Regional churches are preparing to hold their annual gatherings in the coming weeks, and Mennonite Church Manitoba is offering a resource for delegates who are feeling anxious about discussing financial matters.
In a video posted on the regional church’s YouTube channel last week, MC Manitoba executive minister Michael Pahl offers a brief introduction to reading financial statements for people who don’t like numbers but still want to participate in church discussions around finances and budgets.
“Someone has said that budgets are moral documents. This is true,” Pahl says. “Financial statements… and budgets… reflect our values. They reflect our commitments. They reflect where our treasure is, and so they reflect where our heart is.”
“Budgets are also stories written in numbers,” Pahl says. “Behind the numbers in a financial statement or budget is a story—a story of who you have been as a church in the past and who you want to be moving into the future. All this is why it’s important for all church members, not just number-lovers, to be able to make sense of financial statements.”
The work of the church requires everyone’s shared resources—their skills, knowledge, experience, time, energy and money, according to Pahl.
“May we continue to be generous with all our gifts, for the building up of the body of Christ and the furthering of Christ’s mission locally, regionally, across our nation and around the world,” he concludes.
Do you have a video we should see? Email it to submit@canadianmennonite.org.
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‘It’s important for all church members, not just number-lovers, to be able to make sense of financial statements,’ says Michael Pahl, executive minister of Mennonite Church Manitoba. (YouTube photo)
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