Implementing the Implementing the Narrative Budget in Your Narrative Budget in Your

ChurchChurch

Adapted from work done by the Anglican Diocese of Niagara -The Reverend David M. Ponting

What is the Narrative What is the Narrative Budget? Budget?

• It is the sacred story of church ministry

• One of the most important ways we can effect on-going stewardship education

• Narrative Budgeting is an essential element in educating your congregation about how money is being utilized to support the ministry of the church

An Important Insight of the An Important Insight of the Narrative Budget Narrative Budget

Givers don’t give money TO the church… they give THROUGH the church to touch the lives of other people.

People will give generously when they feel what they are giving is having an impact

Sacred Story… Sacred Story…

Much of Scripture is the sacred story of God’s care for His people. ie. Exodus 16 and the manna from heaven.

Just as individuals have sacred stories of God’s providential care for them… a narrative budget is the sacred story of our church’s ministry and how people are giving through their church to touch the lives of other people.

We Have a Theological We Have a Theological Starting Point… Starting Point…

That starting point is that we are NOT a secular institution.

Our faith calls us to view the deployment of money much differently than secular institutions

We Must Overcome We Must Overcome Years of Faulty Years of Faulty TheologyTheology

…and begin to view money from the perspective of a faith community rather than a secular perspective

This has a serious implication…

We need a whole new way

of thinking about the line

item budget in the local

church!!

A New Way of ThinkingA New Way of Thinking

• Line item budgets are an accounting tool

• Narrative budgets are used for education and vision

• We need both but we must be more intentional in how we use both

Line Item Budgets Have Line Item Budgets Have LimitationsLimitations

• They do not show how money is being invested in ministry

• They do not show how servant time and talent are impacting church life

• Worst of all – they do not inspire!

The Narrative BudgetThe Narrative Budget

• Clearly shows how money is being invested in the various components of church life

• Helps givers to re-frame what the church is all about

• Inspires givers and helps them see their giving is really making a difference

• Is a proven tool for increasing financial commitment to the ministry of the church

• Recognizes that church goers are not inspired at the prospect of funding administrative costs, postage, heat, water, cleaning supplies, photocopying, etc.

• Helps givers see their church ministry investments in a different light.

The Narrative BudgetThe Narrative Budget

So how does the Narrative Budget work?

The Narrative BudgetThe Narrative Budget

Several Key Several Key Components to Church Components to Church Ministry…Ministry…

Your church’s ministry areas might easily be segmented into something like this:• Pastoral Care• Education• Worship• Evangelism/Hospitality• Missions/Outreach• In-reach and Fellowship

All Church Expenditures Can All Church Expenditures Can Be Assigned to One of These Be Assigned to One of These

Six Areas!Six Areas!

• Pastoral Care• Education• Worship• Evangelism/Hospitality• Missions/Outreach• In-reach and Fellowship

Experience Shows Four to Experience Shows Four to Six Categories to be Six Categories to be

OptimumOptimum

This means you will have to make decisions about what categories are right for your church.

•Some churches like a youth ministry category. They find it easier to fit both Youth Ministry & Stewardship Education into the ‘Christian Education’ category•However, you could place Youth Ministry in the ‘Outreach’ or ‘Evangelism’ category if that makes more sense for your church.

What Category is What Category is NOTNOT Included in a Narrative Included in a Narrative

Budget?Budget?

Pastoral Care Education Worship Evangelism/Hospitality Missions/Outreach In-reach and FellowshipDo you see ADMINISTRATION anywhere on this list?

Using ADMINISTRATION as a Using ADMINISTRATION as a Category in Your Narrative Category in Your Narrative

Budget Will…Budget Will…

DEFEAT the entire purpose of your Narrative Budget!!!

I BEG you. Don’t go there!

Putting a Team TogetherPutting a Team Together• Start by getting your full time staff to assess the time they

spend for a month. They can also review day planners for previous month overviews

• Allocate their time among the six areas of ministry• Treat that as directional for how other expenditures in the

line item budget should be allocated among the areas of ministry

• Some line items in your budget will be easy to allocate (i.e. Sunday School supplies to Christian Education)

After evaluating the staff time distribution, you will have an allocation formula

For example the pastor might spend the following amount of time: 15% on Christian Education 10% on Outreach 30% on Worship & Preparation 10% on In-reach and Fellowship 15% on Evangelism and Hospitality and 20% on Pastoral Care

We then take this formula and use it as a blueprint for line items that are difficult to allocate

The FormulaThe Formula

Don’t Get Caught in a Don’t Get Caught in a TrapTrap

• Many churches implementing a Narrative Budget for the first time miss a big point – they get too caught up on accuracy and don’t give themselves permission to treat the Narrative Budget as directional.

• We don’t deliberately try to be inaccurate, we try to be as accurate as possible. But, we recognize that, used as an educational tool, it is more important to help reframe minds and encourage givers to think about how their giving is used instead of how accurate we are.

Sample Line Items in a Church Budget…

PROPERTY ActualPUC (Light, Heat & Water) 7,983.00$ Telephone 821.00$ Insurance 1,620.00$ Maintenance & Supplies 6,854.00$

Examples…Examples…

Allocated Via the Six Categories of Ministry

Actual Outreach WorshipPROPERTYPUC (Light, Heat, & Water) 7,983$ 2,794$ 798$ Telephone 821$ 164$ 164$ Insurance 1,620$ 567$ 162$ Maintenance & Supplies 6,854$ 2,399$ 685$

These calculations are fed into an excel spreadsheet to create this pie chart.

$47,673

$18,415 $21,078

$19,506

$11,869

$23,412

Our Investment in Ministries

Outreach

Christian Educ.

Music & Worship

Pastoral Care

Evangelism

Parish Life

The budget can also be expressed in percentages.

Outreach34%

Christian Educ.13%Music &

Worship15%

Pastoral Care14%

Evangelism8%

Parish Life16%

Our Investment in Ministries

Outreach

Christian Educ.

Music & Worship

Pastoral Care

Evangelism

Parish Life

Or look at individual slices of the pie…

Outreach34%Other

Ministries66%

Our Investment in Outreach

The Understanding We Want The Understanding We Want Givers to Have is This:Givers to Have is This:

• 14 cents of every dollar I give goes to Pastoral Care

• 34 cents of every dollar I give goes to Outreach, etc.

And the Good News? And the Good News? The whole process is simple!The whole process is simple!

Contact The United Methodist Foundation of New England for samples & templates

1-800-595-4347 x106 (Bonnie)

Materials to be posted on the website shortly www.umfne.org

You tell the story of the individual slices of the church ministry pie

• There is a narrative for Outreach, a narrative for Evangelism, a narrative for Pastoral Care, etc.

• We funnel the story from the macro story to the micro story

Tell the StoryTell the Story

The Pastoral Care NarrativeThe Pastoral Care Narrative

The ministry of Pastoral Care at UMC involves the following services:

• taking of home communion to three local nursing homes each month

• on call at two local funeral homes and follow up with the mourners from 30 funerals in 2012

• frequent visiting at three local hospitals to care for parishioners recovering from illness or surgery

More Pastoral Care More Pastoral Care MinistriesMinistries

• counseling services to couples and individuals in marital crisis

• care of students in crisis due to stress-related pressures of school

• self help group set up to care for unemployed in the area

• bereaved families support group, etc.

The Sacred StoriesThe Sacred Stories

Kristen is a first year student in Biology. Its her first time away from home and her family is in Lumsden, Saskatchewan. She has been having a difficult time with her classes and her marks have slipped dramatically since high school. Her mother was badly hurt in a car accident last month and Kristen is not coping well. She walked in off the street last Wednesday morning and all her pain came gushing out in the pastor’s office. She and the pastor connected and she has showed up in church the last few Sundays feeling like she has found a “family” to care for her.

Real People – Real StoriesReal People – Real Stories

• Tell a few stories for each category of ministry• Givers begin to get a better sense of the impact the

ministry of the church is having on peoples’ lives• Experience shows they become inspired and take a

much greater ownership of the many ministries of the church

Get the Story Out…Get the Story Out…

•Church Newsletter•Bulletin Inserts•Church Website•Stewardship Mailings•Narrative Budgeting Booklets•Personal Contact•Include in Intercessory Prayers

Use Sunday WorshipUse Sunday Worship

• Put a bulletin insert out each week for six weeks highlighting a different category of ministry

• Pray for that ministry• Tell a specific story of a person being touched by

that ministry

Add a Time and Talent Add a Time and Talent OptionOption

• Additional charts can illustrate servant hours against the six categories of ministry

• Parishioners get a sense of how vital and vibrant the local church is when looked at in the context of servant time

Let’s look at one aspect of Servant time

Sunday Morning Worship

•Altar guild – two people X 2 hours= 4 hours•Choir – ten member X 2 hours of worship and 2 hours of practice time = 40 hours•Readers, chalice bearers, server, crucifer, counters, sides-people, litergist, 10 X 1.5 hours = 15 hours•Almost 70 hours of servant time in one week X 44 weeks =3,080 hours of servant time in Sunday morning worship alone

Narrative Budgeting is an Narrative Budgeting is an Evolving ProcessEvolving Process

In an average size churchWhen you factor in all ministries, we estimate that

10,000 – 15,000 servant hours per year are accumulated

That’s a significant impact on any local community!!

The Process Continues…The Process Continues…

• Each year you will improve & get better at it as you add stories, servant time & talent

• People will begin to think of church ministry funding in a new way

Money & MinistryMoney & Ministry

We must change how we view money and ministry

Long before Charge Conference you will have begun a job of education and awareness

around the Narrative Budget

A Few Recommendations…A Few Recommendations… Leave the line item budget in the church office at your

council meeting.

Take only the Narrative Budget to your Church Council

Tell those that function better with details, that there are five copies of the completed line item budget available in the church office for anyone interested. You are not compromising transparency.

As a faith-based organization be determined in your desire to talk about money and ministry in a new way.

Charge Conferences will no longer be viewed as the annual BUSINESS meeting of the church, but will become the “Annual Mission & Ministry” meeting!

Members get excited and start looking forward to church meetings!!

You Might Find…You Might Find…

Givers will become engaged by the efforts we make to show them that their giving has a lasting impact on the lives of real people

with real needs…

Their giving doesn’t just make a difference, it can make ALL the

difference!!