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CHURCHES HAVE BEEN described as Christian organizations which can include para-church or church-run organizations such as seminaries, Bible schools, credit unions, media, among others. Ted W. Engstrom makes a distinction between Christian organizations and secular people. He writes: “… Christian organizations are different because they have higher allegiance than the basic purpose of the organization.
“They assume that they are doing something, that they are part of something that has eternal value. They are different because the individuals in the organization share a common allegiance to a God who is there. Because they share this higher and common purpose, they assume a moral and ethical level that should always transcend their short-term goals.
In her book, Yaa A. Akotia quotes Mpesha; Amoah and Gyimah as stating that the main goal of the church has been the spiritual and moral development of its members. However, the focus has been on developing their mental, social and economic well-being. As a result, a number of churches are embarking on development projects in their communities and even nationwide.
She says churches also invest in the educational and psychological needs of their members and of society at large. The Church has thus gradually become a development partner in all societies. In order to undertake these activities, the church needs funds.
Therefore, the pastor or leadership of the church teaches and encourages its members to give money often through tithes, offerings, and special gifts to fund church programs and activities. In the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, there are instances where God commanded His servants to raise funds or the believers themselves voluntarily gave their resources to undertake God’s plans.
The leader and shepherd of Israel, Moses, comes to mind as someone who sometimes asked the people to give. In Exodus chapter 25, God told Moses to tell the congregation of Israel to make offerings for their plans. Then in Luke chapter 8, we read that some women donate for the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Organizations often fail or succeed based on the strengths and weaknesses of their finances. Since no organization is set up with the goal of achieving failure in the short, medium or long term, but its success, managing the finances of each organization is very crucial.
Richard Brealey defines financial management as “the process of making the most of available funds from a long-term perspective of business objectives”. But Baker and Powell also consider that “fundamentally, financial management is about decisions involving the raising and allocation of funds in order to create value.”
The two researchers further postulate that “financial management is an integrated business function, not a stand-alone activity.” This means that it works with other management departments such as public relations, marketing, human resources and production within the organization.
As indicated in the definitions above, financial management is a business function; it can also be called an organizational function. But the key element held by organizations that needs to be managed effectively and efficiently is finance. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines finance as “money or other liquid resource of a government, business, group or individual”.
Thus, CRK Ahortor specifies that the notion of management presupposes that the element to be managed, in this case funds, can deteriorate, depreciate, become useless or depreciate. He also writes that the main goal of financial management at the organizational level is to achieve the various goals that an organization sets for itself for a given period.
Therefore, the senior pastor with oversight responsibility for the church should ensure that financial resources are properly mobilized and used to achieve the church’s mission, vision, and goals that underpin its establishment.
Akotia thus underlines that “there is the need to account for the use of funds to funding sources”. It is important to record the use of funds to indicate whether the funds were used appropriately or spent inappropriately.
In John 12: 6 we read the story of one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was said to be in charge of the purse and allegedly stole some of the money he was given to keep. In other words, Judas Iscariot was a corrupt accountant or financial director as he embezzled church funds.
If Judas Iscariot who physically walked with Jesus Christ and heard him teach with authority was not afraid, but could be corrupted and mismanage church funds and possibly be involved in a deadly financial scandal, then there is There is every reason to believe that financial mismanagement and theft abound in churches today.
The church has been described as the light of the world, the salt of the world, and glorified with other similar auspicious attributes, but it has often been plunged into financial scandals. In November 2008, a pastor in the ministry of Heavens Gate in Ghana allegedly stole 7,000 GHȼ, the amount made at a fundraising event organized by the church, and buried him in his compound.
Also, in the course of 2014, in the locality of Bantama, an usher of a Protestant church was caught stealing money from the offering box while he was bringing it to the accounting office for counting. and registration. These confirm the prevalence of theft of funds that occurs in churches, which sometimes ends up being reported in media around the world, thus calling into question the integrity of the church and of the ministers of the gospel.
To be continued…
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By James Quansah
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