Anybody want to write a $450,000 check to National Community Church? You have not because you ask not. That is the gap between our projected income and expenses in round one of our 2007 budget. I'd rather have someone cut a check than cut the budget.
We basically work backwards when it comes to budgeting. We start with projecting income. For what it's worth, we've never had less than 10% growth from year-to-year. And we've had over 20% growth every year except one. A testament to the faithfulness of God and the faithful giving of NCCers!
Just a few thoughts on the budgeting process. It is incredibly stressful, but I feel like it is one of the most spiritual things we do. Our staff proposes budgets for their portfolios. We pray over them. We talk about them. And our stewardship team is responsible for approving the annual budget.
For what it's worth, we have target percentages for our different categories. We try to keep personnel at 35-40%. I'm not sure what average is, but I know some churches are in the 50-60% range which I think is fine. Facilities come in at about 20% which is pretty good considering we just built a $2.5 million coffeehouse. Missions is typically between 15-20%. We would never not give a tithe of our income to missions, but I wish this was more. Ministries is right around 20-25%--that includes things like discipleship, outreach, and media. And we try to budget 5% for development. I really think our church will keep growing if your staff keeps growing. Resourcing our leaders is a budget priority!
At the end of the day, budgeting is spiritual because it is a form of prioritizing. It reveals what is really important to us! It is the way we express our values. We don't just say that we ought to redeem technology and use it for God's purposes. We budget that conviction. We don't just say missions is important. We budget that priority.
By the way, it's not uncommon for us to have a large gap between income and expenses after round one of our budgeting process. I wish we could find a line item for every dream! But last year we added a wish list to our budget. We prioritize a list of dreams just in case God blesses us more than we budgeted.
We basically work backwards when it comes to budgeting. We start with projecting income. For what it's worth, we've never had less than 10% growth from year-to-year. And we've had over 20% growth every year except one. A testament to the faithfulness of God and the faithful giving of NCCers!
Just a few thoughts on the budgeting process. It is incredibly stressful, but I feel like it is one of the most spiritual things we do. Our staff proposes budgets for their portfolios. We pray over them. We talk about them. And our stewardship team is responsible for approving the annual budget.
For what it's worth, we have target percentages for our different categories. We try to keep personnel at 35-40%. I'm not sure what average is, but I know some churches are in the 50-60% range which I think is fine. Facilities come in at about 20% which is pretty good considering we just built a $2.5 million coffeehouse. Missions is typically between 15-20%. We would never not give a tithe of our income to missions, but I wish this was more. Ministries is right around 20-25%--that includes things like discipleship, outreach, and media. And we try to budget 5% for development. I really think our church will keep growing if your staff keeps growing. Resourcing our leaders is a budget priority!
At the end of the day, budgeting is spiritual because it is a form of prioritizing. It reveals what is really important to us! It is the way we express our values. We don't just say that we ought to redeem technology and use it for God's purposes. We budget that conviction. We don't just say missions is important. We budget that priority.
By the way, it's not uncommon for us to have a large gap between income and expenses after round one of our budgeting process. I wish we could find a line item for every dream! But last year we added a wish list to our budget. We prioritize a list of dreams just in case God blesses us more than we budgeted.
7 Comments:
I really like your idea of a prioritized wish list. That's a very cool idea.
I don't your wish list alleviates this problem but one of the things that I really dislike about even non-profit organizational budgeting is the "if you don't spend it you lose it." Even in the church-world I've seen wasteful stewardship b/c people didn't want to lose the money and then have that line item lowered for the next year.
It seems like the wish list idea could maybe help in this area of wasteful spending. Thanks for sharing.
Dear Mark,
Oops, I quit the radio station. Sorry about that,...I was in denial. Thought I was Superman for a while, turns out I'm not.
Anyway, this past Wednesday morning, over 230 men in our church gathered for our first early morning gathering to read together and discuss your book. It was awesome, Beeson used a clip from GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, and another one of a guy getting attacked by a lion.
He ended the morning with this video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG0BpBxgSVs
Love the book, love your blog...love your shirt....love.
Corey
Corey,
I know the feeling. I've thought I was Superman a few times and realized I was Clark Kent without the super powers :)
Thrilled about the Granger guys going through the book!
Mark
Mark,
I am an executive pastor at a church plant in Wilmington, NC. I have really gotten into reading blogs lately and I just wanted to say thanks for the practical things that you put in your blogs. We are doing our first real budget right now and this blog is on time as well as many others you have posted lately.
Thanks again for holding your gifting open handed.
Daryl
Your budget was a God send! I am getting ready to send out a fundraising catalog for our church plant that starts in January and with your percentages it brought my budget into focus. Thanks alot.
Thanks for this post, Mark. Found it very helpful to compare percentages.
One question: What kinds of things, exactly, are included in the "Church Ministries and Media" heading? Looking at other church's bugdets and comparing them with ours to get a feel for how healthy ours is has sometimes seemed like comparing apples with oranges since the church ministries figure, in particular, seems all over the place.
Thanks in advance for any further information you can offer!
Blessings!
Mark
Mark,
Tough to compare because different churches have different priorities and personalities.
For example, we budget quite a bit for media equipment, etc. because we meet in movie theaters and use our screens as stained glass. Plus we have three locations. So we've got lots of computers, video editing software, projectors, etc.
We don't budget as much for kids because we don't have alot of kids--we're 73% single twenty-somethings.
Mark
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