“The last four churches we rented to, never paid on time, and all of them walked away owing us thousands of dollars”. This quote from an article in Christianity Today, explained why one business now refused to rent rooms to churches. Stories like this, should remind leaders not to abdicate their responsibility for properly managing church finances.
A lack of attention to budget, a lack of transparency, and no proper controls, are just a few problems I’ve personally seen in churches. In addition, a culture of trust, and a lack of monitoring, mean that churches are often exposed to fraud. Brotherhood Mutual Insurance predicted worldwide fraud in churches to reach $68 billion in mid 2019. They also made the astonishing claim that 30% of all staff steal, especially in churches, and stated that one third of churches will find themselves as victims of fraud.

This week’s question:
HAS YOUR CHURCH OR MINISTRY EXPERIENCED FRAUD? WHAT SYSTEMS DO YOU HAVE IN PLACE, TO PREVENT MISUSE OF FINANCES?

At a time when border and immigration policies are constantly in the international headlines, this week a border customs officer became a national hero. After encountering a family whose car had broken down on the border between Dubai and Muscat in Oman, the officer gave the family his car keys and insisted they continue their family holiday in his Toyota Land Cruiser. The kind deed was revealed after the family publicly thanked the officer on a radio station.

Question:
What might be the outcome in your community, if your church were encouraged to do one act of kindness each week?