How to Make a Budget Work?

How to Work on a Budget

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5 Budgeting is all about having a purpose and a plan for your money. So, you are telling your money where to go and what to do. Yet, many see this like a child being in trouble on a restriction, hence…

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More Personal and Family Budgeting Ideas 

Work on a Budget, it is not hard and it will make your life so much easier! 

Basically, a budget is a money plan; we need to have money to live in today’s society. Create a plan and then work the plan. So, we need to be wise stewards and competent to handle it for our Lord glory and our families benefit. Manage money for God, for it all belongs to Him and we work for Him!

• Sixty percent in marriage counseling identify money as a major problem.

• What are the other resources will you need (time, money, people)?

• What problems will you face? How will you solve them?

• You are to tell you money what to do, not just wonder where it went!

Decision-Making Process

Make sure you make healthy decisions based on the Word and character of our Lord and not on personal agendas and political power trips. This is necessary if you are to effectively establish unifying goals, to anticipate and adapt to change, to encourage leadership initiatives, and to ensure that budget allocations are in accord with ministry priorities.

• First of all, do not be overwhelmed!

• What do you have coming in?

• What do you have going out?

• Money is not for power and control, it is a tool for effectual living and our Lord’s service!

Then allocate your monies to first food, then shelter, then bills and … then entertainment. Make sure you take off the top you giving and savings.

See what is not a necessity and what is not needed or wasteful. Going to starbucks every day is a bad and wasteful plan, add it up! Better buy a good coffee maker and make it yourself. Buying al lot of processed foods is wasteful and unhealthy, buy raw and fresh and eat better, feel better and save $$$.

Your personal life and family will succeed when you focus on Christ and not problems!

See problems as opportunities to be solved.  Your budget is the clue to what is important and what is not. If you are not helping to support your church family to do the Lord’s work, then what are you doing (Matt. 28:18-20)?

Only one-third to one-half of U.S. church members financially support their churches. (Eric Reed, Where the Money Goes: How Normal Are Your Church’s Budget, Debt, and Salary Levels?, Leadership Journal, Summer 2000; also consulted: George Barna, Barna Research Archives and (Schaeffer Stewardship Research Group)

Budgeting Tools

Excel Budgeting Tools

 

View your promise to give to God that which is referred to as your tithe, like an income tax. Although it is not mandatory, it is a reflection of your character and response to His grace. As the government so nicely swipes away your hard–earned money from the top of your paycheck, consider joyfully setting also the top 10% of your net, or better yet, the gross income, for the Lord’s service– before the bills, expenses, and entertainment.  Do not include the tithe in your budget. Make your budget on the net assets you have after the tithe and taxes. Then, you will have a more realistic budget and keep yourself from getting into debt. That way, it is done and out of the way. Then, carefully decide to whom it should go. The primary responsibility is first to your local church, and second to ministries that are doing the Lord’s work (remember we are a missions org, 501 3c too at www.churchleadership.org). Remember, the people who set aside the first fruits of their resources to God are dedicating themselves to God, and not themselves to themselves.  

This will also allow you to give more easily and continually. We will look more at this in the next few months.

Christian author, speaker, and financial counselor Larry Burkett, with 25 years of experience, tells us that, “the Christian world is no different from the secular world when it comes to debt, bankruptcy, and divorce because priorities are misplaced. Burkett goes on to say, “while the Bible does not condemn borrowing, it does lay out specific guidelines for Christians and debt. “God said very clearly that you can’t be unfaithful in a small thing and faithful in a large — they come part and parcel together,” Burkett says. “You can’t be a bad money handler and be handling other things well. Money is just the outside indicator of what’s going on in our lives spiritually.” According Burkett, the use of credit/stewardship is not a problem among Christians — instead, he says, it is the misuse of credit. Burkett says, “most Christians do not have a firm grasp on the biblical perspectives on debt or stewardship.

Our research at the “Schaeffer Institute” backed by his origination, “Crown Ministries” that conducted this research too with the same results that, “Only 3% of Christians actually tithe today! Thirty-seven percent of those attending evangelical churches don’t give anything at all to their local church in any way. And that’s not a problem,” he says, “that’s an indicator of a problem. It’s a spiritual problem being reflected through their finances.” Burkett cites surprising statistics to prove his point. “Over the last decade, giving overall in Christianity has increased about 20% — but recreational spending increased almost 125% and debt spending increased 550%,” Burkett says. “I think it’s really time that God’s people decided that God really does want us to live by a different set of rules.” Burkett further says, “there are several steps to becoming good stewards, among them transfer ownership of everything to God, tithe on gross income, allow no more debt, develop a realistic balanced budget, and start retiring existing debt. (quotes taken from Crown Financial Ministries http://www.crown.org website and article, Qualities of a Generous Giver periodical Generous Giving, 2002 by Gordon MacDonald)

More Budgeting Ideas coming