Committee Members
Dianna Moore
Linda Whitt
Martha Evilsizor
Tom Thompson
Policies and Procedures
Stewardship Committee
I. Committee Membership
A. The Stewardship Committee shall consist of five members.
B. The Chairperson of the committee shall be elected by the committee members.
II. Committee Duties and Responsibilities
A. The Stewardship Committee shall be responsible for promoting stewardship among the church membership. This shall include encouraging members to use their time, talents, and financial resources for supporting God's work.
B. The Stewardship Committee shall be responsible for the church's finances.
C. The Stewardship Committee shall be responsible for overseeing the payment of all church bills.
D. The Stewardship Committee shall constantly be aware of the church's current financial status, shall review and approve monthly financial statements prepared by the church secretary, and shall submit regular reports to the church.
E. The Stewardship Committee shall be responsible for preparing the annual church budget.
III. Policies and Procedures
A. It shall be the policy of Memorial Baptist Church to conform with all applicable local, state, and federal regulations governing churches, charitable organizations, and nonprofit corporations.
B. All payments of salaries, costs of services, and reimbursements shall be handled in a manner which provides records which are in accordance with sound accounting principles.
C. Credits for contributions shall be listed as charitable contributions to the extent allowed by Internal Revenue Service regulations.
D. Meetings.
1. The Stewardship Committee shall meet monthly to review financial statements and prepare reports for regular business meetings.
2. The committee shall call special meetings as often as necessary to meet the stewardship and financial needs of the church.
E. Expenditure Procedures.
1. For any general or special fund account, the committee may review and advise on the availability of funds for any anticipated expenditure and shall review and advise on the availability of funds for any anticipated, non-fixed expenditure exceeding $500. If the financial conditions call for review of requested expenditures below $500, the committee may require review of lower amounts of expenditures.
2. All anticipated expenditures exceeding $1,000, other than fixed and emergency expenditures, shall be reviewed by the Stewardship Committee and submitted to the church for formal approval. The Stewardship Committee review shall include method and schedule for payment.
3. Individual expenditures approved as line items in the annual church budget shall not require further approval during the budget year. However, committees shall check with the Stewardship Committee to ensure that adequate funds are available to cover non-fixed anticipated expenditures exceeding $500, prior to incurring those expenses. If financial conditions call for review of requested expenditures below $500, the committee may require review of lower amounts of expenditures.
4. The church may use credit cards to expedite purchases. All credit cards will be kept in a secure location in the church office and issued to a staff member or church member only after appropriate documentation (Form SC-2) of the purchase is presented to a member of the Stewardship Committee for approval according to Section III (E) (1) and Section III (E) (3).
5. Fixed expenses are excluded from the provisions of this section.
a. Fixed expenditures shall be considered those expenditures which must be paid in order to support the church’s ordinary expenses and programs and which are normally encountered in any budget year. They include but are not limited to:
(1) Salaries and fringe benefits.
(2) Utilities.
(3) Property insurance.
(4) Literature orders.
(5) Postage and office supplies.
(6) Janitorial and maintenance supplies.
(7) Equipment maintenance agreements.
(8) Incidental expenses associated with the pastoral, music, and youth programs.
(9) Budgeted payments for missions programs.
6. Emergency expenditures.
a. Emergency expenditures shall be considered those extraordinary expenditures from a designated or undesignated account which are not fixed expenditures of the church and which are required to support the operation of the church, its programs, and ministries.
b. The Stewardship Committee shall review the emergency expenditure request and meet either in person or by telephone to determine the availability of funds and the most efficient mechanism to make payment.
c. Stewardship Committee reviews of emergency expenditure requests shall be completed in a timely manner to ensure there is minimal disruption of church activities.
d. Emergency expenditures shall be explained by the Stewardship Committee at the next scheduled business meeting.
7. Over-expenditures.
a. Should a situation occur where an expenditure would exceed the amount in a budget line item for the subject year, the committee, organization, or staff involved shall make a formal request to the Stewardship Committee to exceed the budgeted line item amount.
b. The Stewardship Committee shall report budget line item over-expenditures to the church body at the next scheduled business meeting.
c. The committee shall report potential over- expenditures of line items in excess of $500 to the church and shall request approval from the church body at a business meeting prior to such expenses being incurred.
d. Upon review, determination that adequate church funds exist to accommodate the over-expenditure, and approval from the Stewardship Committee, the committee, organization, or staff may proceed with the over-expenditure.
F. Handling of Offerings, Fees, and Other Monies.
1. The Stewardship Committee shall develop at each regular January meeting an annual schedule for collecting offerings, fees, and other monies and delivering them to the bank depository.
2. The committee shall make plans in advance to handle offerings, fees, and other monies at all regular and special services as well as all other events and activities.
3. The committee shall conform with the following procedures for handling offerings from regular and special services, events, and other activities:
a. All monies shall be handled in a manner which conforms with standard accounting and auditing protocols.
b. Bible Study offerings shall be collected by the Bible Study Program secretary, shall be locked in bank bags, and shall be left prior to the morning worship service in a secure location in the church which is known by the Stewardship Committee. The secretary, and preferably a second Bible Study Program volunteer, shall sign an Offering Handling Form (Form SC-1) and leave the form and key to the bank bag in a designated area.
c. The Bible Study Program secretary shall retrieve any offerings left in the plates after the early Sunday morning service and shall place them in the bank deposit bag to be used for the Bible Study offering. The deposit bag shall be placed in a designated secure area. A Stewardship Committee member shall collect the offerings at the end of the later Sunday morning service and place them in deposit bags in the presence of a member of the usher team. Both individuals shall sign an Offering Handling Form (Form SC-1).
d. The Offering Handling Form and deposit bag keys shall be placed in a designated area by the Stewardship Committee member.
e. The Stewardship Committee member shall take all deposit bags which have been used to the night depository at the main office of Farmers Bank as soon as possible after a service, event, or activity has been completed.
f. The Church Financial Records Secretary and members of the Teller Committee shall meet at prescribed times to open deposit bags, count the money, and make necessary records of money received.
g. The church shall maintain accurate individual giving records for all monies which have been received in envelopes or which contain other information identifying the source of the monies.
h. The church shall periodically provide reports to individuals showing year-to-date giving. At the end of each year, a full report shall be provided for the calendar year.
4. Special Offerings.
a. In general, special offerings including love offerings shall be handled in a manner identical to the way in which routine offerings are handled.
b. Where possible, arrangements should be made in advance with visiting speakers and other guests to provide an expense reimbursement or love offering by mail within a week of the service, event, or other activity.
c. If a love offering is to be presented to a guest at the end of a service, it will be necessary to open offering envelopes and account for the money given. In such cases, the following additional procedures apply:
(1) Offering envelopes will be opened in the presence of a minimum of one Stewardship Committee member and one Deacon.
(2) All cash and checks shall be counted, using a printing calculator or other summary sheet to record the amounts and totals.
(3) The calculator tape or other summary sheet shall be signed and dated by the counters and placed in a deposit bag along with the offering envelopes, checks, and cash. An Offering Handling Form shall also be completed by the counters and signed.
(4) A check shall be written for the amount given and shall be provided to the guest.
(5) The Offering Handling Form and deposit bag keys shall be placed in a designated area, by the Stewardship Committee member.
(6) The Stewardship Committee member shall take the deposit bag to the night depository at the main office of Farmers Bank as soon as possible after a service, event, or activity has been completed. *
d. In the event that an announcement has been made in advance that only cash and checks made out to the guest will be accepted, the special offering shall be counted, checks shall be verified to ensure that they are not made out to the church, the total offering shall be given to the guest, and the signed calculator tape or other summary sheet shall be left in the church office for the secretary.
5. The church secretary shall maintain records of the date each payment request was received and the budget line item to which the expenditure applies.
6. The Stewardship Committee Chair or designated member of the Stewardship Committee shall indicate review and approval of all expenditures prior to signing the checks by initialing and sating each invoice or bill.
G. Budget Development and Oversight.
1. The official church fiscal year shall be the calendar year.
2. The Stewardship Committee shall develop no later than October a schedule for budget development and stewardship emphasis related to the coming year's budget.
3. The committee shall prepare and provide for church information no later than the regular November business meeting a draft budget for the upcoming church fiscal year.
4. The committee shall conduct any desired and appropriate stewardship emphasis during the months of October and November. Commitment cards (Form SC-4) may be distributed to the membership as part of this process.
5. The committee shall prepare and provide for church approval no later than December at a special called business meeting a proposed final budget for the upcoming church fiscal year.
6. The committee shall maintain necessary budget line items to accomplish the work of all church staff, committees, and organizations.
7. The committee shall interact with all church staff, committees, and organizations to evaluate budget needs, develop final budget amounts, and monitor expenditures. A form (Form SC-3) shall be provided for itemizing budget requests.
H. Payment of Bills.
1. It shall be the church policy to require documentation of all bills and reimbursement requests. The church shall provide a necessary form (Form SC-2) for those bills for which a formal invoice are not available or feasible.
2. Vendors, church staff, committee chairs, organization coordinators, and members shall provide adequate documentation for expenditures, including a description of the item or service, the date the expense was incurred, and the name of the business or individual to whom payment shall be made.
3. Payment of all church bills shall be by check. The Church Secretary shall be responsible for maintaining records of church bills and preparing checks for signature.
4. All checks issued against the church's bank account shall bear two signatures. Normally the signatures will be those of the chairperson of the Stewardship Committee and the church secretary. In the absence of one of the above, the signature of another member of the Stewardship Committee may be substituted for the one who is absent.
5. The Church Secretary shall maintain records of the date each payment request was received and the budget line item to which the expenditure applies.
6. The Stewardship Committee Chair or Associate chair shall indicate review and approval of all expenditures prior to signing the checks by initialing and dating each invoice or bill.
A. The Stewardship Committee shall communicate financial policies and procedures to all committee chairpersons at the beginning of each church program year.
B. The committee shall meet with church staff, committees, and organizations as the need arises, to assist in any financial matter which needs joint attention.
C. The committee shall provide periodic updates of year-to-date expenditures to the church.
D. The committee shall cooperate with, and provide assistance to, the Church Ad-hoc Auditing Committee which is appointed by the Deacons on an annual basis to review financial procedures and determine whether formal auditing is appropriate.
Adopted by Memorial Baptist Church May 14, 2014