Thursday, August 18, 2005
Auguest News Letter
Stewardship E-Newsletter, August 2005
Bob Tallent,
rgtallent@Comcast.net, www.bobbybaptist.blogspot.com
Summer is nearly over. Guess what, it is time to begin thinking about the new church year. Maybe you don’t, but most churches follow the school year. That means you need to begin planning for next year right now. The old adage is true: To fail to plan is to plan to fail. So, among other things, you need to start working on the church budget ASAP! And to do this, we have a gift for you. We have a beautiful new booklet, Building a Church Budget Bridge! Contact the State Office for your copy: 1-800-451-6599 or bbosley@brnonline.org or contact me.
But let me make a few suggestions.
· Do NOT use last year’s budget or financial report to plan next year! In deep and sincere prayer, seek to know what God’s will for your church is (not your desire, but God’s!). To be sure, there will be practical limitations—But God knows these.
· Be sure to consider your church’s world-wide, area, and local mission responsibility. Is your church being faithful in its giving to the Cooperative Program and to Associational Missions? No church can claim to be a New Testament church and fail to have a world-wide mission strategy.
· Are you paying your Pastor all you can? 8For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward .[1 Tim. 5:18] I suppose it is possible to pay a Pastor too much, I just don’t see many churches ever doing it. It is poor management to call a person to do a job and then to hinder him in doing it.
· Don’t base your budget on the total church pledges. Most churches will give more than they pledge. In any case, the spending plan should be what you have agreed God desires. Who knows, you may discover oil on the church property! By the same token, do not spend what you do not have, just because it is in the budget. The budget is really a vision, a dream. But it is amazing, in my experience, how often God will bless a church, when it steps out on faith.
* * *
For more Practical Ideas for Year-Round Stewardship Promotion, see the Ministry page at www.Lifeway.com.
The latest fad: Have you considered “pod-casting”? With the popularity of Apple’s IPods and other MP3 devices, some ministries have begun to make sermons and other materials available in a downloadable format from their web sites. It seems to me that this might be an effective ministry especially to the younger set.
With the growing popularity of visual aids in worship, the advent of a new, free Christian Audio-Visual Magazine is not surprising. It has been introduced by Christian Computing. I downloaded and printed August’s issue and it is quite attractive. For more info see www.christianav.com.
Most small churches don’t advertise enough. One inexpensive and focused method of advertising is bumper stickers. At the on-line site, www.makestickers.com, you can design your own stickers at reasonable prices and produce as few as only one!
Plan to attend the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey Annual Convention, November 3-4, 2005. See www.brnonline.info for details.* * *
Bob Tallent,
rgtallent@Comcast.net, www.bobbybaptist.blogspot.com
Summer is nearly over. Guess what, it is time to begin thinking about the new church year. Maybe you don’t, but most churches follow the school year. That means you need to begin planning for next year right now. The old adage is true: To fail to plan is to plan to fail. So, among other things, you need to start working on the church budget ASAP! And to do this, we have a gift for you. We have a beautiful new booklet, Building a Church Budget Bridge! Contact the State Office for your copy: 1-800-451-6599 or bbosley@brnonline.org or contact me.
But let me make a few suggestions.
· Do NOT use last year’s budget or financial report to plan next year! In deep and sincere prayer, seek to know what God’s will for your church is (not your desire, but God’s!). To be sure, there will be practical limitations—But God knows these.
· Be sure to consider your church’s world-wide, area, and local mission responsibility. Is your church being faithful in its giving to the Cooperative Program and to Associational Missions? No church can claim to be a New Testament church and fail to have a world-wide mission strategy.
· Are you paying your Pastor all you can? 8For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward .[1 Tim. 5:18] I suppose it is possible to pay a Pastor too much, I just don’t see many churches ever doing it. It is poor management to call a person to do a job and then to hinder him in doing it.
· Don’t base your budget on the total church pledges. Most churches will give more than they pledge. In any case, the spending plan should be what you have agreed God desires. Who knows, you may discover oil on the church property! By the same token, do not spend what you do not have, just because it is in the budget. The budget is really a vision, a dream. But it is amazing, in my experience, how often God will bless a church, when it steps out on faith.
* * *
For more Practical Ideas for Year-Round Stewardship Promotion, see the Ministry page at www.Lifeway.com.
The latest fad: Have you considered “pod-casting”? With the popularity of Apple’s IPods and other MP3 devices, some ministries have begun to make sermons and other materials available in a downloadable format from their web sites. It seems to me that this might be an effective ministry especially to the younger set.
With the growing popularity of visual aids in worship, the advent of a new, free Christian Audio-Visual Magazine is not surprising. It has been introduced by Christian Computing. I downloaded and printed August’s issue and it is quite attractive. For more info see www.christianav.com.
Most small churches don’t advertise enough. One inexpensive and focused method of advertising is bumper stickers. At the on-line site, www.makestickers.com, you can design your own stickers at reasonable prices and produce as few as only one!
Plan to attend the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey Annual Convention, November 3-4, 2005. See www.brnonline.info for details.* * *
