Church Finance Resources

 

Through the work of Toward Bold Faithfulness, church financial strain was identified as a top challenge that Fellowship congregations face. As a result, CBF and the CBF Foundation are actively addressing this issue through the creation of resources and support directed at all facets of church financial health. Our areas of focus include church budgets, stewardship and generosity, addressing capital needs, legacy giving, endowments, understanding the work of the CBF Foundation and rethinking facilities and church property as assets.

Rickey Letson serves as CBF's Congregational Stewardship Officer and would be happy to talk with you or your church about any of these areas. Below you find downloadable print resources, videos and recent articles from our monthly church finance e-newsletter Generous Fellowship. For more information or if you have questions, please reach out to Rickey directly at rletson@cbf.net or 678-230-8341.

Cultivating Generous Congregations

A Two Month/Four Session Virtual Learning Cohort
Classes Forming Now for Winter & Fall 2023

 

Cultivating Generous Congregations is offered by CBF in partnership with the Lake Institute. Lake is one of America’s foremost authorities on faith and generosity. Each year, we offer two cohorts – one in the Winter (February/March) and one in the Fall (September/October). Both cohorts are comprised of 12 congregations with each church having space for 3 participants. Over the course of the study, we focus on developing a healthy theology of generosity, understanding the latest statistics and trends related to giving, creating a year-round approach to stewardship education, developing our members as donors and understanding how different generations are motivated to give among other topics. At the end of each Cohort, churches work to form specific stewardship goals based on what they have learned in the class. The cost to participate in $550 per congregation. This includes all materials and access to our online learning archive of articles, videos and charts related to various elements of generosity. If you would like more information or if you would like to enroll your church to participate in one of the two opportunities in 2023, please contact Rickey Letson, CBF Congregational Stewardship Officer at rletson@cbf.net.

Resources

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Congregations and Health Insurance

One of the largest costs and most challenging elements of compensation for church staff is health insurance. This guide describes the various approaches that churches take with Health Insurance. The goal of the guide is not to advocate for one particular approach. Instead, the desire of this resource is to share strengths and weaknesses of each so that congregations can make informed decisions on the strategy that best fits their congregation.
Free Download
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Sample Stewardship Calendar

A sample calendar providing ideas for emphasizing stewardship in the church.
Download
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12 Best Practices for Church Budgets

Learn and implement these best practices for your church budgeting process.
Download
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Sacred Spaces, Innovative Places

These videos and printed resources tell the story of seven CBF partner churches and the creative ways they are using their facilities and property.
Explore the web page
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Growing Generous Followers

These lessons for adults, youth and children have been made available to you and your church to be used for a focused time of study on what it means to be good stewards.
Learn more
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Congregational Financial Health Assessment

A simple questionnaire to help churches gauge their financial health.
Download
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Legacy Gift Guide for Churches

A guide from the CBF Foundation to help churches strengthen legacy giving.
Download
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Getting to Know the CBF Foundation

A Q&A with CBF Foundation President Shauw Chin Capps
Download
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Called into Fellowship

See how your church gifts help form healthy congregations, nurture Baptists of all ages and share the love of Christ through the long-term presence of CBF field personnel around the world.
Learn more
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Bequest Template Packet

Templates for church leaders associated with the CBF Foundation to customize and share with their congregations. Packet includes: email template, website integration template, Facebook post template, program/brochure print blurb template and phone script.
Download
Cover Pages for FreeWill/CBF Final

New Year's Resolution Toolkit for Bequests

A resolution-themed toolkit for churches to share to customize and share with their congregations in January.
Download
Cover Pages for FreeWill/CBF Final

QCD/Stock Template Packet

Templates for church leaders associated with the CBF Foundation to customize and share with their congregations. This packet includes QCD/Stock email template, QCD/Stock website integration template, QCD and Stock Facebook post templates and QCD/Stock bulletin insert.
Download
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Make A Will Month Toolkit for Pastors

A make-a-will-themed toolkit for pastors to share with their congregations in August.
Download
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Church Endowment Guide

Endowment funds and planned/legacy giving programs are ways for a church to make commitments and plans for its future.
Download
 
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Annotated Statement Guide for CBF Foundation Clients

A helpful step-by-step guide that walks churches/organizations through their account statements from the CBF Foundation and HighGround Advisors.
Download

Videos

 

Generous Fellowship Articles

 
  • The 90 Percent Church: Exemplifying Generosity Through Your Budget & Leadership

    By Rickey LetsonCBF Congregational Stewardship Officer When I was pastoring, our church embarked on a significant capital campaign to fund much-needed improvements to our facility. In the process, our leadership felt that we should tithe on gifts to […]

  • Endowments ─ Blessing or Curse?

    By Shauw Chin CappsCBF Foundation President Endowments ─ Blessing or Curse? The answer is it depends. I have heard a spectrum of answers from pastors and ministers on this topic. I have heard horror stories and hopeful stories. In both cases, […]

  • Church Financial Health Starts with Having a Plan

    By Rickey Letson A dear friend shared a box of books with me recently. He is at the end of his professional career and had been doing some cleaning and down-sizing. In the process, he had gathered some items from his library that he thought I […]

  • CBF Foundation Makes A Major Decision to Further Benefit Churches

    By Shauw Chin Capps CBF Foundation began in 1994 with the goals of stewarding funds for CBF Global, CBF state and regional organizations, CBF partner churches and partner organizations. Presently, we are proud to have more than $62 million under […]

  • The Importance of Financial Transparency

    By James Jordan The Merriam-WebsterDictionary defines transparent as “free from pretense or deceit: frank; easily detected or seen through: obvious; readily understood and characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially […]

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