More Than Numbers

By James Nixon

My initial instinct when providing a ministry update on the finance team is to open a spreadsheet and start diving into the numbers. Normally I would want to update you all on how the capital campaign is going or what trends we are seeing in the first couple months of our new fiscal year. But I’m going to do my best to avoid that information here. Instead focusing on how the Lord is moving through our team.

The first thing that came to mind, and I’m sure it’s something that will be a theme of these updates, is the joyful willingness to serve of the members of this team. For those who don’t know, there are two ways someone might be involved in the finance team, one would be as part of the counting team in which two members serve weekly after the service and help count the tithe. The other way would be as part of the finance team who assists with the audit and budget process as well as provide guidance on unique finance matters.

I’m reminded of a sick Saturday night recently where I was scheduled to count the following morning but knew I wouldn’t be able to make it. I reached out to another member of the team asking if they could cover for me and they graciously accepted. I responded to their confirmation with “Thanks, I owe you one”, they responded “you owe me nothing”. Their simple response was a reminder that our acts of service are not transactional but are instead motivated by love.

Getting back to that spreadsheet with all the numbers that I really want to reference, it’s important to remember that for every number, every invoice and every expense item, there is a ministry impact related to it. Jesus reminds us in Matthew that where our treasure is our heart will be also. This is true for us as individuals but also as a Church.

There were four invoices in my mailbox this week they were invoices for our Events team, Worship Team, our printer and finally the monthly Trash bill. This is proof that I’m telling the truth, because I probably wouldn’t have picked the trash bill to drive home my point. But each one of these items can be traced back to a specific outreach event, membership class, worship service, lift up prayer night, etc. and these are the heavenly treasures we as a church are laying up.

I want to finish by encouraging you all to participate in our periodic finance updates and annual budget meeting, these are great opportunities to see what ministries our church is investing in.

As you think about this, would you also join me in praying for our finance team—that we would continue to serve with joy, steward resources wisely, and keep our eyes fixed not only on numbers but on the eternal impact behind them?