In my decades of local church appointments July was a time for some summer sabbath, perhaps a unique sermon series, and the startling realization that we are half-way through the year. August became a key month for making sure everything was in place and ready for engaging fall programming, back to school activities, finalizing details for the fall stewardship emphasis, and seeing an uptick in worship attendance as folks returned from vacation trips and got back into their more normal routines.

August is an essential time for a church or missional entity to do a mid-year financial check-in. The pastor should take the time to go over the budget line-by-line, especially looking for areas where expenses may have already exceeded 50-60% and could end the year in the red. It can be easy to overlook such things until the final quarter of the year, which often means it may be too late to make corrections and avoid overspending in critical areas. Fixed expenses are usually not the problems areas. Salaries and payroll are set figures, utility, internet, insurance, and other monthly or annual costs are commonly projected with degree of accuracy that there should not be any surprises in those areas. That leaves program areas, credit spending, and unexpected facility/maintenance issues as the common culprits to keeping a budget in a level place.

Are program directors (children, youth, missions, music, etc.) staying within their budgets? Do they use purchase orders or get approval before making purchases? Do they submit receipts and track their own budget spending? Do those who have access to church credit cards understand that all purchases should be preapproved? Are all charges tracked and documented w/receipts? Is there a fund outside of the normal operating budget to help address and absorb unforeseen facility or equipment problems, broken kitchen appliances, HVAC complications, roof, plumbing, or electrical issues?

All of these practices and procedures should be commonplace in the management and administrative life of local churches and missional agency. If you need assistance or guidance in strengthening these aspects of your church finances, our office can help. We also offer support for organizing budgets, financial visioning, planning, and execution of funding campaigns, building projects, and other forms of capital fundraisers.

Make the most of your mid-year financial check list and let us know how we can help keep the financial life of your church or mission station manageable, level, organized, and stable. Call the United Methodist Foundation/Development Fund for the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference at 615-259-2008 and let us be your partner in financial stability.