John and Dianne Finkelde pastored in their church in Australia for 30 years! To say they have seen it all would be an understatement. When John transitioned out of his church three years ago, he began GrowAHealthyChurch.com.
John and Di consult with and coach pastors and pastors' wives, as well as church leadership at every level. They do onsite consults, online consults, Skype pastoral coaching, etc. You can check out their site at www.growahealthychurch.com, where you can find some free resources and everything else they offer. Jonny and Jeff caught up with John early this week and talked to him about life and ministry. With his Aussie accent, he is a delight to listen to, but a blast to learn from! He gives some very practical and important content that any pastor at any level can put into practice this week! In this episode John talks with the guys at some length, giving very practical coaching on four issues : visitors to your church, how to handle the issue of finances/giving, how to evaluate your ministry at every level, and managing yourself as pastor for long term sustainability. DOUG'S BACK TO COLLEGE, AND JEFF & JONNY ARE BACK IN THE STUDIO! With Jeff's son Douglas back at college, (which was a miracle of God and thank you for praying!) Jeff and Jonny are back in the luxurious and opulent 200churches Podcast Studio this week - recording three episodes in this first week of the year. They are moving and grooving with plans already in motion to upgrade the studio and expand what they offer to pastors of small churches this year. They wrote last Friday that their two main goals are to reach more small church pastors, and serve and encourage them even better this year. Let this first episode of the year be an indication of the quality you can expect every single week, Lord willing of course, in 2015! Enjoy this episode, as our gift of encouragement to you! As you pastor your church, we salute you as a man or woman of God, called to love and serve him by shepherding, feeding, and leading his Flock. Jesus died for them, and you live to love and serve them. May God bless you, your walk with him, your family, and your church ministry this year!
When giving goes down, it’s good for the church leadership to know… why. That’s right, why. Too many church leaders see that giving is down, bills are going unpaid, but they are not willing to take the difficult step into the discovery process. It’s time to define reality.
Jeff and Jonny talk with Dave Jacobs from SmallChurchPastor.com about the financial challenges that many pastors face in their small churches. Dave has been coaching small church pastors for eight years, and has a good handle on the angst out there when it comes to tight church budgets.
So, Dave encourages us to define financial reality in our churches. He says we should know what is happening and why it is happening when it comes to our offerings. He encourages us to do an assessment. Some questions to ask might be:
If giving has dropped because a few big givers have moved out of the area, that’s one issue, but if people are not buying into the vision of the church, distrust the leaders, and are voting with their wallets, that’s another thing. It would be good to know the reasons for a decrease in the offerings. The guys talk about things like, Should the pastor know who gives what? and Why do I feel awkward about speaking publicly about money in my church? The BOTTOM LINE is that the majority of small churches have to deal with financial pressure to one degree or another. YOU are not alone dealing with budget challenges. THEREFORE, you need to reach out and find another/others to help you deal with these challenges. Jeff and Jonny end this episode with a call to action for you to take – to reach out for help, advice, and assistance. Don't struggle alone! The topic we pastors love to hate: finances and money. It’s funny, isn’t it, that Bible College pastoral programs contain no financial courses, and that even Seminary level ministry curriculums have not one class on finances. And then they throw you into a church business. What a dirty trick! C’mon Pastor, you know I’m not lying. You know how true that is. If you had by some chance worked in business or finance before moving into the pastoral ministry, then you might have some background in understanding a church budget, but you would be an exception to the rule.
Everything you learn about church finances must be learned outside of the academic preparation provided for pastors. It must be learned in the trenches. Since the economy did its nose-dive in 2008-2009, many churches have been under serious financial pressure. If you’ve lost families because your church has changed pastors or programs or ministry philosophies, you might also be in a financial pinch. There are a myriad of ways that your church could be facing pressure financially, which means that you as the pastor are stressed financially. There is a reason we count bucks in the offering plate, and butts in the seats – every Sunday morning. We all need money to support our ministries and people to carry them out. This week on the podcast we are talking about church finances. What do we do if they are running low, and putting us in deficit? What happens if we have to lay off staff? What happens if we ourselves don’t get paid? How can we increase offerings in a way that aligns with integrity? Pastor, if you have plenty of money in your church, listen this week to learn about philosophy of finance in a church, and how to budget. Or, just listen to be encouraged and receive good sound teaching and advice on the topic. That’s this week on episode #71 of the 200churches Podcast: How Do I Manage My Church Finances? |
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