Week #2 Making A Budget

By Nick Smith

Week #2
Tuesday 1/20
Budget

This weekend I interviewed Rita Camden who is a major player in creating and managing the budget for our church.

When I asked Rita how the church makes the budget she replied with this, “Well, it’s not exactly rocket science.”
This church is relatively small, working on a more limited budget.
1. The first thing they do is look at the last few years of spending and see how much money was spent in certain areas.
2. The second thing they do is go ahead and estimate how much money is going to be spent on the things that have to be paid (utilities, payroll, etc.).
3. On the third step, they look at the income compared to the expenses and if the income exceeds the expenses then they increase the amount of money that can go to different programs such as the youth group, and children’s ministry. If the income was lower, they cut a little bit from these programs.
Rita told how the old secretary was stealing money so the biggest thing with the churches financial situation is incorporating more accountability. Since then the church has been receiving more money from tithes. It seemed to her that the more accountability allowed for people to be more at peace with what the church was doing with their money.
So as for now the church’s finances are handled pretty simply until they have more money to spend on ministry.