Balancing Your Media & Tech Budget

| By Scott McClellan | Found in Communication | 5 Comments

Friends of COLLIDE, I need your help.

Having never been on a church staff, I’ve often wondered how you as church leaders make budget decisions. How do you strike a balance between wants and needs?

How do you decide:

  • How much to give to the children’s ministry and how much to put toward flat-screen TVs in the bathrooms?
  • How much to give to missions and how much to spend on HD cameras and screens?
  • How much to donate through your benevolence ministry (I think that’s Christianese for giving food, clothing, and other items to those in need) and how much to spend on hosting for your sermon video podcasts?

Every church deals with a limited pool of resources, and thus a budget represents the choices you have to make about allocating that limited pool. How do you make those decisions? What philosophy or set of guidelines helps you decide at what dollar amount you stop feeding hungry people and start creating cutting-edge media, or send fewer missionaries to India so you can hire a full-time video producer?

Where do you draw your lines, and why do your draw them there?

I want to explore this topic in the upcoming issue of COLLIDE, but I really need to hear from you first. Please feel free to share your whys, hows, philosophies, thoughts, comments, and approaches below. Or, if you want to go more in-depth (which I hope you do), I invite you to email me personally: scottatcollidemagazinedotcom. I look forward to hearing from you.

  • http://www.theplowblog.com Corey

    Can’t wait to hear what churches say about this. I would love to know too, never worked at a church, but working for them.

  • http://estherofelgin.blogspot.com Lex

    We have a council that does this because we didn’t think it was wise to have staff members in decision-making processes about money. The pastor is not on the council, and council members only serve for two years before they elect the next round of members. I think they can serve a couple consecutive “terms,” but then they have to take a break. Every check that comes out of our finance office has to be signed by the pastor and a council member.

    I’ve never been on the council, so I don’t know the details. I do know that they review ministries quarterly. Our three worship service ministries (Sunday mornings, kids’ church and student ministries) get a small, monthly budget (no roll-over dollars, though – it’s basically petty-cash). Anything I want to do with the students for more than my petty cash allowance requires fund-raising.

    Missions come from one of those three ministries based on who is going. When the adults go/sponsor, the adults chip in. When the students go, they work their butts off all summer raising money.

    The other ministries are self-funded. The men’s ministry takes an offering for their activities. The women’s ministry does the same. The benevolence ministry takes donations, etc.

    If a ministry wants to host a special event that requires more money there’s a request that goes to the council, and the council decides if we can afford it based on the possible, spiritual return.

  • http://www.irvingbible.org Bill Buchanan

    There are annual budgets that are created for each area of our operations. Those are crafted by input from the leader of the area, the financial officer and the Executive Pastor. Those budgets also receive input and review from the Elders (which includes the Senior Pastor).

    But you must remember that budgets are figures on paper that represent a plan. Things happen. With a plan you know how to take advantage of the situation (when unforeseen situations/opportunities occur) and respond in a manner that doesn’t upset the entire apple cart.

    As for how much for mission related spending versus HD cameras and what not . . . what part of the church budget “isn’t” mission related? If you’re spending money and you can’t reconcile that it’s being spent to advance the Kingdom – ummm, why are you doing it?

    Seriously, giving money to a non profit in Africa to provide schools and orphanages is no different than paying the light bill here. There are costs with advancing the Kingdom and those costs have to be considered within the purpose of the local church community. If HD cameras fit that definition – they fall into the same category of providing copy machines and computers and should be considered so.

    With all that said, it makes choosing what is reflected in the budget pretty simple.

  • http://www.champschurch.com Isaiah Martinez

    I’ve been on staff for over 3years now as the graphics/media director, and have been giving my all with the little that we have. We believe that God honors your vision, goals, and plans for a ministry wether children’s, missions, or video. My Pastors advised me to write the vision, present it to God, and see it through. We are on the verge of ordering all new video equipment, switchers, projectors, and everything. God is faithful! I feel that many unbelievers go to movies, watch tv, got to concerst, and they get the best production, hd quality the world has to offer. Why does the church have to be any less quality? Aren’t we supposed to give our best to God? Giving towards audio/video ministries is the same as pouring into the children’s ministry, college, youth, ect. It’ll all for reaching people and bringing them into the kingdom!!! So I say raise your expectations and believe God for the best in everything… He deserves it!

  • http://worshiptechie.com Daniel Murphy

    Our church’s goal is 33% staff, 33% facilities, and 33% outside our doors supporting the poor, and going towards global missions, etc. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting closer.