What does the Bible tell us about church offerings? The Bible tells us that everything we own, including money, is a gift from God.
We are only giving a tenth of what we have, a tiny portion compared to what God has given to us. The offerings and donations to the churches are used primarily to sustain the Church’s work and provide relief. But unfortunately, there are some cases of theft and embezzlement occurring from time to time. Not everyone involved in the Church is 100% honest. This is why the Church maintains some guidelines and policies when it comes to handling offerings.
It is very important to establish a proper method of handling church offerings to sustain the Church’s financial condition. Furthermore, the duties of handling search finance should be clear and separated between different people, those who are responsible for handling and recording the revenue from offerings and those who are responsible for handling disbursements of the donations. A strong internal system should be developed to safeguard the assets and protect the individual donation in churches. All the handling of the church offering should go under the same standards and policies, just like any good business operation. That’s why churches should have internal and external policies regarding the handling of church donations and offerings.
This article will show how churches can effectively and safely handle the cash from the offering.
Here’s how to safely handle all Church offerings:
When receiving or collecting offerings:
Usually, church offerings are received by “passing the plate”. Attendees place their offerings on the plate when they leave the Church. Those who collect all the offerings are usually Known as Ushers. Although there are other ways, Church collects tithes and offerings. However, to safely receive and collect all the offerings, the Church should take a certain degree of caution.
There should be at least two Ushers present when handling or collecting all the offerings. One person can count while the other observes the person counting. There should be a rotation in counters.
Ushers should never be left alone with the offering receptacles. People who are responsible for maintaining and preparing the account data should not be counters. Ushers are not allowed to make or give any changes. Donors can receive changes directly from the treasurer or business administrator of the Church after the service hours.
When handling the offerings:
After taking all the offerings, they must be counted as soon as possible. All the offerings must be counted privately in a secure place. That should be at least two but not more than four Ushers at the counting place. The counting should be done three times before finalizing the total grand amount. To maintain the confidentiality of the donors, Ushers should be able to rotate daily.
If the donors have given envelopes, those should be opened to check whether the amount given inside the envelope matches the amount written on it. In the case of checks, they should be stamped “For Deposit Only” along with the name of the Church and the appropriate bank account number.
Counters should use a standardized form for recording all the offerings. There should be a deposit slip that records all the cash and checks. And no cash should be set aside for any personal or otherwise Church-related expenses without notifying the church administrations.
The offerings are the property of charge and should never be taken to anyone’s private home. The total grand amount after counting the offerings should be given in a summary report to the financial secretary or treasurer.
When depositing the cash:
Once all the offerings are counted and recorded in a report sheet, the funds should go immediately to the bank. The offerings are funds for church development, so they should never be inside the Church or any other Church member’s house in any situation. If the cash cannot be deposited in the bank on the day of the offerings, then it must be kept inside a secure safe. And at least two people except for the pastor of the Church should know the safe combination.
All the reports and the data regarding cash counting should remain confidential.
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In any case, theft or embezzlement, or even the swap of real money with counterfeit bills, can destroy the image of the Church and can lead to ruin. Furthermore, in the case of large amounts of cash, high-speed money counter are the best choice. Church staff have their hands full with various tasks and they receive offerings almost every day. Which can be very difficult to handle and often lead to cash miscalculation and other occurrences. This is why a good counting machine can help churches to handle offerings with ease. They can easily save a lot of time compared to manually counting money and can detect any fake bills. With our money counting machine, you can publish all the financial data and counting data on the Internet.
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