Why Generosity? A webinar on stewardship
Below is a transcript of this webinar (automated transcription). Don't forget to register for the upcoming webinar in this series, "Church Finance: Nuts & Bolts", Saturday, November 8, 10 a.m. - noon CT (9 a.m. - 11 a.m. MT). Register here.
Welcome everyone.
It's great to have you with us this morning as we kick off our series of, “For the Love of God, let's talk about money.” I'm Sheri Meister and I'm the director of the Dakotas and the Minnesota Methodist Foundations. Jim[Ducker] is with us today, and we're gonna co-host all of these webinars. This is the first one of four that are webinars, and then we have a series of in-person ones that we're doing across the Dakotas as well.
Welcome and good morning, Jim. Good morning, Sheri, it's good to be with you all today. As, Sheri said, my name is Jim Ducker. I serve as the Dakota's Annual Conference Treasurer, and I'm, calling in here from Sioux Falls. So, good morning and welcome everybody. I think, just to give a little background, Jim, so that everybody understands where these are coming from, we get a number of questions on, the focus and how to work, the finances, the budgets, the endowments, legacies, stewardship, generosity, all those things from the churches. And so we thought we'd put together series of, you know, webinars and different media pieces that we can help churches define who they are and, give 'em, I don't, just practical ideas on how they can set their budgets, how they can cast a vision and, involve the people and get 'em excited about the ministries that are going on in their churches.
So that's a little bit about what we'll be doing today. Ours today is, an overview of many of the topics that we'll dig into deeper as we go throughout the series. So there'll be, one a month, one of one a month. We have two Saturdays and two Thursdays. And, we'll get the information of all of the dates out to everybody as well. the other thing to know that these are recorded, and so if you see little bits of tidbits that are helpful for your church, you'll be able to download these and then cut those pieces out if you'd like to share 'em for different committees or, different activities that you have going on in the church that it might be helpful to hear it from another voice. Sometimes, hearing the message that many of the people on, the webinar today probably say to their churches, but to hear it again from another voice maybe, will help with some of the decisions that you're making.
So should we get started this morning? Absolutely. Again, it's, for the love of God everywhere. Let's talk money. And I talked a little bit about, well, here's, here's us again, Jim. Good to know who we are. Here we are. I talked a little bit about our purpose, and then it's, this is a four-part series that we're trying to equip the churches talk openly about money, generosity the mission in the ways that spiritually grounded in practical and sustainable ways can help your churches. but before we talk about the budgets, the fundraising, giving strategies, we need to ask, why does this matter? What's our deeper why as people of faith and as our church community? What is our why and why? Why do we even talk about the why of our church?
All of the materials that we present and that we focus on are rooted in the Wesley Way. Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can, and they're all rooted in the great commission. And so Matthew 28, 18 through 20 “And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always to the close of the age.”
So we wanna emphasize to everyone to have that grounded piece of scripture and, who we are as United Methodist churches. And so, defining the why of the church, I think sometimes people get caught up in the church building itself, but what is beyond the church and what is it that are bringing people to the church? So, defining the whys about uncovering that deeper purpose that goes beyond the programs, the attendance, the numbers, and the attendance numbers or even budgets. It's the foundation that gives meaning to everything else.
So, we're gonna take you through step by step on how maybe there's some ways that you can look at those ways outside that are bigger than actually the building. It's really easy to get caught up in the building because it is an expense. It is, and it's, visual. It's something that people can connect to. They can see it, it's, tangible. So what is the, the why outside the building? So, to identify who you are as a church, the strategic planning connection, you can't really separate the stewardship from identity, from the identity. So, if you're focusing what the church is focusing on, that’s what's gonna be connecting with people to give. So, you want to make sure that you're focusing on the ministry. People will give to ministry, and they will give, to, you want something that’s pulling at their hearts. And so that they find the, they find it down deep within them to want to give and participate and be a part of. It's not just the transaction. You'll hear us talking quite a bit today about the transformation of why people want to be able to be a part of the mission and the ministry of your churches. Generosity will grow. A mission is where the mission is clear. And we see that over and over. if we have a ministry or a mission that is dear and near to someone's heart, that is where they will put their energies. They will put their dollars, they will, they will put their interest into that ministry. Some of you that are listening to the webinar today, and we'll be listening to it when we, have it recorded, we have it recorded, and then people can download it, at a later day will have heard me say, it's sort of the eHarmony of ministry. You wanna make that connection of where your heart is and where the heart of the ministry is and how we make those connections within the church. And the other thing is to remember that not everyone will be excited about every single thing in your church. So you have to have more than just one focus. And you have to have, ministries that appeal to a different, different groups of people so that there is an interest for each person without losing who you are as a church. It's Jim. It's kinda like a big puzzle and yeah, it is. Well, that’s, you know, I like that, that's a really important point because it can't just be solely focused because not, one single thing is gonna speak to all individuals within the church. So that's a really important point to make. If, the leaders of the church can't articulate why the church matters, giving will feel very transactional and rather than transformational. And a lot of the things that I'll be talking about today are, the, the transformation piece and how you bring out the love for ministry within a person and you see them grow in their love for Jesus. Jim will be talking more about the budgets and a little bit more transactional, but helping everyone to understand how those transactions lead to the transformation. It's not just a one and done and checking a box. What is the deeper mission? transactional, I always say it's bailout money, making the budget, filling in the deficit and checking boxes. And we see that in the foundation. there'll be something that people kind of get desperate about. They need to have some dollars to, to fix something. They wanna fix it, they wanna make it right and then they wanna move on. And sometimes I have to say, the teller window is closed because we don't wanna ever be that, that group in the foundation is, it's just bailout money that we're trying to fix something. But we want to see how those connections are made for the deeper purpose of ministry. Well, and, and you know, fix, I was just gonna say fixing, fixing a furnace is necessary, but it doesn't necessarily inspire folks and bring that raw emotion out to, to give towards, towards that. So, yeah, that's very, very important.
Well, Jim, that's a good point though. And many times if, if we do help churches with those pieces, 'cause you're right, those are very necessary. but then we visit with them about the next steps. Okay, you're fixing your furnace at this time, it's necessary, and you've gotta have a furnace. I mean, we're in the Dakotas in Minnesota, you have to have a furnace. Pretty Important, Pretty important. But, but then what's next? What do you have in plan to be able to, bring people into have those ministries now that you have that furnace and it's not just a one and done. So that's a very good point. Well, and it also, those things also help enable those other missions too, and focusing on that, rather than just what needs to be fixed. Right?
Right. And I could sort of relate, this summer our, dishwasher went out in our home and it wasn't exactly in our plan to put in a new dishwasher, but we needed to have one, or we thought we needed to have one to replace the one that we had. But we also talked about that, that what else? You know, it, it's, we still wanna give to other pieces in ministry and things. And so even personally, if you think of it personally on things that you've had to make adjustments for because of those one and one and done things, how are you also still carrying out your budget and your, plans f for the greater good? And so I think it happens personally. And I think sometimes if you think about it personally, then in the church, those same things happen. So, you want to be able to fix it. You have to have it. But then what is the, the mission? Because it is an unexpected, expense and probably one you don't want to have to spend your dollars on if you have 'em set for ministry, it must be the season. Sheri, our washing machine went out two weeks ago. So, you know, those things, those things are important. But, you know, not always fun to spend money on, but we do like clean dishes and clean clothes.
So that helps enable us to do our other missional work, so to speak, right? Throughout these webinars and throughout the work that we're doing, with our series, of helping our churches and our leaders, we will have reflection questions throughout. And we want you to take the time and take a minute. So, we'll, we'll take a minute now to answer this question. If our church disappeared tomorrow, what would our community lose?
So, take a minute everyone, and think about that. I should have mentioned at the beginning, if you had a piece of paper and a pen, that'd be great’ cause we've got a little bit of, of work for you to do as well. So, we'll take one minute. Yes. People are writing down their thoughts on this. I mean, that really is a great question. I mean, it really gets to the core of what do you wanna be known for and what do you want to do to help serve your neighbors and your community? Great question. Alright, we'll move on to the next. Again, all of the work that we're doing, is grounded in the biblical and theological roots and the why in Jesus' great commandment and the great Commission is as a reminder to love God, love neighbor, and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
So, as we frame it as a spiritual, I was gonna say spirituality, frame it as a spiritual identity rather than just a mission statement. The why answers the question, what has God placed us here to do that no one else can do quite the same way? Now, if you're thinking about your churches and your communities, what has God placed you, the people of your church and the leaders within your church, how has God placed all of those pieces together to do something that no one else can do in quite the same way? I’ll give you just a few minutes to think about that, Jim.
I think this is one way that you and I've kind of come together to, to do these webinars and to do this work together for the conference and for the foundation is that they, we’ve been placed together. and how can we help our churches, our communities, do things, that other people aren't doing in quite the same way. I think that that's maybe what has brought us together and how we started to have those conversations as well. Absolutely. Yeah. It's really marrying up. It's the knowledge and experience with, you know, the need for, for that. and that's really what this question, hones in on is, is, you know, what are you uniquely able to do and what needs are out there that you can fulfill? Yeah. All right.
So, your community calling the why is not generic. We, as the conference and as the foundation can't put a blanket statement out there of everybody's why of the churches across the Dakotas in Minnesota. Everyone has their unique why in their community, and it should reflect those unique needs of the, and the opportunities of the community. These are not blanket answers. If we were all in the same room, in, you know, in doing this presentation live in a, in person, we wouldn't probably have, I don't know, 20, 25 different whys for that community and who are the people God is entrusted to our care.
Now this picture is an actual picture of Little Prairie, Minnesota, Little Prairie UMC in Minnesota. And they're on a hayride and they're much of their mission is their community right around them, a rural church. And they, they do their programming to bring in all of that community and bring them everyone in together. And it's very intergenerational. And I follow them on Facebook. I've been to their church a number of times and worked with their committee sand they just have such a community spirit that I wanted to share it, in this picture. 'cause I think this, just shows their love for each other in the community that they're building.
I love that. You know, I, was just gonna say, you know, looking at this picture, I think of the, the church that my wife, pastor Krista Ducker, served at Ben Clare east of Sioux Falls here. And, you know, part of their why is building community and building hospitality, and making people feel welcome. And it can be, you know, as simple as that. So when I see that picture, you know, they have their ice cream social every year at Ben Clare, and that's exactly what, what we're talking about here. So that's a great why.
And then of course, we, we want to see, or where we don't want to see this, but we want to recognize where we see the brokenness, the loneliness, injustice that the church is uniquely positioned to meet. The church is equipped to help all of our people in despair and where those brokenness and loneliness areas are. And then how do our gifts, passions, and resources intersect with those needs? Where do we see that and where can we meet those needs as a church and as a church community, as it being a spiritual practice? The why is about transformation, the individuals, families, neighborhoods, and society.
And I just wanted to bring the individual. Sometimes transformation seems pretty abstract. It seems like a, it, it's not a tangible, but if we put the individual's, families, neighborhoods, and society into those areas, and, think of that as the transformation, how are we making a difference in each one of those areas? That’s really what the why of the transformation is, and it helps.
Oh yeah, thanks. It helps shift focus from what do we do to who we are becoming as followers of Jesus. I have sat through many, many meetings over my 11 plus years with the foundation and heard what people are doing, what, and, and making lists. We, we make a lot of lists. I've done the same thing. I'm not one that hasn't done this as well.
And we can look at a list and we think, wow, we're doing a lot, we're doing a lot of transactional things, but who are we within those lists becoming followers of Jesus? How are we implementing those to be able to be, a follower of Jesus? And then practical discernment questions. If you're guiding a church or a board to define this, you might invite them, these are some questions. Maybe you should ask your ad board or your ad councilor your finance committee, or your children's ministries or your youth ministries. But when people encounter us, what do we hope they experience about God? And what in our community is breaking our hearts that is compelling us to act on, on these, these areas where we are hoping people experience God? And again, what difference would it make if we didn’t exist in your community? If, if your UMC church wasn’t there, what difference would it make to exist? And how do our ministry practices tell the story of who we are in Christ? What are we doing to tell our story? And then once the why is defined, it should serve as our filter.
Do our ministries align with it? And this one gets to be kind of tough within the, the conversations at some of your board meeting sand some of some of your committee meetings because are you doing the ministry because it's a pet project? Are you doing your ministry because you have done it forever? They’ve always done this ministry. or are you doing the ministry because it aligns with the why of who you are as a church? and we can, we can all think of those ministries that, that have been going on for a number of years and they just continue to do that probably because of the nostalgia of the generations who have done those ministries. But is it still meeting those needs? And is it meeting the needs of the church and who it is today?
And then, once you decide if the ministries align with it, does the budget reflect it? Are those, are you forcing that budget so that those, programs and ministries can continue? Or does the budget tell the story of the ministries that you're doing? And then do those stories communicated? And are your impact stories reflecting on how your ministries align, your budgets reflect it and your stories communicate it. So, a clear why simplifies decision making, and it ensures that the church doesn't drift into busyness survival nostalgia mode, but it stays rooted in its God-given mission.
And I, those are tough ones because we've seen many times where ministries just continue because it is, you know, it's something, I always use the word Mrs. Smith, so I'm sorry if you, if we have a Mrs. Smith on today, but is it something Mrs. Smith has done and, and her family did for years and it's just important to keep that going and that has become the identity of the church? Or is it meeting the needs of the mission of the church?
All right, Jim's gonna take the lead on many of these. Absolutely. Well, you know me, I was just chomping on the bit, you know, Sheri, I still am a numbers guy and I do like, oh, I know the numbers, so you know, as Sheri teed up, earlier, we're gonna have a series of, of these webinars that, head into the fall and we're gonna get more into, one of 'em, specifically the nuts and bolts of how we steward the resources. but we did want to kind of give you a taste of, of just, at a high level, a little bit about budgeting and, and some of the, other pieces that have to be in place because, you know, these, you know, we talk aboutenhancing the generosity of your churches and congregations, but, you know, there's an important piece of that, and that's making sure that we are good stewardsof those resources. So, and, and, you know, you all are, I'm sure familiar with, the standard church budgets, but we will, talk a little bit about that. And really, you know, a budget is just a roadmap of where, you know, planning where your church is, where it wants to be. And then, a good question is, is it aligned with, the why of your church? And so that's an important piece of that.
But, you know, what's a church budget? It's a simply a financial action plan for your churchthat creates financial, goals. It says clergy financial goals, I would say more church financial goals. And clergy's a part of that, holds the church accountable to those goalsand plays a crucial role in thefinancial health of your ministry. So really it's a report card of how, how are you doing? Is your, is your church following the planand the why of your ministries? you know, why is the church budget essential? helps illustrate your money, where your money is coming from and where it is spent. You know, there's, there can be multiple sources of, ofthat income, obviously, you know, we think of the, the church offering plate, you know, but there's other avenues to that. you know, a lot of churches are more shiftingto online giving, and if, if you really haven't, taken advantage of that you should because, you know, people don't carry their checkbooks in their pocket likethey used to or the cash, like they used to. And so really, you know, enabling that online, giving is, is really important, nowadays. and it enables better financial stewardship. you know, and, and, and I would add to that transparency. You know, if you're gonna have folks that, donate to the church, they wanna know where that money is going.
And so, a budget really helps them, or helps the church illustrate to them, where, that money is going to go and whether it follows the missionand, and the why of the church, criticalfor planning church activities. Obviously, you know, you don't wanna start, you know, planning, for a church activityor a mission without having, having, you know, the finances in order. you don't wanna start something that you can't finish it. So, it's really, a good planning tool manages church expenses and maintaining, assets like a church building. Obviously, that's important. It's not just about the church building, but you obviously have to continue to maintain that, as well to help enable the rest of your mission to take place. and, and like I said before, it helps enable stewardship of your financial resources to take your ministries further.
You know, one of the things that, I constantly talk about is, is, and it's really important to keep in mind, is a lot of folks look at the budget, look at how much we have in funding, and then, okay, what can we do with that? Why submit? It really should be flipped. You should focus on the ministry and the mission of the church and what you want and what the why is. And then that drives the budget decisions. And so, you know, and, and it really helps to, you know, dream big and think, gosh, what do we wanna do? And then how do we get there? And so that pulls that into the mission, not, not, you know, we have X amount of dollars there available, what can we do with it? So that's really an important, key point in this. You know, there are, there are a few different types of budgets, and again, we'll get into more of the details, in, in a, a later webinar. but for now, you know, I just list a few, key types of budgets.
The narrative budget is really becoming more and more popular and, and I think should be, because it, it really paints the picture, and really is easy to read. You know, I don't know about you, but a lot of folks kind of glaze over when they see a bunch of numbers on a spreadsheet. but if you have pictures and graphics and, and, and telling stories of what your, church has donewith the, the resources that it's been, you know, given to, that can make a huge difference in really spurring that generosity and even getting people more excited about, you know, the focus of, of your church. So, and, and, and we will talk a little bit, more about the narrative budget here in the next slide.
Then there's the basic line item budget. You know, the, this, this is kind of what, we probably all grew up with. You got your income and your expenses and kind of how much you are projected to bring in and how much each of your, line items on the budget will cost. And I, I think, as we go forward, I think we're gonna see, you know, kind of a mix of all of these, but I think the line item budget, is, I don't wanna say going the way of the dodo bird, soto speak, but, but I think we'll see more of the narrative budgets and, and, and that's showing your age. Yeah, I know, I know. I'm getting up there. You know, I had a big zero, you're younger than me this year, so what's that? I said in, you're younger than me, the way the I, I know.
So, you know, and then there's the program budget. You know, this can really be a good, type of budget to focus on. You know, we talk about the why and what, you know, what kinds of programs you can, you know, put in place to, to fulfill that why, so to speak. and so this is a great version of the budget to really evaluate each program. And is this a program like Sheri said, is this something that we've, you know, we do because we've always done. and really, do you want to continue it or do you want to shift your resources to, to other programs? So, and it really evaluates each program on a program by program basis. And then the last one, zero based budget. You know, getting back to the line item budget, a lot of times it says, well, you know, we have pastor salaries, we increase it by 3%. We have this type of program. We'll, we'll bump that up a little bit or bump it down a little bit. Whereas the zero based budget is really starting from a zero base, $0, and really, really forces the issue of, is this expense justified, or is this area justified? Do we wanna continue to do this or not? and so, that's becoming more and more popular as, as we move forward as well.
What I've, what I'm starting to see too, is really a combination of all of these in one, you know, some of the painting, the pictures, with the narrative budget, but then also, you know, outlining it on a program by program basis, for example. So, you know, you can kind of marry a lot of these, concepts into one, one budget, that you have. So, moving on to the next slide, more on the narrative budgets. It really links the vision, values and ministry with financial priorities going back to the why. and it encourages people to discuss the needs of the ministry more deeply, and it tells others about the work of the congregation and see their own stewardship. And ex is an expression of faith. You know, we talk about it's a spiritual discipline, and it's not about the numbers, it's the stories that inspire us. You know, it's that it's bringing that emotion to light. And so, you know, you see pictures and you see, real people being helped by, by the numbers, within the budget. and, and I think that really moves people to really cultivate that generosity even more. Few budgeting tips. you know, the first one involved key stakeholders, I would say. I hesitate to say the more the merrier, but I, I do think the more people are involved, the more vested they have, interest in, in the budget. you know, I think that's a really important point is, is making sure that more and more people are involved so then they can, they really take ownership of it. ensures transparency and accountability.
We talked about that a little bit earlier. celebrate milestones and achievements. You know, one thing when you hear the budget, sometimes you think of a once in a year type thing. I mean, we even have 2026 budget on the, on the screen there, but, you know, it really should be celebrated and talked about constantly, whether it be monthly or quarterly. you know, how, how are we doing compared to, to where we thought we would be at this point in time, and what, what are some of the stories, that, that we're starting to hear based on, what we've, deployed those dollars to help with.
So, you know, regularly updating your congregation and supporters and progress towards these emissions. and goals are really important because that, you know, cultivating generosity and talking about where you are and where you've been should be a constant, you know, monthly, quarterly, thing, not just a once, a once a year budget, budget process, and be realistic and flexible. You know, some, things come up, the furnace goes out, you know, you, you might have to divert resources to other, other purposes that, you weren't expecting throughout the year, or maybe there's a no there's, a ministry opportunity that comes up that you didn't necessarily foresee, say six months ago when the budget was formulated, you know? So, you know, being flexible in the budget, you know, it's a roadmap, it's a guide, but that doesn't mean you can't take detours or, or frankly, need to take detours as as you go. So, any, any, anything to add, addto the budget piece at all, Sheri?
No, it was, I can talk about this here of when we get to the committee, but one of the things that we've done for the, board of directors meetings is for the foundation, is that at the beginning of each meeting, we bring in a ministry story that we have, supported or that the foundation's been a part of. And we've told those stories at the beginning of each one of our board meetings so that it brings the, well, it brings a purpose and it brings that budget into reality to show what we are supporting and, and, the ministries. And it, it just helps us, again, ru us into the ministry instead of, it, it makes it more transformational, and instead of just going through the, the agenda next, next, you know, right. To get through the meeting, it personalizes it for our purpose. Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, you know, we're, we're gonna be talking about story, story stories a lot. I mean, it's so important. I mean, you know, people wanna know what the impact of their dollars is having, and maybe not their dollars too, just their, their, their knowledge resources or their, their volunteer time. you know, people want to hear about those stories and, and it'll inspire others to get involved and, and, be even more generous.
You know, just one example, of a story that's helped, you know, in the Dakotas, well, in both Dakotas and Minnesota, we have a scholarship program, and we scholarship students who are going to seminary and, and some undergrad programs too. But our focus is seminary and, and higher ed. And, and one of the students, probably more than one, but one that came forward to us was so impacted by the scholarship that they received that they wanted to find ways to give to that scholarship program so that they could help others as well, because of the great impact that was being made on them through the people that had given of themselves years ago to help set up the scholarship program. It's still making an impact today, and they want, they wanna give back to it. So the people who thought great, that, that helping with scholarships, were paying it forward, and now, our recipients are, are paying it back. So, yeah, That's great. It’s planting, it's planting seeds, right? It goes back to that, that exactly Bible rooted, you know, parable.
So, you know, I call it generational generosity. Oh, yeah. I, I, I like that. Right? So, Hey, that's a new webinar for us. There you go. Maybe, you know, we'll, we'll maybe add a fifth one on. Yeah, there we go.
You know, so, again, you know, budgeting is one tool to help ensure that we steward our resources well. but taking a step back, I mean, we need people, that really helps manage, that process and, and not just budgeting, but other, other pieces of that as well. But before we get into kinda what, what the roles and responsibilities are of the finance committee, like, who can make up a finance committee or who should make up a finance committee, you know, an effective committee proposes a budget, obviously, and then raises, manages and distributes the financial resources of the church to support its mission and ministries. And I would say, you know, they propose a budget, but again, it's, it's important that it's not necessarily always a top down thing, but a almost a bottom up thing. Like what is, again, the why of the church and then getting people, people's buy-in, of those, you know, those ministries and, and, and projects. and so they, you know, there should be, a lot of people involved in that, that budget process.
But, you know, key, skills, for a membership, on the finance committee, you know, obviously they have to have good communication skills. you know, that's important no matter what, what committee, folks are on, financial acuity and expertise helps too. I mean, you know, who are the, who are the accountants, the bankers, those types of, you know, money managers, wealth managers, you know, do you have those in your congregation, in your community that could, really serve, on a role like this? obviously they need credibility. and that kind of goes back to do they have experience, in, in all things finance, but the, I want to caution on that though, because it's really important to have people that maybe aren't, in the financial world, so to speak.
You know, because sometimes they, they see things or, or ask questions that others that are so ingrained in that world may not think or may overlook. and so, so it's really important to have really a good cross section of, of folks, not just, all finance people, for instance, and credibility. It, it ties into trust too, though. Are you, are they trustworthy? Obviously, you have to have somebody that’s really trustworthy and, and, a finance, committee, membership role. and, and looking the church and community leaders within your group, because, you know, this could be a group that also helps spur additional gen generosity. and so, having church leaders in community, members, that are leaders in your, community, can really help, help enable that, to take place.
Jim, one of the things that I have, kind of, thought about when it's the finance committee, the board development, for the foundation board is that the committee should be kinda like a pair of eyeglasses. You need the far vision and the bifocals, and, right. You need both in there to get a clear picture. And, you know, we, I, we've been to committees over the years that finance committees and, and even the foundation boards that we've worked with that think it needs to be all finance people that have those experiences, you know, in budgets and things. But really, if you think of it as a pair of eyeglasses, bifocal eyeglasses with the, the far distance and the close distance, I think that that gives it a, a greater idea of maybe what, to look for in a committee, men committee, member Like that. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause you gotta look at the now, but you also have to have that visionary too. and they, those, those folks may not be the finance people necessarily, Right? And then they, you know, then it brings it all into focus, so, right. Yep. You know, and these are just some examples of the typical membership of a finance committee.
And, and a lot of this is laid out in, in the Book of Discipline. Obviously, you need a chairperson. The pastor should be involved. treasurer, financial secretaries, are good, members of this committee, obviously, 'cause they have their finger in the pulse of, of, you know, where the church is, from a finance perspective. So, so, you know, these are just some of the folks that could, could, you know, be good members of those, but you know, others, others from outside of, you know, this list as well to, to Sheri's point too, because sometimes, they bring, a different viewpoint that, you know, some of these folks that are more tied into church leadership may not, may not have their finger on the pulse as much on. So, you know, if, if you wanna read the, all the role sand responsibilities, it's all outlined, in the Book of Discipline, paragraph two, 2.58.0.4, you know, give stewardship of financial resources are priority, throughout the year. and it carries out church council, council directions. And really their, their main role is, oneof their main roles is to oversee the financial secretary and treasurer.
But, you know, the role sand responsibilities, you know, there are, several of them, I know one of, one of them being, that there's, adequate policies and financial procedures in place that really outline the internal controls of, of the church. again, it ties back to ensuring that you're being good stewards of those resources. I'm not gonna delve into internal controls at this webinar that that'll be a little bit later on in the nuts and bolts webinar later, I think in November. but, it's just one of those, key responsibilities that the finance committee has is to make sure there's strong fin internal controls in place.
Another one is to make sure there's an, an annual audit, being performed every year as well and, and being reported, to the charge, conference as well. So, you know, and again, I won't delve into the details of, of, what's required on an audit, at this, at this stage, but we'll delve into the details of that a little bit later, in our series.
So yeah, I think those are the, you know, the main roles and responsibilities, making sure there's policies and procedures in place, making sure you're doing, having an annual audit. And really just, tying in with the treasurer's role is, is, you know, reporting on a, on a periodic basis, not just at year end, to, to really be transparent, with the church finances more at, at that 2 58 0. 4.
If you, if you, want to delve into the, the deep end of the pool, church treasurer, this is the Number guy coming out in you, isn't it, Jim? I'm sorry, this is the number guy coming out you. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, if, if I need to take a step back, just, just, let me know. Won't kidding, won't, we won't de delve too, too deep in this, you know, I, I, I kind of geek out, soto speak, on, on internal controls because I was an internal auditor for 15 plus years. And so that's kind of, what we lived, and breathed, every day. and so we'll, we'll delve into the deep end of that pool a little bit later on.
So, but yeah, I definitely, do, do, do like to talk about the numbers. I won't. That's great. church treasure's another important role. obviously I'm, I'm the conference treasurer. so I do this, you know, I have a lot of these roles and responsibilities at the, at the conference level, but it's no different at the church. It's, it's, dispersing all money contributed to the local church and keeping accurate record of how that money is spent. you know, obviously they work a lot with church finances, according to the guidelines established by the finance committee, again, like what we had just, talked about earlier. and they, you know, they have a total fiduciary responsibility, to the church. meaning that, you know, the, the best interest of the, churches is, should be on their mind at all times from a finance perspective, remitting each month to the conference treasurer, that'd be me. All, all world service. really, we're talking about apportionments there, and then conference benevolence, funds, collected. you know, obviously if you're, you're, part of the, church finance, arena or, or the pastor, you're pretty familiar with that process. And, and we can talk a little bit about that more, a little bit later here. you know, and the church treasurer also works with the financial secretary to maintain records of all funds received and is accountable to the charge conference from the church council.
So, you know, it, it's really the person that's, you know, with the finance committee overseeing the treasurers, they've got the day-to-day responsibilities of making sure that, you know, the internal controls are, are followed, the policies and procedures are followed. the annual audit is getting, completed each year. So just some of the key, key responsibilities of the church treasure.
And, you know, we can't get away from, you know, a, a talk on generosity, without talking about apportionments. You know, I live in and breathe apportionments everyday at the conference. But, you know, we, we wanted to kind of touch on Apportionments because it's really our shared, you know, connectional giving. and, and really every congregation invests equally in their, in, in our shared mission according to the, their ability. and so, and we can, we will talk more about Apportionments a little bit later too, but it's a percentage of the local church funds are remitted, you know, that stay within the conference, to help fund various programs of our conference. And, and about a quarter of these funds also are remitted to the, you know, worldwide United Methodist Church too. and really it goes back to this, this idea of apportionments, goes all the way back to John Wesley. You know, he, you know, he even saw back then that the collective of, of congregations, you know, working together to support various causes. And if you wanna flip to the next slide, slide, slide, Katie, you know, he really realized that we could do more with our combined resources than any individual or church could do on their own.
Going back to funding new preaching houses and supporting clergy who traveled among worshiping congregations, you know, the, the circuit writers and, and providing relief for those in, in pauper's prisons where Methodists also shared the good news of Jesus Christ. So, you know, it, it's really, we can all do more collectively than any of us can do individually, and that's really the core, point really of apportionments, you know, so again, like tithing and stewardship, givingthrough apportionments is a communal formational practice that cultivates spiritual maturity and counter-cultural Christ-likeness. you know, it's, it's, it's like tithing to the individual. It's, it's the same way with, with our churches. and your apportionments.
Apportionment Giving helps create and sustained vital ministries that are making a difference in people's lives every day, and really demonstrates what it means to be Christ-like followers. and, you know, there are several things that apportionments help support. you know, on the next slide here, it, it really outlines some of the key things, such as camping and youth, young adult ministries. If you've ever had a child go to a youth camp, you know, those apportionment dollars help support that. it, it helps support the infrastructure and the administration to help those camps run smoothly. you know, we're, I was just up at Lake Poinsett Camp last week, and it's amazing how much, you know, effort and work it takes to make those events happen. you know, from, from food preparation to, to ordering to, to, you know, the, you know, housing, those, those kids at camp, I mean, it takes a lot of work. And, and those, the apportionment dollars help support those folks, that help make that happen.
Board of Ordained Ministry is another, important role that those apportionment dollars help support. you know, if you have a, a, a qualified pastor serving in your church, then that, that is part of where those dollars, go to, to help support the Board of Ordained ministry in that, in that process, new clergy moves. You know, many of you, I'm sure have had new clergy move in and out of your churches. apportionments help, support and facilitate, the ease of that process, by helping support the, the clergy financially to make those moves possible. This year alone, we, we, in the Dakotas conference, over $120,000 has been, invested in those clergy moves to help facilitate those moves. Even some other conferences, leave it up to the churches or even the individual pastors potentially to help, absorb those costs instead. Those costs are, are, shared, through our connectional giving, infrastructure and leadership, for providing administrative support to churches. I get calls every day, or meet emails every day from, folks that need assistance with their, you know, clergy benefits or, or they have, questions about, you know, how, you know, what, what a certain process is regarding submitting, statistics, to our general church or, a variety of other questions. I just got two during this, this webinar so they don't stop, on the weekends. and so, so those apportionments help support that infrastructure to really help, hopefully anyway, make, make your lives easier out, out, within the local church.
And then, annual conferences is another, event that, occurs once a year that, you know, if you've been to annual conference, you know how much of a blessing that is to get, to get together and, and share, you know, what's going on with, our local churches and, within the conference and our worldwide connection, that annual conferences in part supported by the Portman, that are given, by your churches and congregations throughout our conference.
So, so those are just, some of the, the many ways that those dollars, really are being deployed and used and, and really getting back to the why of why generosity is so, so important to, to support, the, the things that, are near and dear to our hearts. Well, you know, and with all of those reasons of apportionments and budgeting and all of those important parts of the finances for your church, we just thought we'd go over, for a minute. Why does stewardship and generosity even matter? Why do we, why do we focus on it? Why should it be incorporated into everything that we do?
Well, it's a spiritual practice. Just as many of the, you know, prayer and, worshiping all of the spiritual practices that are within the church, stewardship and generosity is as well. And it isn't just fundraising, it's discipleship, and, and it's giving back. And then it also reflects on our trust in God in just, not just our financial capacity. And, 2 Corinthians 9:7, which is a familiar verse of “God loves a cheerful giver,” which is the joy of giving.
And think about it in your own context, how has giving strengthened your spirituality? You know, I, flipping back to that last slide, I, you know, I think we focus a lot on the discipline of it, but I think it's really important to focus on the joy of it too. And I think I mentioned that in during the lunch and learn, earlier this year, at annual conference. you know, it, you think back to the thing, the, the times that you've given even me maybe more than what you thought you could afford. it just give, it just warms your heart. And so, you know, the joy of giving, you know, give that to yourself. you know, it's, it's, it's important to have that spiritual discipline, but it's also a, a joyful practice too.
So, it's really something to, not lose sight of, You know, and then Jim, to just bring it full circle on that, once the giving and then you hear the stories of impact, that's when you also feel, you know, warms your heart to see what your contributions and your involvement has given back to somebody else, something bigger. And to feel when you hear those impact stories is, is great. You know, I always, I always say the, and I think we're working on this a little bit across the conference and, and throughout the foundation, but for those of you who watch CBS and CBS this morning, we need more Steve Hartman stories. We need more of those feel good, impact, how people connected and helped each other's stories. And those are the ones that really help with generosity and really stir generosity. and it's about courage. It's about trusting God with what we have and giving back. and then to release those resources and to know that if you release some of the resources you have, you're still gonna be okay and you're helping someone else too, that is helping in God's mission to be able to help those, to help another purpose outside yourself. And then if, if you're helping, God will provide for tomorrow for those that you're helping and for yourself as well, so that you can give of yourself. Well, I was just gonna say, it's the, it it's the whole concept of God owns it all, right? We're just, we just oversee it for, a short period of time, really, if, if you think about it.
So, if you change, change to that mindset, it can really open up possibilities, yeah. That we're stewarding God's resources that have been given to us. Mm-hmm. Right. And to remember faith over fear. Fear will control us if we don't bring the faith into the equation.
And once again, transformational, how is generosity transformational in your heart and in the area in which you support when you are generous and generosity is countercultural.
And so with all of these pieces together, generosity is the working of God through each one of us. So where does your church's stewardship and the stewardship programs and the stewardship focus reflect courage in your church? And where does fear still have a grip? You know, many times, we'll, we'll oversee, or not oversee, but we'll look over, the finances of a church to see if we're gonna come in and help them with generosity and stewardship campaigns and, and programs to help their church, you know, thrive. And we'll see that they've got, savings, which is, I often refer to as the cookie jar or cook, coffee can, or cookie jar money, or the coffee can that's hidden in the backyard that they really don't talk about. But they've got these funds over here that, again, Mrs. Smith gave, many years ago in its four rainy day funds.
What we have learned over the years is that if we use those funds responsibly and, and within a formula probably of distribution, that more funds will come back to those funds because they see the ministry and, and the beauty that those funds are supporting. But if they sit there with, with the fear grip and they're just being, it's that scarcity mentality, right? The scarcity mentality of we are gonna need it some other day. Those funds will just sit there and there won't be the life into the ministries that the churches are hoping for.
So, to be brave enough to have that courage to loosen up some of those funds, and seriously, we have found churches that have those funds of up to a million dollars. We have found, a year or so ago, there's one with $500, 000 sitting there that were not being used. Well, as I've said earlier, I always use Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith didn't give those dollars just to sit there. Those dollars were given to put back into the ministries of your church as, scary and fearful. I don't even know what word to use that that can be, to loosen up that fear Grip is, the, the one of the biggest steps you can take to the helping your church flourish in the ministries. Yeah. It's planting the seeds, right, right. Using that to plant seeds versus storing it up in, you know, in silos. Yeah. If you, if you think about it, if you keep the fear grip on, things won't grow. They have to have air and soil and be let out to be able to grow.
