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6 Ministry Budget Traps

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6 Ministry Budget Traps



Managing ministry money is one of the first places where vision drift creeps into a church. It happens in the absence of bold vision and a coherent ministry strategy. It also happens with short-sighted or visionless leadership.

Making financial decisions is the golden moment when a church shows its true priorities. A church can say it has strategic priorities, but how it budgets and spends money is a far better indication of what it values than anything it might say.

Why the disconnect? Why do we so often say one thing but do something completely different with ministry money?

Consider the answer in these 6 ministry budget traps:

  1. Silos vs. Vision – Before starting a new budget process, pull staff or volunteer leadership teams together to review vision as well as key strategic areas and initiatives. Work to reduce and eliminate ministry silos with a compelling ministry vision.
  2. Past Spending vs. Future Focus – Previous year spending patterns can be a consideration for budget cuts, but exercise caution. Ask important questions about why the money wasn’t spent. Above all, don’t allow low spending to determine future budgets in key areas.
  3. Programs vs. Purpose – Budgets are a good time to evaluate ministry programs and purpose. Consider the things you should stop, start and continue doing. Does a ministry program need adjustment? Should an existing program (and budget) be ended in favor of something else?
  4. Events vs. Strategy – Ask leaders who supervise budget lines to think strategically. Require that budget requests be linked to church vision and clearly-defined strategies and action plans. Work with your team to prevent last year’s calendar from automatically determining future plans.
  5. Personalities vs. Priorities – The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Some church budgets reflect this, as more money gets allocated to louder voices and departments. Well-reasoned—but quiet and low key—ministry priorities get pushed aside in these situations. Commit to avoid this trap with a coherent, priority-driven budget process.
  6. Status Quo vs. Change – Create a budget process that encourages a vision-aligned, strategy-driven openness to change. The best stewardship of the church’s financial resources is a Q&A attitude about the status quo.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Allocating money strategically is the best way to manage limited financial resources. Make your budget choices completely dependent on what you are called to do (vision and values), who you are called to reach (outreach focus) and how God has called you to reach them (goals, strategies and action plans).

Resources

Live an Everyday Life on Mission

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Live an Everyday Life on Mission



Who among us doesn’t want to live a life with eternal significance and purpose? Put aside the trappings of earthly success in business or ministry and recognize that real impact happens only when you surrender everything to God.

Over the last two months, our staff has studied Life on Mission by Aaron Coe and Dustin Willis. Here’s how they describe the everyday life believers are called to live:

A life on mission is a calling of abandonment. It is the confession of our willingness to set aside—to abandon—our preferences to follow God’s mission. Like a bungee jumper diving off a platform, we must relinquish our selfish hopes with total abandon to spread the true hope we have found in Jesus.

What does it mean to live life on mission for God? I’ll answer that question with 4 words:

  1. Wait
  2. Abide
  3. Watch
  4. Go

Here’s the full detail of the spiritual truths Coe and Willis present:

1. WAIT on the Lord. Perhaps you spend too little time considering what God is saying in the quiet moments. If so, the watch word is “wait”—create some space in your day to pray, study the Word and worship. Your purpose is to glorify God in everything you do. If you don’t do that, you won’t achieve much that matters.

In the morning, Lord , you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. – Psalm 5:3 (NIV)

2. ABIDE in the Vine. A total realignment takes place when you follow Jesus with abandon. Your life is defined by doing and saying that bears witness to your faith in Christ. More than a head knowledge of who Jesus is, “abiding in the vine” is about living a life in love with the Savior. It translates into doing what God says instead of doing what culture says.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5 (NIV)

3. WATCH for opportunities to share. Seeing the world with new eyes is the big result of waiting and abiding. Once you’ve prayed, worshiped and focused your heart and mind, it’s amazing how sensitive to the Spirit you become. Your new eyes make it easy to identify people who need the gospel.

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. – John 4:35 (NIV)

4. GO and make disciples. For a Spirit-sensitive person, seeing people who need the gospel leads naturally to sharing a verbal witness. Whether it’s a personal faith story, testimony or life lesson, missional living demands sharing. You are called to invest your life in others as you share the gospel and invite others into disciple-making relationships. Then, you send others out to share their faith.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. – Acts 1:8 (NIV)

So what’s the Big Idea?

Wait, abide, watch and go. Live out radical obedience to God. Live an everyday life on mission.

Resources


Source

Dustin Willis and Aaron Coe, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2014), 59.

4 Q&A Evaluation Strategies

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4 Q&A Evaluation Strategies



Evaluation doesn’t have to be one-sided. Consider the give and take of a coaching dialogue to evaluate progress on important organizational goals and objectives.

Evaluation should be personal and relational, so begin any coaching conversation with a demonstration of authentic concern for your team member:

  • Check on family.
  • Discuss personal needs and growth.
  • Pray together.

Then ask thoughtful questions and listen for honest answers with these Q&A evaluation strategies:

1. Gaps and Goals – Identify important, vision-aligned gaps and focus on the next 30 days.

  • What business, customer or ministry GAPS exist? What’s missing and what’s a vision-aligned solution?
  • What 3 GOALS do you have for the next 30 days?
  • What 1 THING is the most important thing right now?

2. Stop, Start or Continue Method – Consider what you should stop, start or continue doing.

  • What do you need to STOP doing? What’s not working?
  • What do you need to START doing? What new ideas should you try? Why do you need to do this?
  • What do you need to CONTINUE doing? What’s working well?

3. Eisenhower Decision Matrix – Realize that what is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.

  • What IMPORTANT/URGENT things should be done immediately and personally?
  • What IMPORTANT/NOT URGENT things should be scheduled?
  • What UNIMPORTANT/URGENT things should be delegated?
  • What UNIMPORTANT/NOT URGENT things should be dropped?

4. SWOT Analysis – Evaluate internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.

  • What are organizational and ministry STRENGTHS?
  • What are organizational and ministry WEAKNESSES?
  • Where are the external OPPORTUNITIES? Where is God working and how can you go there?
  • What are the THREATS to continued growth or ministry?

So what’s the Big Idea?

Ask careful questions to evaluate progress on important organizational goals and objectives. Thoughtful questions with honest answers are the coaching way to achieve the best evaluation outcomes.

Resources

More Questions

  • What are your top 3-5 objectives?
  • How well do department objectives line up with organizational objectives?
  • Why should you do that?
  • How will you do that?
  • How will you measure success?
  • What has to happen to have success with that?
  • What’s your follow-up or follow-on plan?

Like Father, Like Son

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Like Father, Like Son



There are so many things about my father I want to emulate. He was kind, caring, honest and godly, character traits that inspire me to be a better man and father in my own right.

It’s amazing how easily I subconsciously appropriated his character and nature. In both good and bad ways, I am my father’s son. And I can see the same process unfolding in my own children. They are like me in both good and bad ways.

The transfer from fathers to sons is more than genetic, of course. It includes emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual and intensely personal things. I can hope or wish that the transfer won’t happen with my bad habits and attitudes, but it’s unavoidable. Long after I’m gone, my “like father, like son” legacy will remain.

From an early age, children learn from observation, experience and social interaction with their parents. They learn how to treat others with respect, or not. They learn how to act with integrity, or not. They learn how to worship and pray, or not.

My one hope is Jesus—that he will take my life and transform it supernaturally into Christ-likeness at every turn. While I often fail in my Christian walk, my sons have another Father who won’t. That’s the best “like Father, like son” legacy of all.

An old lyric says it this way:

Like Father, like son,
with arms outstretched and love for everyone.
My highest praise will be,
that someone can say of me,
like Father, like son.

Guard your sons and teach them to be more like their spiritual Father. Introduce them to Jesus and encourage them to grow in their faith and their faithfulness to God.

You’ve likely heard that kids need to hear at least 3 things from their parents on a regular basis. This is especially true in father-son relationships. They need to hear you say:

  1. “I love you.”
  2. “I’m proud of you.” (be especially proud of their spiritual growth)
  3. “You’re good at…” (affirm their godly words and actions and encourage them to understand and use their spiritual gifts)

So what’s the Big Idea?

Fathers, tell your sons that you love them and affirm their spiritual growth. Helping them become more like their spiritual Father is the best “like Father, like son” legacy of all.

Resources


Source

Dorothy Hausch, Joe Huffman, John Randolph Cox, and Reid Hausch, “Like Father, Like Son,” Makin’ It Matter by Truth, Benson Records, 1987.

5 Reasons Why Short-Term Goals Matter

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5 Reasons Why Short-Term Goals Matter



Most people need something to aim for. It’s the reason organizational vision and values are important. It’s also why we develop objectives, goals, strategies and measures (OGSM and other strategy plans).

“Big picture” objectives drive most of the goals we set. That’s a good thing. Each type of goal—short, medium or long-term—has an important place in the process.

Let’s define the duration of goals this way:

  • Short-Term – 30 days or less
  • Medium-Term – 2 to 11 months
  • Long-Term – 12 months or more

Recognize that every long-term objective rises and falls on details, next steps and daily to-do lists. If the small things remain undone, the greater goal simply won’t have traction.

Here’s why you need short-term personal, professional and organizational goals:

  1. Short-term goals create a “next step” culture. It’s helpful to think in terms of next steps. Ask youself: What’s the best thing I can do to move one step closer to a long-term goal? It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you spend intentional time every day on smaller goals, inching ever closer to larger objectives.
  2. Short-term goals provide a psychological boost. Long-term (think annual) goals and objectives may seem unrealistic or difficult. Adjust your thinking with a focus on the day, week or month ahead. Be specific with short-term goals and due dates, but don’t be anxious about the long-term objective. Instead, give your mind a mental boost by focusing on achieving this week’s goals.
  3. Short-term goals prioritize daily tasks. Daily and weekly goals are a great way to sort through the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. Recall that what is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important. Short-term goals help you prioritize important/urgent things first, important/not urgent things second, and least important things last. Read more
  4. Short-term goals provide for supervisor-employee feedback. Most of us need objective feedback and accountability to stay on track. Short-term goals provide for that in small, timely and specific ways. Monthly supervisor-employee coaching, mentoring and other feedback built around a discussion of short-term goals helps you know where you’re succeeding and where there’s room for improvement.
  5. Short-term goals create space for adjustments to “big picture” plans. Annual goals and objectives are the “big picture” plans you’re striving for. Breaking down those long-term goals into smaller segments is a good idea. If there’s a problem with your “big picture” plan, you’ll discover it as you implement the plan and aim toward a short-term goal. Short-term goals help you adapt to changing conditions on the fly and adjust the long-term objective.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Establish short-term goals as a first step towards achieving larger personal, professional and organizational goals. Spend intentional time every day on smaller goals, inching ever closer to your long-term objectives.

Resources

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