MONEY | This Is Where It Went

Talking about money at church should be a conversation. Too often, though, it is not. The church asks you for money but it doesn’t tell you what they did with it.

When we became a self-sustaining church three years ago, we determined that we would publish a condensed version of the financial report our accountant prepares. We didn’t maintain that commitment.

So, here at the end of the year, as you consider fulfilling your own commitment to support the church, we are going to lead by doing what we promised.

Every three months we will deliver a report that is transparent and simple to follow. If you have questions, just email us and we’ll get you answers.

As you scan the report above, note the following:

• This year we anticipate receiving $560,000 in gifts from downtowners to balance our budget. Two years ago it was $348,000. For real
• Two thirds of our members give on a recurring basis. Half of our recurring givers are not members. For real.
• We don’t do annual stewardship campaigns and ask people to make annual commitments. We just increase the budget annually by a figure that allows us be the church we’re called to be. We haven’t been wrong yet.