ECCU Blog

One of the most amazing things to me about being a follower of Christ is that we never stop learning about—and marveling at—the glory of God. Remember in 1 Samuel when the ark of the covenant disappeared and Scripture records that God’s glory departed from Israel? Then again in Ezekiel, chapters eight through ten, the story is told of the Shekinah glory of God departing from the temple. What a sad and dark time. For hundreds of years, the people lived without the glory, without the recognition of God’s holiness.

But God is as rich in mercy as He is in glory, and He did not leave His people forever. When Jesus was born, the glory of the Lord returned to earth! When we celebrate the birth of Christ, we are also celebrating the return of God’s glory.

Yet the birth of Christ was only the beginning of the restoration of God’s glory on earth. Jesus’ sinless life and sacrifice on the cross displayed God’s glory as no other event in history. And Christ’s ultimate return and heavenly kingdom will display the fullness of the glory of God.

Every time we enter the presence of God in our worship, we reflect His glory. It is only by receiving His glory that we may, in turn, bring Him all glory and honor and praise (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This Christmas season, may our hearts be filled with praise for the God who became flesh…for the glory of the Lord has returned!

“And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” (Revelation 5:13)

If your ministry accepts debit or credit cards for donations, café or bookstore purchases, or other ministry activities, you will most likely be required to report the total payments made with the cards to the IRS starting in 2012.

According to Becky Kopplin, vice president at The CashLINQ Group, “As one part of the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008, merchant processors are now required to report gross payments by credit or debit card to the IRS. This requirement applies to all merchants, including non-profits.”

Kopplin adds, “In order to report this information, the merchant processors must match the ministry’s legal name and tax identification number (TIN) to the IRS record. If the information provided does not match, the merchant processor may be penalized and/or credit and debit card payments made to the ministry may be subject to a 28 percent backup withholding.”

Reporting this information to the IRS does not change your other annual IRS reporting requirements. For example, if you are a church, you will not also be required to complete IRS Form 990 just because you accept debit or credit cards, unless of course you have unrelated business income tax (UBIT) due.

These regulations have been put in place to help ensure businesses adequately report taxable income to the IRS. In most cases, ministries do not utilize debit and credit cards for taxable business but are still required to report.

Kopplin explains, “The best way to verify that your merchant processor has the correct information is to provide them with any notice from the IRS that contains your legal name and TIN, like a 501(c)3 letter, a tax determination letter, or a Request for Tax Payer Identification letter (IRS Form W-9).” 

The 28 percent backup withholding will go into effect in 2013. For more information on this new requirement, see irs.gov.

The list of reasons for churches and other ministries to become members of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) just got longer. While tithing is at a 40-year low in mainline churches, giving to ECFA member churches is up four percent from the 2009 level. And contributions to all members are up 5.8 percent.

ECFA presents a full account of members’ giving in its second Annual State of Giving report. To learn more about the benefits of ECFA membership, follow this link.

How does your ministry’s giving compare to the ECFA averages?

Question: What is one way to make it easier for someone to cover up fraudulent activity with your church’s finances?

Answer: Create too many church bank accounts.

According to a recent Managing Your Church blog by Matt Branaugh, this is one of five reasons church treasurers should keep accounts to a minimum. In Q&A: Limit the Number of Church Bank Accounts, Branaugh writes that “conventional wisdom in the church finance world is for churches to limit the number of bank accounts the church uses. Ideally, a church should use only one or two.”

The five reasons underscore the importance of accountability and internal controls.

Does your church limit the number of bank accounts? Why or why not?

Nearly every church has set up a fund for benevolence purposes, but often the program for disbursing those funds is not as effective as it could be at meeting people’s needs. By reviewing my church’s process and disbursements over the past many years, I’ve come up with this list of best practices for evaluating your benevolence program:

• Establish a benevolence policy that empowers or delegates authority, ensures accountability and confidentiality, and sets boundaries rather than rules.
• Use a separate budget to track benevolent donations and disbursements.
• Take a team approach to benevolence ministry without creating a burdensome process.
• Report success stories to your donors but maintain confidentiality.
• Identify resources in advance, such as local businesses or individuals who have agreed to assist with specific needs.
• Keep records of assistance provided and follow up with those you help.
• Learn from your mistakes.
• Allow room for God to guide.
• Identify real needs, not just temporary issues or symptoms, then look for ways to help recipients “learn to fish.”
• Help recipients be accountable with agreed-upon next steps.
• Integrate your existing ministry outreach programs as well as other local churches into your benevolence efforts.
• Set aside funds to be used in case of local community disasters.

Providing a helping hand to those in need is a critical part of what we are called to do as followers of Christ. However, as you have probably learned, providing money by itself rarely meets people’s real needs.

What have you found to be critical success factors for your benevolence ministry?

PS: You are only required to do any tax reporting when benevolence gifts are provided to a staff member. Those gifts should be reported on IRS Form W-2.