In an article by Dave Ramsey (Financial Peace University) on family budgeting for Christians, the first step he notes is this: “Start with your income. Write down what you will get paid.” The second step is that “it’s our responsibility to prioritize tithing.” He goes on to talk about zero-based budgeting, saving, listing all expenses, etc.  I’ve gotta tell you, it sounds a lot like our church budgeting process. Although we’ve begun the process of identifying all our expenses by department and line item, writing down what our income will be begins on Dedication Sunday when we receive your pledges or estimates of giving. Ultimately, writing down “what we will get paid” determines our mission and ministry budget for the coming year. 

 

Until the pandemic, our income forecasting model worked well for us. That, coupled with your faithfulness, helped us build predictive, useful budgets. For the past three years however, our giving patterns have changed. Some of you no longer pledge but continue to give generously. Some of you have opted to give automatically on a monthly basis using credit cards and ACH’s. Still others wait until year-end to make your gift to the church. 

 

Just as Christian families build their budgets each year, our commitment to an accurate, responsible budget is resolute. Your participation in Dedication Sunday by giving us an estimate of giving, or even pledging, helps us build a more accurate budget because we are able to “write down what we will get paid.” Thank you in advance for your financial investment in God’s economy at First Presbyterian Church.

 

One last thing. We already know of several fixed operating expenses that are increasing quite a bit. I’d also tell you that our church staff, part- and full-time, have not had an increase in their base pay since the pandemic began. If you can increase your investment, the return will be great. God bless all of you.

 

Estimate of Giving Form