Leading Your Church Towards Financial Health

Financial leadership involves more than just the head pastor. It includes your full team, especially your elder board. While it is easy to get distracted or even overwhelmed by the day-to-day management issues, at the end of the day, your board’s key responsibility is being sure there’s good accountability for the staff, the staff is healthy, and there is clear vision for the future of the church.

• Commitment to the Mission of the Church – You need people who are able to articulate the vision and mission of the church. They know why you exist and what you are trying to accomplish. It’s tempting for a church to want to expand into new ministries opportunities or just keep doing things they have always done, but it is up to the board to regularly evaluate how resources are being used to serve the core mission.
• Staff Accountability – The board is the check and balance to ensure the church is accomplishing its mission. Having annual goals can help the board regularly monitor and hold the leadership accountable.
• Staff Health – HR tasks can be accomplished in a variety of ways within a church structure, but the board is primarily responsible to ensure that the church staff is healthy and able to accomplish its mission. This may include resolving staffing issues, setting staff compensation, ensuring people are trained and resourced appropriately, or making sure pastoral staff is setting healthy boundaries and practicing self-care.
• Fiduciary Oversight – Finances are the responsibility of the board. No matter what their role is on the board, when a board member walks out of the meeting, it is their responsibility to know the organization’s financial position and resources are being spent wisely. This also includes responsibility of determining the budget and if the budget is in line with the core mission of the church.

Tip: Your D&O Insurance – D&O stands for “Director and Officer” insurance. Almost all boards should have this, if you don’t you should look into it. As a church board member you could be held liable if something bad was to happen to the church, so you can get an insurance policy for your board members.

Now your turn: How equipped is your board?

• Do they know and support the mission and strategic plan?
• When a board member comes on to your church or ministry, do they do they know what’s expected of them?
• Does your board know and understand the financial statements they see at meetings?
• Do they lead by example and give of their time, talent, and treasure?
• Do they have bylaws?

Homework: Equip your board. As the leader of your organization, it’s really up to you and the head of the board to make sure that each board member is trained and prepared to help you guide the financial health of your organization. Here is a quick checklist of training areas:

• Your mission or vision statement
• Church bylaws
• Stewardship values and expectations
• Board commitments and expectations
• Overview of budget and financial statements