creating a narrative budget in your church stewardship commission of the ecc

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Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

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Page 1: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Creating a Narrative Budget in Your ChurchStewardship Commission of the ECC

Page 2: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

What is a Narrative Budget?

•It is the sacred story of the ministry of your church

•One of the most important ways we can affect on-going stewardship education

•A tool to expand the budgeting process by telling the stories of our ministries and showing where our donations were used

Page 3: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Narrative Budgeting…

Donors don’t give money TO the church…

…they give THROUGH the church to touch the lives of other people

People give generously when they feel their money is having an impact

Page 4: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Sacred story…

Much of Scripture is the sacred story of God’s care for the people of God. ie. Exodus 16 and Manna from heaven.

Just as individuals have sacred stories of God’s providential care for them…

…a narrative budget is the sacred story of your church’s ministry and how we are giving through their church to touch the lives of other people

Page 5: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

We have a theological starting point…

…and that starting point is that we are NOT a secular institution.

Our faith calls us to view the deployment of money much differently than secular institutions

Page 6: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Together,

…we can begin to view money from the perspective of a faith community rather than a secular perspective

This has a serious implication…

Page 7: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

We need a whole new way of thinking about the line item budget in the local church!!

Page 8: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

A new way of thinking

Line item budgets are an accounting tool

Narrative budgets are an educational and visioning tool

We need both but we must be more intentional in how we use both

Page 9: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Line item budgets have limitations

They do not show how money is being invested in ministry

They do not show how volunteer time and talent are impacting church and community life

Worst of all – they do not inspire!

Page 10: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

The Narrative Budget

Clearly shows how money is being invested in the various components of church life

Helps donors to re-frame what the church is all about

Inspires donors and helps them see their donations are really making a difference

Is a proven tool for increasing financial commitment to the ministry of the church

Page 11: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

The Narrative Budget

Recognizes that congregations are not inspired at the prospect of funding administrative costs, postage, heat, electricity, cleaning supplies, photocopying, etc.

And helps donors see their investment in the ministry of the church in a different light.

Page 12: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

The Narrative Budget

So how does Narrative Budgeting work?

Page 13: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Each church has several key components to its ministry…

Your church’s ministry might easily be segmented into these six components:• Pastoral Care•Christian Education• Worship•Evangelism and Hospitality•Outreach•In-reach and Fellowship

Page 14: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

All church expenditures can be assigned to one of these six areas:

•Pastoral Care•Christian Education•Worship•Evangelism and Hospitality•Outreach•In-reach and Fellowship

Page 15: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Experience shows Six Categories seem to be Optimum

This means you will have to make some decisions about what categories are right for your church.•Some churches like a youth ministry category. Some have found it easiest to fit both Youth Ministry and Stewardship Education into the ‘Christian Education’ segment•However, you could put Youth Ministry in the ‘Outreach’ or ‘Evangelism’ categories if that makes more sense for your church.

Page 16: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Notice what category is NOT included in a Narrative Budget

•Pastoral Care•Christian Education• Worship•Evangelism and Hospitality•Outreach•In-reach and Fellowship

Do you see the ADMINISTRATION category on this list??

Page 17: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

If you use ADMINISTRATION as a category in your Narrative Budget

•You will be defeating the entire purpose of Narrative Budgeting!

Page 18: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

A small team can put together your church’s Narrative Budget

•Start by getting your full time staff to diarize how they spend their time for a month. They can also review their day planners for the previous month•Allocate their time among the six areas of ministry•Treat that as directional for how other expenditures in the line item budget should be allocated among the six areas of ministry•Some line items in your budget will be easy to allocate (Sunday school supplies to Christian education for example)

Page 19: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

So after a month of diarizing by the full time staff you will have an allocation formula

• For example the pastor might spend 15% of his/her time on Christian Education; 10% on Outreach; 30% on Worship and Worship preparation; 10% on In-reach and Fellowship; and 15% on Evangelism and Hospitality and the remaining 20% on Pastoral Care•We then take this formula and use it as a blueprint for line items that are difficult to allocate

Page 20: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Don’t get caught in a trap

• Many churches implementing Narrative Budgeting for the first time miss a big point – they get too caught up on delivering accuracy and don’t give themselves permission to treat the Narrative Budget as directional.

•Its not that we deliberately try to be inaccurate. We try to be as accurate as possible but we also recognize that, as an educational tool, helping reframe minds and getting donors to think about how their donation is used is more important than accuracy

Page 21: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Here’s what you will have when you are done with your first Narrative Budget…

Page 22: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Sample line items in a church budget…

PROPERTY ActualUtil. (Light, Heat & Water) 7,983.00$ Telephone 821.00$ Insurance 1,620.00$ Maintenance & Supplies 6,854.00$

Page 23: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

…are allocated via the six categories of ministry

Actual Outreach WorshipPROPERTYUtil. (Light, Heat, & Water) 7,983$ 2,794$ 798$ Telephone 821$ 164$ 164$ Insurance 1,620$ 567$ 162$ Maintenance & Supplies 6,854$ 2,399$ 685$

Page 24: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

These calculations are fed into a software spreadsheet to produce the following pie chart:

$47,673

$18,415 $21,078

$19,506

$11,869

$23,412

First Cov's Investment in Ministries in 2004

Outreach

Christian Educ.

Music & Worship

Pastoral Care

Evangelism

Page 25: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

The software also permits the budget to be expressed in percentages:

$47,673

$18,415 $21,078

$19,506

$11,869

$23,412

First Cov's Investment in Ministries in 2004

Outreach

Christian Educ.

Music & Worship

Pastoral Care

Evangelism

Page 26: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Or the software lets you look at individual slices of the pie…

Our Investment in Outreach in 2004

Outreach34%

Other Ministries

66%

Page 27: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

The net takeaway we want donors to have is this:

• 14 cents of every dollar I give goes to Pastoral Care• 34 cents of every dollar I give goes to Outreach• etc.

Page 28: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

And the good news is we have made the whole process very simple to do:

• By accessing the ECC web-site you can download all the Excel software already programmed so that all you have to do is fill in your own figures, and pie charts will be generated for your church

• You can access it through the stewardship link at www.CovChurch.org/finances

Page 29: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Time and Talent Worksheet

You can also find a template for calculating and reporting volunteer hours against the five categories of ministry at the

same web address and link www.CovChurch.org/finances

Page 30: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

We tell the story of the individual slices of the ministry pie

• There is a narrative for Outreach, a narrative for Evangelism, a narrative for Pastoral Care, etc.

•We funnel the story from the macro story to the micro story

Page 31: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

The Pastoral Care narrative might look something like this:

The ministry of Pastoral Care at First Cov. involves the following services:

•taking of home communion to three local nursing homes each month • on call at two local funeral homes and follow up with the mourners from 30 funerals in 2011•frequent visiting at three local hospitals to care for parishioners recovering from illness or surgery

Page 32: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

More pastoral care ministries

•counseling services to couples and individuals in marital crisis•care of college students in crisis due to stress-related pressures of school•self help group set up to care for unemployed in the area•bereaved families support group•etc.

Page 33: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Then we get even more specific and tell the ministry sacred stories

Kristen is a first year student in Biology at NPU. It’s her first time away from home and her family is in Lumsden, Saskatchewan. She has been having a difficult time with her classes and her grades have slipped dramatically since high school. Her mother was badly hurt in a car accident last month and Kristen is not coping well. She walked in off the street last Wednesday morning and all her pain came gushing out in the pastor’s office. She and the pastor connected and she has showed up in church the last few Sundays feeling like she has found a “family” to care for her

Page 34: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

We tell the stories of the real people touched by our ministry

•Tell a few stories for each category of ministry•Donors begin to get a better sense of the impact the ministry the church is having on peoples’ lives•Experience shows they become inspired and take a much greater ownership of the many ministries of the church

Page 35: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

There are many ways to get the story out

•Executive Board reports•Church newsletter•Bulletin inserts•Church website•Fall Stewardship mailings•Narrative Budgeting pamphlets•Personal contact•Include in intercessory prayers

Page 36: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Use Sunday worship to tell the sacred stories

•Put a bulletin insert out each week for six weeks highlighting a different category of ministry•Pray for that ministry•Tell a specific story of a person being touched by that ministry

Page 37: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Adding Time and Talent

•You can do special charts that illustrate volunteer hours against the six categories of ministry•Parishioners get a sense of how vital and vibrant the local church is when looked at in the context of volunteer time

Page 38: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Let’s look at one aspect of Volunteer time

Sunday Morning Worship

•Ushers – two people X 2 hours= 4 hours•Choir, Worship team, Organist– ten member X 2 hours of worship and two+ hours of practice time = 40 hours•Readers, servers, counters, sides-people, 10 X 1.5 hours = 15 hours•Almost 70 hours of volunteer time in one week X 44 weeks =3,080 hours of volunteer time in Sunday morning worship alone

Page 39: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

In an average size church

When you factor in all ministries, we estimate that 10,000 – 15,000 volunteer hours per year are accumulated

That’s a significant impact on any local community!!

Page 40: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Narrative Budgeting is an Evolving Process

•Each year you will get better at it as you add stories and volunteer time and talent•It improves with each cycle•People will begin to think of the funding of the ministry of the church in a new way

Page 41: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

A Word about Council Meetings

We must change how we view money and ministry

Long before council, you will have begun a job of education and awareness around the Narrative Budget

Page 42: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

The ECC Stewardship office strongly recommends…

…that you leave the line item budget in the church office at your annual member meeting.

Take only the Narrative Budget to your annual meeting

Page 43: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

You can still make the line item budget available

…tell the left brain accountant types in the church that there are five copies of the completed line item budget available in the church office to be signed out by anyone interested. You are not compromising transparency.

As a faith-based organization be determined in your desire to talk about money and ministry in a new way. Don’t vacillate and fall back on the line item budget for decision-making.

Page 44: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Make a leadership decision to leave the line item budget out of your next Annual Meeting

…Then have the church council affirm the leaders’ decision.

That way you can tell the church members that the church council voted in favor of talking only about the Narrative Budget at the annual meeting, and the leaders aren’t standing alone in making this decision

Page 45: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

Maybe in your church…

…Business meetings will no longer be viewed as the annual BUSINESS meeting of the church, but will become

THE ANNUAL MISSION AND MINISTRY MEETING

Page 46: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

You may actually find…

…members get excited and start looking forward to your annual ‘business’ meeting!!

Page 47: Creating a Narrative Budget in Your Church Stewardship Commission of the ECC

As donors are engaged by the efforts we make to show them…

…their money is having an impact on the lives of people in need