“Our church is not for sale to the highest bidder” my senior pastor once told me. We were talking about budgeting methods and why our church used a unified budget.
He then told me a story about how he was serving in another church which had a choir. Someone in the church desperately wanted the choir to wear formal choir robes. However, my senior pastor wanted a comfortable and contemporary feel to the church and didn’t want to spend several thousand dollars on choir robes. He also wanted the choir to be able to sit with their family after the music worship time had ended (something a robe prevented), because they would have to change clothes.
When he told the woman who wanted the choir to wear robes that the church did not have money in the budget for that item she purchased the choir robes on her own initiative. She donated them to the church, then expected the church to give her a tax deduction for her “donation.”
My senior pastor, with a smile, then told me about how the Presbyterian Church a few miles away received a bunch of new choir robes. And his church choir continued to wear normal clothes. To that he told me, “We have a unified budget and our church is not for sale to the highest bidder.”
Having a culture of designated giving creates many problems for church leaders. An occasional missional fund or building campaign fund is okay. But I’ve heard of some churches having as many as 27 different designated fund accounts.[1]
Thom Reiner lists five reasons designated funds can be dangerous.
- They circumvent the will and plan of the church.
- They create division among the church members and leaders.
- They create an environment where advocates of a particular ministry solicit designated funds.
- They often come with stipulations which cannot always be followed.
- They often hurt the budget giving of the church.[2]
In my past role as an associate pastor and now a senior pastor I believe there are six benefits for a church using a unified budget to fund ministries and priorities through the church’s regular giving.
1. It encourages people to tithe.
Any pastor knows that it is difficult to talk about giving. When you allow designated funds to be a part of your church or you allow lots of fundraisers to occur to support ministries, it discourages people to tithe to the church. Instead people learn to give to whatever they want to support within the church.
But when you promote a unified budget that means you fund ministries from people’s tithes, which encourages people to tithe. People that regularly give to the church get to see what their support makes happen and that’s encouraging to them.
2. It encourages people to trust the church and leadership.
Our culture resists following leaders. People don’t want to be told what to do and they definitely don’t want to allow other people to determine how their money is spent.
Discouraging designated giving in a church and using a unified budget helps people practice Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”[3]
Leading a church that has a unified budget gives them a chance to practice this verse.
3. It keeps everyone moving in the same direction.
Designated funds create a church where everyone decides what the priorities of the church should be. Paul battled this and addressed it in one of his letters written to the believers in Corinth, “Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, ‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I of Apollos,’ and ‘I of Cephas,’ and ‘I of Christ’” (1 Cor 1:12).
In our churches today we could have people insisting they be in a “camp” and donate their money there. Examples could be: I’m with the group that believes in having Sunday School. I’m in the group that believes in having small groups. I’m in the group that believes in having discipleship groups.
How about we say, “I’m in the group that loves this church and trusts our leaders to know the best path for us to take. I’ll faithfully tithe each week and follow the direction my leaders believe our church should take.”
4. It prevents the loudest ministry leaders from getting the most support.
In an environment where people raise their own support through fundraising or designated giving, the most outgoing, charismatic, and loudest ministry leaders will get the most support. That’s a problem because they might lead a ministry that is least important to the church leadership. Or even worse, sometimes the loudest person is the most spiritually immature.
A unified budget puts the focus on ministries that the church leaders believe are important and aligns with the mission of the church.
5. It is less work over the year.
A unified budget requires less work from the church staff throughout the year.
There are less announcements to give at church because of less fundraising events. The weekly giving is easier to reconcile and process because there are no (or very few) designated donations. The church facilities are used less because you don’t have to use them for fundraising. The church members do not have to work at fundraising to support their ministries and can instead focus on doing ministry.
With a unified budget the church board works hard to plan a budget that aligns with the church’s mission and priorities. Then the church staff and volunteers simply execute that mission with the money allocated to them.
6. It is easier to write in pencil.
Everyone knows that budgets must be written in pencil. Change happens and requires us to revisit the budget we worked so hard on to prepare for the year. When the church activities are on one unified budget, it is easier to make adjustments because everything is in one place. A unified budget provides a snapshot of everything, therefore it is easier to adjust.
Unify the Budget and Unify the Church
I have heard of a few churches that use designated giving effectively. But most often, a unified budget is the simplest and most effective budgeting method for churches. Is your church for sale to the highest bidder?
[1] Robert Dial Jr., “Transitioning to a Unified Budget – A Story,” September 14, 2016, https://www.robertddial.com/transitioning-to-a-unified-budget-a-story/#comment-2750. Accessed June 17, 2021.
[2] Thom Rainer, “Five Dangers of Church Designated Funds,” Church Answers, February 19, 2018, https://churchanswers.com/blog/five-dangers-church-designated-funds/. Accessed June 17, 2021.
[3] Unless otherwise noted all Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.