Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Is your church community putting its money where its mouth and mission are? This month we are highlighting five resources on mission-based finances. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry, and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers and the monthly digest.

1. Greg Syler, in Facing Financial Uncertainty—Testing and Re-testing the Budget, illustrates why having a nimble budget can help your community of faith live more fully and more intentionally in its mission. This article is packed with good resources to help your church be more flexible.

2. Ready for something less complicated yet even more effective? Check out this webinar by Phyllis Jones, Mission-Based Budgeting: A Loving, Liberating, Life-Giving Practice, to learn a fresh, innovative approach to budgeting that will undoubtedly move your community’s mission forward.

3. Though it was written in 2009 during the economic crisis, the truths shared by Ibby Whitten in The Spiritual Side of Church Finances are still relevant today. If your vestry is spending much of its time talking about the budget, this is a prudent read.

4. Need help with church budgeting and investing? This webinar, Fearless Finances—Parish Budgets, is a great “no-jargon” overview as Donald Romanik and Jerry Keucher make the point that the way your parish spends money is directly linked to mission and ministry and a key indication of your congregation’s identity.

5. In Testing Mammon—Learning Financial Discipleship, Steven Tomlinson asks a number of pointed questions about money and our relationship to it. Furthermore, he speculates that practicing the ways we use our money may be a “uniquely powerful formation for Christian discipleship.”