The Church and It's budget

Michael Berens
Week One- Tuesday January 13, 2009

Church Budget

I go to a Church called Exit 59. It is a Christian Missionary Alliance Church that is a church plant off a larger church plant in Muncie. That Church is called Muncie Alliance Church. It is like our parents in the scheme of things. that is where our reports go as well as our tithes, which get returned in the necessary way they need to be distributed. The Idea for the church plants that come form the Muncie Alliance church is that they pastors should be bi- vocational. So as you will see in budgeting the salaries percentages they are smaller for a church budget. Missionaries in the alliance church do not have to fund raise so that is higher than normal. In fact there really is not much that the church spends it's money on and Exit 59 is just part of the Muncie Alliance movement so all the churches are connected if they are in need. I think they are six or seven churches involved in this and each of the pastors are all very close. So here we go on the budget:

Facilities=26.96%
Salaries= 24.03 %
Denomination and Missions=19.64%
Programs=8.93%
The Rest goes into random things like church Counseling that is hired out and to Muncie to go to Muncie Alliance initiatives.

Three things I have observed in this experience:
~the Church does not spend very much on staff even though it has a staff of eight and interns. Bi-vocational may have an upper hand in Church spending. It does take time away from full time church involvement. There can also be financial stress in the other job, which could effect church finances as well as life.

~It is really amazing to see how the churches in the Muncie Alliance movement take care of each other and all keep track of their churches in one central location. I liked the fact that they learned the passages together for teaching, but I really liked the full connection of finances as well. I wonder if there is a bigger team at Muncie that keeps really legitimate track of Money?

~When Missionaries are dependent on the church it takes a toll out on the budget. I love the fact that the church supports their missionaries. I wonder what will happen in the long run for missionaries concerning finances if the church struggles. I do like the emphasis the CMA church puts on Missions. It really shows they care by fully supporting their missionaries.