“Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord” (Matthew 25:21). In this passage, Jesus is referring to finances.  If pastors prove their faithfulness in things that do not last, such as money, they can then be trusted with the most important thing, the spiritual well-being of people. However, if pastors prove to be lacking in financial integrity, it is unlikely that they will have a consistent or spiritually auspicious ministry. If God cannot trust them with money, how can He trust them with the greater things of spiritually influencing the direction of people’s eternal lives? The Church Of God In Christ, Inc. has a strong foundation that is biblically based and an organizational structure that mandates that pastors behave with honesty and integrity in all areas of their lives.  It is our responsibility to make sure that all aspects of this church’s integrity are preserved and that this church’s 101-year history remains wholesome.

The best way to avoid financial indiscretion is for the pastor to delegate handling and spending money to a business administrator or treasurer. Although some pastors are good business people and good administrators of finance, this is not why the pastor was called.  God primarily called pastors to shepherd the flock of Christ. Pastors should delegate paying bills, writing checks (pastors should neither sign nor cosign checks), collecting money, depositing money, and making large purchases to trustworthy appointed financial administrators who have a reputation of honesty. If the pastor has no contact with the money, it will eliminate suspicion before the issue arises. Even though the pastor may not physically handle any of the money or write any checks, he or she is ultimately responsible for good stewardship and faithful management of the finances of the church. It is the pastors’ responsibility to select people who will properly handle the accounting for the church.

To some this might seem like an inappropriate topic for the church.  Some might say, “Man you are preaching to the choir.  How dare you question the integrity of the church or the ministry that has been entrusted unto me? This is just plain sacrilegious.”  Well, is it?

Why is it important for your ministry to have sound financial integrity?  Well first of all no one will dispute that it takes money to operate anything.  The ministry needs finances and that is just a part of life that we must accept.  However, the ministry must handle the finances in a way that the people of the congregation or the world will not have to call into account their financial practices. 

We must understand that we are sometimes immune to the viewpoint that others hold of us. You see we are on the inside and others have the vantage point to look at us from a more critical viewpoint, the outside of our organization.  The Bible even declares that man looks on the outer appearance, but God looks on the heart.

We must also review the mission objective for our church, the Church Of God In Christ, Inc.  We must ask probing questions that will cause the church to do a thorough internal examination of the ministry and the image that it is creating for itself.  While on Earth, Jesus was concerned that he was conveying a positive image for others to see. After all, He wanted make sure that he was reaching lost souls.  That too, should be our main rationale for existing as an entity, for ministry and as individuals.

Remember perception is the reality in some cases.  What people think of you and/or the organization that you operate transforms into what others believe is in fact true.

It is important to safe guard the creditability of our church.  We should not lend our name or image to people or organizations that do not have a value system that mirrors that of the Church Of God In Christ, Inc. We cannot allow people steal the ministry’s good name.  The Bible lets us know in the Book of Proverbs, that a good name is chosen above rubies or gold.

Another prudent thing to keep in mind is the fact that the church will inevitably take on the characteristic of the type people who run the day-to-day operations of the ministry.  That is why it is important to select people of sound morals and good intellect.  You want people who are credible, people who are trust worthy, and people who are capable of being good business managers.

When people are being nominated as candidates for the board of directors and/or trustee board, be sure and select people with good credit ratings, if possible. Pick people who have business acumen.  Remember these people will have to assist the pastor with making decisions that will affect the financial future of the church.

If the congregation as a whole does not believe that the governing body of the ministry can be trusted with the finances of the ministry, then this distrust will probably have a negative impact on the financial contribution of that congregation.

Acts 4:32-35 Serving One Another’s Need, STEWARDSHIP.  The church at this point [the early church of Jerusalem] was marked by an attitude of stewardship.  The people realized that whatever God had placed in their hands was for the good of his people.  Each member held in trust material goods and wealth until such time as he was called upon to liquidate his holdings.  At the designated time, members sold their property and brought the total proceeds to the place of meetings and laid it at the apostles’ feet.  The apostles, recognizing their position of stewardship, dared not receive  the possessions of the believers as their own personal property, but acted instead as trustees over the repository of the church’s total wealth, distributing daily to the individual believer’s need.

In this, the early church in Jerusalem was quite different from some today.  Members of the early church willingly gave a hundred percent of their lifetime accumulations of wealth, while too many today hesitate even to give ten percent of their weekly incomes. (Hag. 2:8/Rom. 12:1) G. E. P. Spirit Filled Life Bible, KJ Version, C. H. Mason Memorial Edition, Centennial Bible COGIC

One of the easiest, most hurtful, and professionally devastating traps for pastors to fall into is that of financial indiscretion. For this reason, pastors must avoid every appearance of compromise and even the slightest hint of financial impropriety regarding the finances of the church. Transparency needs to be in all financial dealings to maintain a level of trust within the church.  The perception should never be that things are done in a vacuum, and other members of the church are not aware of financial matters.  If churches have Trustee Boards, they should be utilized.  Financial dealings should not take place without the knowledge of this Board. This may seem a small or irrelevant point, but the reason we have these Boards is so they can be the vanguards of the finances.  How can they be good stewards of finances, if they are not provided information to make intelligent decisions?