Is Your Ministry Financially Responsible?

If someone were to give you $10,000 for your ministry would you know how to use it? What would you spend it on and how would it improve your ministry? While this scenario rarely happens it’s one that we should know how to answer.

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While no one gets into youth ministry to manage finances it does play an important role. If a youth ministry has a healthy relationship with money then it can continue to build healthy disciples. To make your ministry financially responsible you need to:

CHANGE THE MINISTRY FROM CONSUMERS TO CONTRIBUTORS

A ministry filled with consumers will drain a ministry. Contributors will expand the capacity to make an impact on the community. Instead of using your budget to fund activities and events use it to:

Invest in Your Team

Instead of spending money on expensive curriculum look at investing it in the people who share it with the teenagers.

• Take your leaders out to lunch to invest in them personally.
• Bring in a professional trainer or speaker to inspire them to serve at a new level.
• Take them to a conference or workshop to sharpen their skills.

Your leaders will love the investment you are making in them and they’ll return the favor by committing further to the vision you’ve set in place.

Invest in Spiritual Gifts

Your teenagers have a purpose that needs to be discovered. Use your budget to invest in opportunities (Like a student leadership conference) or resources (Like a gifts assessment) that show them they are gifted.

Teenagers who know that they have spiritual gifts and a purpose will share that with the local church and the community. Your ministry will have a wider presence which will bring interest from the adults and even your pastor.

Build Authentic Relationships

Teens will come back to your ministry if they believe that they are valued. You can show them their value by building authentic relationships through small groups. Use your budget to invest in the leaders, the content and the environments where groups meet.

Bottom line your budget should have a purpose beyond entertainment. You’ll start seeing fewer consumers and more contributors. But it’s more than just using your budget wisely, a financially responsible ministry:

SHOWS TEENS THAT THEIR FINANCES IMPACT THEIR FAITH

Scripture continually talks about money and that’s because it has a profound impact on our relationship with God. If you want to grow healthy disciples of Jesus Christ then you need to:

Discuss With Them Financial Responsibility 

Whether it’s in small groups, your large group messages or offering a class you need to help them win with money. That doesn’t mean growing a bunch of top level executives but people who understand that financial debt is like sin trapping them from doing what they are truly called to do.

Shows Them The Power of Tithing

Tithing isn’t just a means of fueling the local church, it’s a surrender to God. Teens need to know that when God asks us to tithe it’s so He can bless us beyond measure. Help teens embrace this spiritual habit by building an offertory into each gathering.

Leads By Example

If you aren’t financially responsible it’s going to be difficult to show others to do the same. While you don’t have to be perfect you do have to be growing in this area. Lead by example by getting your finances in order and tithing yourself. Your example will be a model for them.

Money matters when it comes to our faith. It’s a tool that can help us get closer to God or push us further away. Your ministry might be the only place teens learn that so don’t squander that opportunity. Help them become contributors and show them that God wants them to be blessed.