The Steward's Prophet

Finance for Faith Communities

a project of Congregational Finance LLC -- Rev. Karen McArthur, editor

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© 2007-2012
Rev. Karen McArthur
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The Steward's Prophet
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There once was a church ...

There once was a church with a comfortable balance in the bank — not too much and not too little.

They realized that it wasn’t the church’s purpose to accumulate wealth, so they began to expand their ministry.  They received gifts for building a school in Africa, as well as gifts for the addition of a new church office and elevator.

The long-time pastor retired and the budget surpluses turned into deficits.  The church wasn’t concerned, because they still had plenty of money in the bank.

However, what they didn’t realize was that although they had $80,000 in the bank, the missions gifts of $32,000 and the elevator gifts of $54,000 were both Temporarily Restricted, leaving unrestricted net assets of negative $6,000.