Budgeting a deficit: Part 3
Welcome to part 3 in the church budget series! If you’re jumping in now, scroll down for links to previous posts. Part 1 features a short video on the theology of church budgets. Part 2 deals with setting realistic budget goals.
OK, straight to a hypothetical budget situation, familiar to many:
Apple Seed church has a part-time youth pastor
giving is below budget
It’s budget time for next year. What to do?
Leadership decides to keep the staff position, budget for a $35,000 deficit next year and hope everything will work out in the end.
Let’s examine this tough topic with as much grace and humour as possible…
Recalling an earlier post, the ideal goals for a budget include:
nurturing generosity
building trust
demonstrating gratitude to God.
Christians practice gratitude and generosity in good times and bad; there are no fair-weather spiritual disciplines! I’m going to focus on trust first.
Trust and Generosity
Trust. Trust is SO important. How can the church nurture and build trust? That’s a question to reflect on, discuss and pray about while preparing a budget.
People give to people they trust, groups they feel connected to and causes they care about. Trust and connection motivate giving.
A budget requires careful truth-telling. A false sense of urgency burns through reserves of trust; don’t pretend it’s urgent if it isn’t. Also, don’t pretend everything is fine, if it’s not fine. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. (If the actual plan assumes using reserve funds to cover the deficit, consider presenting a balanced budget with income from reserve funds.)
Faithful donor Doris looking at Apple Seed’s budget will see a $35,000 deficit for next year. The deficit budget presents mixed messages:
hopes that present donors will cover the deficit
concerns about insufficient generosity
Mixed messages generate anxiety. Doris might not make the connection between keeping the youth pastor and the planned deficit either. Now people will be both anxious and confused, none more so than the youth pastor’s family.
A planned deficit budget demonstrates a lack of trust and sends conflicting messages about generosity. It could make a bad situation worse. I am particularly fond of church finance people; I don’t want to make their roles more stressful!
A planned deficit means leadership doesn’t have to make cuts, nor do they have to ask people [directly] to increase their giving. The passive approach to generosity concerns me. If a congregation is called to do important work in the world, but not important enough for leadership to ask people to support it, something is wrong.
These are hard conversations for sure. Good news though, Christians can talk about hard things!. Apple Seed needs to prayerfully discuss its priorities, instead of using giving to budget as a referendum on church priorities. Doris forgetting a cheque back in August was not a vote against keeping the youth pastor.
Trust and Generosity
If you find yourself in a situation like the one I’m describing at Apple Seed, circle back to gratitude. What are you grateful for at Apple Seed? Remember to thank God for faithful donors like Doris. Read the previous posts in this series and consider the resources I’ve listed. A planned deficit budget means more than a financial problem. It’s a flag that something needs attention. Find friends outside the situation. Pray. Discuss. Repeat.
Next post: presenting the budget.