) We are going to look at these points I. Needs Analysis II. Debt Management
Need? Want? Needs Analysis What I cannot live without, essential to life What I require to satisfy my desires, or non essentials to my life Individual Exercise 1: Pretend that you are Brother Zweli, list what are needs & wants Brother Zweli I will build a fire place in my house next month I deserve a new car Next month I will buy extra four suits. I need to buy school uniform for my younger brother I need a bigger TV I have lost my cell phone, I need a new one I need to give more to the church
Exercise 1: Sabelo s Answer Needs Give to the church School Uniform for his brother Cell phone New Car? (Depends) Wants Fire Place? (Depends) Extra Suits? (Depends) Big TV Outcome! Needs and Wants are SUBJECTIVE (varies from one person to another) Wants may change overtime to needs & vice versa (Time-depended) Notice that I did not give you more details on what Bro. Zweli is thinking, therefore you need to analyse thoroughly your needs before you budget A Good Budget must have more genuine needs than wants. This step is necessary to avoid buying un useful things, helps to reduce your expenses & falling into debt
We have NO Control Debt Management Ideally payment of expenses (Needs & Wants) should be by CASH only Avoid Credit Cards, Store cards (Clothes, Furniture, etc), Loans, unnecessary accounts etc But due to our Current Economic Structure (Capitalism) debt is encouraged. E.g. Banks make profits from loan payments, interest Solution By all means try to avoid DEBT. Need Analysis & Budgeting helps you to reduce/avoid dept And also property cost are very high & are increasing daily e.g. House, Car, etc. therefore the only payment method is through DEPT Use debt for high priority needs only, e.g Bond (not wants!) when all possible payment methods have failed
Budgeting process (Monthly) Income 1. List all sources of income (Money that will be in your Bank account) 2. Sum all your incomes Usually we have no control over our income, eg Fixed Salary Expenses Net Surplus/ Loss 3. List all your planned/expected expenses starting with High priority costs (needs) and ending with Low priority costs (wants) 4. Usually our needs/wants are greater than our Income,therefore Allocate money to high priority costs first and unexpected / contingency money (for emergences) 5. Lastly allocated money to low priority cost taking into account of your Income 6. Sum all Expected expenses 7. Record all actual expenses for each month 8. Subtract Total Expenses from Total Income 9. Excess income, SAVE IT! Or Give more to the church or allocate to your needs Tip: Try to reduces cost! Eg. Open an account with less bank charges
Budget
End of Session 1
2. Giving according to the Bible So Giving originated from GOD (James 1:17) Giving is best defined by God s action when We are to imitate this godly action (Luke 6:38) For God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son (John 3:16) But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son (Gal 4:4) We give what belongs to God (1 Chron 29:14) A by-product of LOVE Addresses a SPECIFIC NEED A PLANNED Action (time bound) All MUST be satisfied, then it is GIVING
These gifts (tithes) were to be of GOOD QUALITY (Mal 3: 1-11) History of Giving (Old Test) Patriarch Age: Mainly as an act of worship e.g. Cain & Abel (Gen 4:2-4) Jewish (Mosaic) Age: Later Mainly to assist running of God s temple & governing of ISRAEL Priests were to work fulltime in the temple (Exod 28:1, 41; Lev 21:11) Gifts (giving) to assist Priest with life necessities was expected from each ISRAELITE (mainly working people) (Lev 22:1-33)
New Testament Giving Prominent Form of Giving Money Or Contribution (1 Cor 16:1-2) Types of Contributions 1. Normal Sunday Contribution (1 Cor 16:2) 2. Pledging (Special Contribution) e.g. to raise funds for building (Rom 15:26) Purpose of Contribution 1. An act of Worship to God (2 Cor 9: 6-8) 2. For the running of day-to-day activities of the local church & to fund programs e.g. Evangelism (Acts 2: 42-46) 3. To assist the needy in the church & community (Mat 25: 35-46, Gal 6:10) 4. To remunerate workers in the church e.g. Full-time Preacher (1 Cor 9:4-11)
Giving of a modern church Due to Modernisation, Churches are forced to PLAN and manage funds effectively That is why church members need to manage (Budget) their finances correctly in order to GIVE effectively. And this will help the church plan better To achieve the mission given by Christ To preach Christ (Mark 16:15-16) and to care for the church members & community (Mat 25:35-46) PLEDGING therefore becomes more important as it helps the church to know expected income (eg for each month), and plan for expenses Modern banking has made this step easy through: Stop orders & internet banking
Video Lesson: 2011 Harare Lectureship Speaker: Brother Mashona (Seiso Street Church of Christ, Pretoria) Topic: The way not forgetting the Levites in Your Gates (Mat 10:9) Theme of the Lectureship: The way of Christ Duration: 1 hour and 17 minutes Individual Exercise 2: From the video lesson: A. State how we are to give (manner, quantity,etc) as compared to old testament giving? B. Do we need full-time workers e.g. Evangelist in the Lord s church and state why? C. If yes (B) is it fair for us (church members) not to assist them financially?
End of Session 2