Every church eventually does some semblance of a “capital campaign�. Typically, it is a project to raise money for a new building, an educational wing, the church bus, or land. But what do you do when there is no project? How do you raise money without a set of blueprints or a track of land to show people? And for the readers of this blog who mostly work in portable church environments, there are a whole set of different questions or reasons to wait to do a capital campaign:

We’re too young to ask our people to give. People will think we’re all about the money. If we built the building we can afford, we’d outgrow it on the first day. How do we even begin the capital campaign process? We’ll loose people. Is our church ready for this? What are we even raising money for anyway? We don’t even know what the next step would be.

At Elevation we have said them all and decided to enter into a season of generosity anyway. We want to see our church demonstrate revolutionary sacrifice through this “capital campaign�. There is no project that we are asking people to give towards. But there is a vision.

Sure, we want to position ourselves so that when God does reveal what the next step of Elevation is that we are ready to move financially but it’s not all about the church needing money. It’s about the people who need to give it.

Every church leader that has gone through an effective campaign will tell you the same thing. They’ll talk about how much the faith of their church was increased during that season. You’ll hear them say they wish they had done it sooner. But it still won’t make sense until you see things unfold for yourself.

My message in this is simple. Don’t wait for the ultimate building or land to take your church through a major fundraiser. Put your finger on the pulse of the church and decide when it’s time to take renters and make them owners, to give people an opportunity to invest in something with eternal impact, to run off some stingy Christians that weren’t going to give anyway (lost people get that it costs money to do church), to take your people on an faith journey, to see a culture of generosity permeate your culture. Â

Don’t let the age of your church or your fears of what people will think keep you from developing giving leaders in your church. You don’t under develop the small group leaders, the set-up and tear-down teams, the greeters and ushers. So why under develop the gift of giving.

If you don’t have a project to raise money toward, is that a bad thing? This is for the church planters trying to figure out how to not be portable (which isn’t so bad). Elevation will probably raise money toward a project one day but right now what better thing to leverage than the vision God has given your church. If people won’t give to that then you have other problems.

Strategies will change every day and when they do you can bet you’ll loose people that were giving to a strategy. But the vision remains the same. At Elevation we exist so that people far from God will be filled with life in Christ. And to see thousands of people’s lives changed, and that costs money.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

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One of the hardest things to get right when planting a church is the “church budget”. It all begins with a basic understanding of fund accounting bookkeeping. Here are a few tips for the church planters that I learned the hard way when putting together Elevation Church’s budget.

1. Have a condensed Chart of Accounts
Early on I wanted to know how much we were spending on everything so I just created accounts for everything- bad move. What I created was a continually growing chart of accounts. The concept of a condensed chart of accounts is basic for fund accounting but I know that church plants don’t have a plethora of CPA’s on staff. Having fewer accounts simplifies things as you grow and you can always run detailed reports within the accounts to further analyze data. Having a condensed chart of accounts is foundational in managing an accurate budget.

2. Be Consistent
Whoever is doing the books for the church must be consistent with which account they records expenses in to have an accurate financial picture. For instance, even though an expense may fit several accounts, it must be clear what account it goes in. If the item is purchased again, you have to commit to that expense account or your reports won’t be accurate. And in the end, your budgets will be wrong.

3. Have Staff Members submit their budgets
This seems simple but I meet church finance guys who are starting out and feel overwhelmed with figuring out how much everyone should spend in their areas of ministry. Who knows more about what the children’s ministry needs to spend than the Children’s Pastor. This is true in all areas of ministry. And if the staff person (paid or volunteer) doesn’t think budgeting is part of their job, change that perception quickly. Train them, get them around people who can help, get them a calculator, teach them Excel, because they need to learn the responsibility of managing God’s money. It’s not just the finance guy’s responsibility.

4. If they Can’t manage their own Money, Don’t let them manage God’s
This is another simple one. When deciding who is going to oversee the church budget, I’d recommend not going with the guy who can’t manage his own finances. That’s like going to an obese personal trainer for exercise tips.

These are just a few budgeting and basic bookkeeping tips for the churches getting started. Remember that budgeting is a fundamental concept of stewardship and not just a good idea. God blesses churches that plan. Getting this right early on is a must for all church plants.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

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Disclaimer: The following post is my interpretation of a very fuzzy topic. I am not an attorney and I don’t work for the IRS. I’m not a CPA and don’t claim that what I write will hold up in a court of law. However, when I was doing my research, this is what I wish someone would have told me.

I am a concrete black and white guy who struggles sometimes with the grey. Housing allowances are something that fall into that grey category. The more people you ask and the more you research, the more confused you get. This is my attempt to explain what I’ve found in the most recent court cases.

First of all, let me define the Housing Allowance (HA). This is a portion of income that an ordained and/or licensed minister can elect to receive federal and state income tax free to cover the costs of living. You are required to pay FICA (Medicare and Social Security) on the HA at the end of the year and I’ve got several friends who can painfully vouch for this.

The HA is legally between the ordained minister (this sounds way too formal so I’ll just call them staff) and the IRS. By law, the staff member is to figure their own HA possibly with the help of a CPA and present it to the church. From there, the Board of Directors of the church (non-profit corporation) simply votes to approve the amount. So when the IRS comes a knockin’, it’s between the staff member and the government. The church is out of the loop.

On to the more confusing piece. How do you set the dollar amount of your HA?

This is where you get multiple answers but I’ll do my best job to summarize my findings. And the reason I’m posting this is because of the “grey� nature of HA, most people set them too low and aren’t getting the full tax advantage they should.

Here is a breakdown: When figuring your HA, the IRS requires you to use the lesser of the 2 following scenarios. (Whichever of the following is lower)

1. The fair market rental value of your home fully furnished. Now how do you define this? Ask a realtor, this varies by region. One rule of thumb is to figure that a furnished house would rent for the value of your home divided by 100. So if it’s worth 200K then it may rent for $2,000/month rented. This scenario would present an annual 24K HA.

2. The actual costs of daily living. This is how much it actually costs you to live in your home. So add the mortgage/rent, ins, bills, and lawn care along with projecting what you typically spend on maintenance on your home and furnishings for your house. I’ve even read that for the year of a house purchase your can include your down payment as part of your HA.

Again, this is “grey� but I hope this will help you get a better grasp on what portion of your income as an ordained minister you can take federal and state income tax free. There is a lot more. I could go into the Rick Warren court cases, excessive HA, and how to change the HA legally but it will have to wait. Just make sure you take full advantage of the tax breaks available to you. I don’t think any of us went into the ministry to strike it rich.

Chunks Corbett, Executive Pastor

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