Money and the Church
You can view our annual budgets here: http://urbanbridgechurch.com/about-us/annual-reports/
2 Corinthians 8: Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. 5 They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do. New Living Translation.
Money and how we manage it is a core part of living generously. Virtually every decision you and I make is influenced by how we manage money. How we manage the money at our disposal is a key gauge to how we relate to God – and how God relates to us. What if God had to say you and me, “Stop it, enough already, keep something for yourself!”
Our wealth should not dictate the measure of our generosity. Whenever you and I are passionate about something, whenever we wish to excel at our passion we are committed, we are organized, we are deliberate, we are systematic and we often sacrifice. If anything we over-commit our lives to our passion. It needs to be the same with managing money. How much we keep and how much we give needs to be committed, well thought out, and proportional with the passions of our life.
We have often been taught that we should give 10%. The teaching of 10% comes out of old covenant/Old Testament. Old Testament followers were actually required to give 33.3 % of their income: 10% to support Levites who provided spiritual community nurturing and 10% to God as an act of worship and 10% to the poor every three years (3.3% per year).
Today we live under new teaching/ the new Covenant. Christ taught that more than 33.3% belongs to him. Everything belongs to Him, and we are to be generous with what he has given us to manage. Under the new covenant many believe that a minumum 10% of our resources is the starting point not the end goal for a generous life.
What truths can we apply to our lives today?
- The number matters: it is important to commit to a number.
- The first portion of our income should be given to the place that provides spiritual community and nurture.
- It is important to commit to a benchmark/minimum, which is generous, challenging, and proportional to the passions of our lives.
- We should give as a form of worship.
- We should give to support the poor.
If you receive spiritual nurturing and community from Urban Bridge and feel that you belong to Urban Bridge, if your passions line up with the passions of this community, then your commitment to being a generous borrower should begin here. Together, our combined passion and commitment will far exceed anything we can accomplish alone.
Get an Urban Bridge Church Tithe # contact Val Hamm:
Ask about Urban Bridge Church finances contact Marshall McAlister: marshall.mcalister@telus.net
Creating a Budget
1 Create a budget every time you get money sometimes it’s weekly, sometimes it’s monthly. Either way, it’s a regular interval, and it’s the best time to decide how you’re going to spend your money. Make it a rule that you don’t spend any of your paycheck money until you’ve worked out your budget.
2 Make a list of all the things you’ll need to pay for until the next paycheck:
Tithe/charitable giving
Rent/mortgage
Utilities
Vehicle payments, insurance, maintenance
Debt (credit card payments, student loans, doctor’s bills)
Gas
Tuition, school supplies
Food/groceries
Health insurance
3 Anticipate how much you’ll need to pay for each and write that amount next to the corresponding item on the list. You can also opt to pay for a fraction of something that isn’t going to be due until after the next paycheck. For example, if your rent is $800 due on June 1, you just got paid $700 on May 12, and your next paycheck will be $700 on May 26, it may be wise to set aside $400 from this paycheck for rent so that you only need to take $400 out of your next paycheck to pay for rent.
4 Add up all of the amounts (your regular expenses) and subtract it from your paycheck amount. Do you get a negative number? Then you are living way beyond your means. If you have money leftover, split that money up into a few groups:
- Flex money. This should be about 10-20% of your regular expenses. It’s for if something you need to pay for turns out to be slightly more expensive than you anticipated. This can happen with utilities, or if gas prices suddenly go up, or you get a flat tire.
- Savings. Ideally, this should be about 30% of your paycheck, although even 10% (if you do it consistently) is pretty good. Build up enough savings for an emergency fund (about 4-6 times your regular expenses), then start saving money to invest.
- Spending money. This is whatever is leftover after you subtract flex money and savings money. It’s what you’d spend on things like clothes, eating out, movies, gifts, and anything fun, basically. If you start to cry when you realize how little fun money you have, then you need learn how to reduce Your Expenses.
http://www.wikihow.com/Reduce-Expenses
5 Put everything but your spending money out of reach. The easiest way to do this is by leaving everything (except your spending money) in the bank. Withdraw all of your fun money in cash, and leave your debit card (and credit card[s]) at home. Use the cash for anything you want, just make sure you make it last until your next paycheck. You might not want to carry it on you all at once, but having physical cash will help you keep better track of your fun money than using a card.