Overview

Most clergy graduate from seminary or divinity school with little or no training in financial management or administration to assist them in leading a church congregation. Given these circumstances, it is not shocking when things go awry, and church congregations and pastors face financial challenges. This course is not designed to teach the “nuts and bolts” of accounting, financial reporting, or financial management. Rather, this course provides an overview of church financial administration and management for professional ministry staff. It is also designed to provide pastors with enough knowledge to ask the right questions of their staff and advisory committees, and to build an intuition of common pitfalls of church financial management, to help guard against imprudent financial practices. This knowledge and intuition can help pastors and ministry staff to be faithful stewards of the resources entrusted to them by their congregants, so that they can be prudently used to help build and advance the Reign of God in the congregation and in the community, e.g. This is primarily aimed at first- and second-year undergraduates interested in engineering or science, along with high school students and professionals with an interest in programming. If you are a pastor or ministry professional in need of Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits for your professional development, CEU credits are available for this course. Please share your Coursera course certificate and a copy of the course description with your church denomination or employer as recognition of your earned 1.5 CEUs. This course qualifies for 1.5 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits. Completion of all three courses in the “Church Administration: Finance” Specialization qualifies for a total of 4.5 CEU credits.

Syllabus

Welcome to the Course!

This week will sketch out a theology of financial management. You will hear an analysis of how scripture encourages a stewardship approach to church financial management. Instead of shying away from engaging with the worldly sphere of money, this lesson will present scriptural references to the importance of church financial administration and financial stewardship. This lesson will help you understand your role in relation to church financial management. Moreover, you will learn how ethical and prudent financial management enables or hinders the church’s ability to serve God’s people in word and deed. The impact of the church’s financial management will be reinforced with real-life examples where financial training, or lack thereof, impacts the ministry of the church.

Basic Principles of Church Financial Reporting and Budgeting

This week, you will learn about the key principles of financial reporting, including income statements, balance sheets, cash flow projections, and capital expense budgets. Furthermore, you will build your skills and intuition about budgets. You will practice balancing budgets, and consider how to navigate past due financial obligations and stock gifts.

Practical Aspects of Church Financial Management

This week, you will learn about comparative financial analysis of parish operations, and financial best practices around managing endowments and endowment spending policies. You will compare unrestricted, designated, and restricted gifts, analyzing the use and flexibility of each type. You will learn about the purpose of audits and other internal control reviews, and the management of one-time sources of revenue. After analyzing ways to balance a designated gift against routine budget obligations, you will test your knowledge via a summative quiz on the week’s topics. Finally, you will preview Week 4, which highlights best practices for directing and managing financial committees.

Church Financial Leadership

This week, you will receive a high-level overview of church financial leadership that prioritizes strategic, long-term financial planning and transparent reporting to stakeholders. This overview will analyze your role in church building projects, capital campaigns for facility construction, loans for building projects, and annual financial reporting to the congregation. Furthermore, you will learn about potential tax issues and their implications for congregations in the United States.