2021 Wesley Center Conference
The Economics of Vocational Ministry: Living at the Crossroads of Affordability and Calling
View the sessions and workshops presented at the 2021 Wesley Conference, held virtually on Feb. 4-5, 2021. Covers practical and emotional aspects of personal and church finances.
ECFA
“Church Reporting Made Easy”
The latest version of the ECFA ebooklet
“Minister’s Taxes Made Easy”
The latest version of the ECFA ebooklet
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
A variety of resources offered by the ECFA
ECFA Church Excel
Free resources for pastors and church leaders for handling church finances.
How Healthy Is Your Church Board?
Take this free online assessment from ECFA to help your board evaluate its performance.
Preventing Church Fraud
An ECFA webinar-on-demand with Rollie Dimos, a certified fraud examiner and certified internal auditor, helping churches reduce the risk of fraud and increase financial accountability.
NAE Financial Health
Twelve Month Planner
A tool for utilizing NAE’s Financial Health resources throughout the year to increase church generosity
Best Practices for Church Generosity
Find 37 Best Practices and 150 online resources to help any size church grow in generosity.
Church Financial Health Assessment
A 5-minute Self-Assessment Checkup: Find out your church’s financial health score and the areas where you can improve. Available in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean and more. (5 minutes)
Bless Your Pastor
Over 50 creative ways to show God’s love for your pastor. (1 hour)
Expense Reporting
QuickBooks Desktop for Existing Users
A free 90 minute webinar to make sure you’ve got your nonprofit QuickBooks set up correctly and to increase your knowledge and competency (1:32:14)
Church Finances for Missional Leaders: Best Practices for Faithful Stewardship
Packed with guidelines, tools, worksheets, and biblically sound strategies, this book presents a 360-degree approach to local church finances for congregations of all sizes. (6.5 hours)
QuickBooks (Desktop) for New Nonprofit Users
A free 90 minute webinar that introduces you to the basics of using the desktop version of QuickBooks for your church finances (1:35:30)
How to Handle Pastoral Business Expenses (car, travel, etc.)
P&B Memo #11 – Auto and Other Business Expense Reimbursements (10 minutes)
Pastoral Retirement Accounts
P&B Participation Agreement
The form that EVERY CHURCH must submit in order to contribute to their pastor’s retirement savings account.
Click here and go to Employer Participation Agreement.
Letter of Agreement
The form that EVERY PASTOR needs to fill out in order for the church to contribute to his or her 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan.
Understanding the Annual Pension Supplement (APS)
An explanation of the relationship between the local church’s payment of P&B allocations budget and the benefits the pastor receives from P&B. (15 minutes)
Pastoral Compensation
Pastoral Compensation Assessment
Take this assessment to ensure that your church is taking care of the pastor and following important legal guidelines and government regulations. (5-7 minutes)
8 Essentials of Compensating Pastors
A pdf booklet from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability that highlights eight areas to address when setting up a pastoral compensation package. (30 minutes)
Church Employee or Independent Contractor?
P&B Memo #2 – IRS definitions regarding who is considered an employee vs an independent contractor. (5 minutes)
Housing Allowance Details
P&B Memo #13 – The Minister’s Housing Allowance – An overview of the IRS regulations and reporting requirements. (10 minutes)
Parsonage or Housing Allowance?
P&B Memo #1 – Housing for Your Pastor – Pros and Cons of both, and other tax implications. (10 minutes)
How Much Do We Pay the Pastor?
P&B Memo #7 – An overview of the many components of the pastoral compensation to be reviewed annually by the church board. (20 minutes)
Letter of Agreement
The form that every PASTOR needs to fill out in order for the church to contribute to his or her 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan
P&B Participation Agreement
The form that EVERY church board needs to fill out in order to contribute to the pastor’s 403(b) retirement account, click here.
Structuring Ministerial Compensation – pdf
P&B Memo #4 – Strategies for Structuring Ministerial Compensation. (10 minutes)
Structuring Ministerial Compensation
A NBUSA memo with everything you need to consider in structuring your pastor’s compensation package Click here to use the compensation calculator.
Fundraising
Foundation Capital Resources
A lending institution that provides mortgage financing to churches and ministries.
Semble – A Unique Funding Option
Explore how Semble can turn donors into investors while lowering monthly mortgage payments.
Guide to a Successful Building Fund Drive
Brian Kluth’s ebook for pastors and church leaders. (15 minutes)
Five Offerings You Never Thought to Ask For
A webinar by Mark Lail from the School of Stewardship (59:31)
Improving Church Generosity
Over 100 resources in financial/generosity teaching materials, donation administration, and funding projects/campaigns
Tax Reporting
Charitable Receipting
A webinar by Mark Lail and Jim Dalton from the School of Stewardship, answering the most common charitable receipting questions. (1:01:24)
Audit Complete
A webinar by Mark Lail from the School of Stewardship, simplifying the all-important church audit. (59:28)
The Annual Church Audit
P&B Memo #8 – Everything you need to know and what you need to have for your church audit. (10 minutes)
Can Ministers Opt Out of Social Security?
P&B Memo #10 – An explanation of an often misunderstood law. (5 minutes)
Minimizing Taxes for Our Pastor
P&B Memo #5 – Minimizing Income Taxes for Church Employees. (10 minutes)
IRS Forms
Downloadable forms and instructions, many in Spanish
Who Is a Minister for Tax Purposes?
P&B Memo #12 – Not everyone who may be called a “minister” in the Church would be considered a “minister” according to the tax laws. (10 minutes)
Tax Reporting Procedures for the Local Church
P&B Memo # 3 – An overview of many of the basic federal tax reporting issues, essential for every church treasurer. (20 minutes)