Hello CHBC family,

Eric Rodgers and I appreciated your thoughtful questions at our Member Gathering (Annual Meeting) last Wednesday evening.

I want to follow-up on our family time together by sharing a brief primer on church finances, writing as someone who was first on mission in the for-profit world for a couple of decades and then joined CHBC staff a few years ago.

Helping to steward our church’s financial resources well is one of the many hats I now wear on staff, so I am eager to share a few things I’ve learned about our Church’s finances.

Components of our checking account:

Like many churches, the bulk of our checking account is made up of three main categories of money: Operating Capital, Funds (designated by Deacons over time), and Funds (given by donors).

• Operating Capital - this is akin to a personal checking account. Giving comes into this account and bills are paid out of this account.

• Funds (examples: Benevolence, Office Equipment, Facilities Reserve, Mission Special Projects):

•• Deacon-designated to Funds - in years in which our church’s giving exceeds its expenses (i.e. surplus) and our Operating Capital is in a healthy place, our Deacons often chose to shift some money from Operating Capital, designating it to specific Funds that were created for a specific purpose. Elders (formerly Deacons) can always re-allocate these monies to areas of greater church need in future years.

•• Designated Gifts from donors to Funds - these monies have been given by individuals over time and cannot be used for purposes besides those the donor intended. (For example, a gift I give to Benevolence cannot be used to help pay for a major church facility repair.)

Here are the current balances for each of the three categories, updated as of the end of May 2024:

$333,808 Operating Capital

$340,501 Deacon-designated to Funds

$310,619 Designated Gifts from donors to Funds

$984,928 TOTAL

Therefore, the Operating Capital ($333,308) and monies designated to Funds by Deacons ($340,501) are permitted and available to be used to subsidize the 2023-2024 deficit and any deficit going forward, if needed.

Church expenses are consistent, but giving is “lumpy”

Our church’s expenses (staff, mortgage, missions, ministries) are fairly consistent each month throughout the year. Our church family’s giving is “lumpy”, in that it is historically higher in June, November, and December and lower the other nine months.

Our church spends down its Operating Capital during leaner giving months and replenishes it during higher giving months.

Update on the two financial realities Eric Rodgers highlighted mid-February:

• Need to decrease 2024-25’s budget versus 2023-24’s - our church has essentially been living into its lower 2024-25 fiscal year spending budget since April, which has alleviated this identified pain point of us spending more than our income. Our 2024-25 spending budget of $3,000,000 is now in line with our church’s current size and giving capacity. (As Eric expressed last Wednesday, we anticipate that our giving for 2023-24 will be approximately $3,050,000.)

• Operating Capital shortfall - with your generous giving and us living into our new lower budget the past few months, our Operating Capital “below zero” date (having to dip into reserves - money in Funds designated by Deacons in years past) has been pushed back from the original projection of May 2024 to August 2024. With continued solid giving and ongoing strong focus by the staff on fiscal discipline, there’s potential that our Operating Capital will not dip “below zero” this fall, before the historically strong giving months of November and December. If Operating Capital were to dip “below zero”, the Elders (formerly Deacons) would need to vote to tap into reserves, shifting some “Deacon-designated to Funds over time” monies (see above) back into Operating Capital.

I hope that this primer helps to further answer many of the thoughtful questions you asked at our Member Gathering.

I am encouraged that there are many new people coming to our church, including some who have not yet placed their trust in Christ. We have heard many stories of God’s grace through our church at our Newcomers lunches and at our Membership Gatherings, including last Wednesday night. We are prayerfully expectant that God will continue to grow the Bible Church as we reach the Triangle and beyond with the message of Jesus.

As always, my door is open, happy to chat.

Blessings,

--

Greg Omland

Administrator

greg@biblechurch.org

(919) 408-0310 x109