Casting the Vision to your church's accounting department

(This post is an excerpt from "The Top 3 Accounting Mistakes Churches Make." Pastors and church leaders who work with the finances can get the full report for FREE here.)

I know this may seem weird. We tend to think of casting the vision as something we need to do to raise money, not to help those who manage the money we already have! But pastors, you must understand the heart and mind of your accountants here. They have been wired and trained to manage the resources they are entrusted with as efficiently as possible This means they have an eye to sniff out waste and trim the fat that they perceive in an organization. You want that!

My wife Rebecca has been called a pit-­‐bull with lipstick for her tenacity in areas like this! However, sometimes they will see things they have identified as wasteful and it creates a burden for them. Then when they do the right thing and share that with their pastor or manager, they find their concerns are simply dismissed. Often frustration is then amplified instead of buy­‐in being generated because a pastor or leader didn’t take the opportunity to cast vision.

For example let’s say money is tight and the accountant is upset because the church spent a substantial amount of money on muffins, bagels and coffee last year. A wise pastor would then point out how those hospitality items created opportunities for first-­time guests to stay and get connected and for regular attenders to stick around and experience fellowship opportunities with other believers after service, which resulted in numeric and relational growth in the church. Accountants need to bring you into their world, but you need to bring them into your world too.

(Get the rest of this report here.)