Participant digital workbook
Study all nine Ms, reflect on what they mean for your church, complete each exercise, assess current practice and prepare your contribution to the church's shared work.
Digital workbook OR-NM-1.0 (prototype) · Nine M curriculum version 1.0
Your progress through the workbook
9 assigned modules, four lessons each, with a rated self-assessment and a 90-day plan per module.
0 of 36 exercises written · 0 of 45 areas rated (0%)
Every activity in the printed workbook can be completed here online. Your answers stay saved under your name, and the downloads give you the same complete workbook on paper.
M3 — Money (module 3 of 9)
Strengthen stewardship, financial visibility, giving, budgeting, cash flow, controls, reserves, and long-term sustainability.
What this module produces
Church Financial Health and Stewardship Plan
- Financial-health scorecard summarizing reporting reliability, giving health, budget discipline, controls and reserves
- Three-year trend review of income, expenses and net position pulled from Stewardship Nsites financial dashboard and statements
- Current-year budget with variance notes and a twelve-month cash-flow forecast
- Giving health analysis covering participation, average gift, recurring share, digital versus cash mix, lapsed contributors and concentration, reported in aggregate
- Internal controls walkthrough identifying gaps in separation of duties, counting, deposit and approval practices
- Draft reserves policy stating a target operating-runway range and replenishment approach
- Named list of financial risks with likelihood, impact and an accountable owner for each
- Gaps register listing every open financial-visibility, giving, controls or reserves gap discovered during the module
- 90-day action plan assigning each recommended action an owner, due date, resources required, success measure, status and review date
Objectives
- Identify the financial information leaders need for timely decisions
- Evaluate giving health without reducing stewardship to fundraising
- Convert priorities into a budget, forecast and reserves plan
- Protect assets with controls and decision-ready reporting
5 weeks · about 8 hours of leadership time
Lesson 1: Stewardship and Financial Visibility
What you will learn: Identify the financial information leaders need to make timely, mission-aligned decisions.
75 minutes · Pastor, treasurer, finance committee, and one or two board members
Scripture lens — Luke 16:10-12
10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This passage is proposed for the lesson opening because it connects trustworthiness in small financial matters to being entrusted with greater responsibility, a theme directly relevant to financial visibility.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Stewardship Nsites financial dashboard export
- Most recent bank reconciliation
- Prior-year annual financial summary, if available
- Consensus scores for all ten questions
- At least two access or habit changes committed to in writing
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- Leadership can list the ten financial questions a healthy governing body should be able to answer at any time
- The team has identified which of the ten questions it can currently answer with confidence and which it cannot
- A named owner exists for closing each visibility gap discovered
- Leadership can explain, in plain language, where each figure in the scorecard comes from in Stewardship Nsites
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Identify the financial information leaders need to make timely, mission-aligned decisions.
A church cannot steward what it cannot see; today's Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test names the gaps that the rest of this module will work to close.
Why it matters for your church
Leadership decisions about staffing or new ministry launches are often made without knowing the true cash position, creating avoidable risk.
When only one person can answer financial questions, that person becomes a single point of failure and an unintended gatekeeper.
Boards that cannot answer basic financial questions struggle to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility to the congregation.
Examine the evidence
Use Stewardship Nsites financial dashboard export, Most recent bank reconciliation, and Prior-year annual financial summary, if available to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by Consensus scores for all ten questions, and At least two access or habit changes committed to in writing. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Establish an honest baseline of what leadership currently can and cannot answer about the church's finances, and assign ownership for closing each gap. The Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test produces the Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test, which contributes to the module's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: Which financial question, if I could answer it confidently tomorrow, would change a decision I am currently avoiding?
Key terms
- Financial visibility: The degree to which accurate, timely financial information reaches the people responsible for making decisions, not just the person who keeps the books.
- Operating runway: The number of months a church could continue paying its normal operating expenses if income stopped, based on current cash and reserves.
- Reconciliation: The process of matching recorded financial transactions against bank statements to confirm the books are accurate.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Treating the treasurer's monthly report as the full extent of financial visibility rather than a starting point for discussion
- Assuming that because the books are technically accurate, leadership therefore has adequate visibility into them
- Avoiding financial questions in board meetings because no one wants to appear to be questioning the bookkeeper's integrity
Ministry case — A Board That Could Not Answer Its Own Question
A midsize congregation's board was asked during a budget meeting how many months of operating expenses they could cover if giving dropped sharply. No one in the room could answer, including the treasurer, because the reserve funds were spread across two accounts that had never been added together in a single report.
It took less than a week to produce the answer once someone was assigned to pull both account balances from Stewardship Nsites and compare them to average monthly expenses, but the deeper lesson for that board was that the information had been available the whole time, it simply had never been assembled into a form anyone could use for a decision.
Lesson takeaway: A church cannot steward what it cannot see; today's Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test names the gaps that the rest of this module will work to close.
Exercise — Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test (produces: Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test)
Establish an honest baseline of what leadership currently can and cannot answer about the church's finances, and assign ownership for closing each gap.
- Read each of the ten financial questions aloud one at a time.
- Have each participant privately score the church's ability to answer as can-answer, partially, or cannot-answer.
- Compare scores as a group and discuss any disagreement.
- For every gap, name whether it is a missing report, a missing habit, or missing access.
- Assign a named owner and a target date to close each gap.
- Record the final consensus score for each question on the worksheet. Complete it online
- Summarize the overall visibility score to carry into the module scorecard.
Worksheet columns: Financial question · Current answer status · Type of gap · Owner · Target close date
Saves as you typeTen Financial Questions Visibility Test
Complete the Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Ten Financial Questions Visibility Test # Financial question Current answer status Type of gap Owner Target close date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Northgate Community Church (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 17/20)
Northgate Community Church is a fictional congregation of about 220 attendees used here to illustrate what a completed visibility test looks like.
Visibility score: 6 of 10 questions answered with confidence. Two gaps stem from missing reports, two from missing habits. All four gaps have named owners and target dates within four weeks.
- Dale R. was assigned to calculate operating runway using the last six months of Stewardship Nsites statements and bring the figure to the next finance meeting.
- The board added a standing five-minute budget-versus-actual review to every monthly meeting agenda going forward.
Northgate's team was thorough and honest in scoring, connected each gap to a clear cause, and assigned realistic owners, though the runway calculation itself had not yet been completed at the time of scoring.
Discussion prompts
- Which of the ten questions could our team answer most confidently, and why is that one clearer than the others?
- Where did we discover disagreement about whether we could answer a question, and what does that disagreement tell us?
- Who beyond the treasurer needs to be comfortable reading the Stewardship Nsites financial dashboard?
- What is the cost, in decision quality, of continuing to operate with our current level of visibility?
Reflection: Which financial question, if I could answer it confidently tomorrow, would change a decision I am currently avoiding?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Lesson 2: Giving Health and Generosity Culture
What you will learn: Evaluate giving patterns without reducing stewardship to fundraising.
90 minutes · Pastor, treasurer, generosity or stewardship team lead, and one board member
Scripture lens — 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This passage is proposed here because it frames generosity as a matter of the heart and cheerful choice rather than compulsion, which sets the tone for analyzing giving data pastorally instead of transactionally.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Stewardship Nsites Connect aggregated giving report
- Prior-year giving comparison, if available
- Aggregated data source cited for each metric
- At least one confidentiality-respecting pastoral response drafted
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- Leadership can state the church's participation rate, average gift and recurring-giving share using aggregated data only
- Three specific opportunities and three specific risks in giving health have been named
- The team can describe lapsed-contributor and top-household concentration patterns without referencing any identifiable individual
- A plan exists to connect giving-health findings to a generosity teaching emphasis rather than a fundraising appeal
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Evaluate giving patterns without reducing stewardship to fundraising.
Giving health data, read in aggregate and with pastoral care, helps a church cultivate generosity rather than merely chase it.
Why it matters for your church
High concentration in a small number of households creates real financial exposure if any one of them steps back.
Lapsed contributors who go unnoticed represent both a financial and a pastoral relationship risk.
A low recurring-giving share makes monthly cash flow harder to forecast and budget against.
Examine the evidence
Use Stewardship Nsites Connect aggregated giving report, and Prior-year giving comparison, if available to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by Aggregated data source cited for each metric, and At least one confidentiality-respecting pastoral response drafted. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Evaluate aggregate giving patterns and translate them into specific opportunities and risks for leadership action. The Giving Health Analysis produces the Giving Health Analysis, which contributes to the module's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: What would change in how I personally talk about giving if I saw it primarily as discipleship rather than fundraising?
Key terms
- Participation rate: The percentage of active giving households that made at least one gift during a defined period.
- Recurring-giving share: The portion of total giving that arrives through scheduled recurring gifts rather than one-time gifts.
- Giving concentration: The share of total giving contributed by the top-giving households, used as an indicator of financial fragility.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Using giving data only during a capital campaign rather than as an ongoing health check
- Discussing individual givers by name in a full board or committee setting, which undermines confidentiality
- Treating a dip in giving purely as a fundraising failure rather than exploring pastoral or communication causes
Ministry case — The Quiet Cost of a Concentrated Base
A congregation discovered, using an aggregated giving report, that a very small share of giving households accounted for a large majority of annual income. No one had run this calculation before because the church had simply never asked the question.
Rather than treating this as alarming, the stewardship team used the discovery to launch a broader recurring-giving invitation aimed at increasing participation across more households, reducing dependence on the small group at the top over the following year while still honoring and thanking every giver appropriately.
Lesson takeaway: Giving health data, read in aggregate and with pastoral care, helps a church cultivate generosity rather than merely chase it.
Exercise — Giving Health Analysis (produces: Giving Health Analysis)
Evaluate aggregate giving patterns and translate them into specific opportunities and risks for leadership action.
- Pull the aggregated giving report for the trailing twelve months.
- Calculate participation rate, average gift, recurring-giving share, digital versus cash mix, lapsed-contributor count, and top-household concentration.
- Record each metric with its supporting figure on the worksheet. Complete it online
- Compare each metric to the prior year where data allows.
- As a group, name exactly three opportunities the data reveals.
- As a group, name exactly three risks the data reveals.
- Draft one pastoral or teaching response for each risk named.
Worksheet columns: Metric · This year's figure · Prior year figure · Opportunity or risk · Proposed response
Saves as you typeGiving Health Analysis
Complete the Giving Health Analysis here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Giving Health Analysis # Metric This year's figure Prior year figure Opportunity or risk Proposed response 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Cedar Valley Fellowship (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 18/20)
Cedar Valley Fellowship is a fictional congregation of about 340 attendees used here to model a completed giving health analysis.
Giving health summary: participation and recurring share are both trending upward, a genuine strength. Concentration is also rising and should be monitored over the next two reporting cycles alongside continued efforts to broaden the giving base.
- The stewardship lead was assigned to design a spring teaching series on everyday generosity aimed at broadening participation beyond the top-giving households.
- The treasurer agreed to flag lapsed-contributor names, using an illustrative estimate of 22 households, to the pastoral care team for private, confidential follow-up rather than a public giving appeal.
Cedar Valley's team calculated every metric accurately, tied opportunities and risks directly to the data, and proposed specific, confidentiality-respecting responses, with only minor room to sharpen the digital-versus-cash analysis.
Discussion prompts
- What surprised us most in the six giving metrics, and why?
- How should our approach to lapsed contributors change based on today's findings?
- What would it look like to increase recurring giving without pressuring anyone?
- How does our current giving concentration affect how we should plan for the next budget cycle?
Reflection: What would change in how I personally talk about giving if I saw it primarily as discipleship rather than fundraising?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Lesson 3: Budgeting, Cash Flow, and Reserves
What you will learn: Convert ministry priorities into a realistic financial operating plan.
90 minutes · Pastor, treasurer, finance committee, and a board representative
Scripture lens — Proverbs 21:5
5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This proverb contrasts the plans of the diligent with hasty shortcuts, and is proposed here to frame budgeting and reserves as an act of diligence rather than a lack of faith.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Stewardship Nsites financial dashboard and statements, trailing 24 months
- Current-year approved budget
- Reserve account balances
- Runway calculation shown for baseline and both stress scenarios
- At least one ministry or staffing decision tested against the reduced-giving scenario
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- A twelve-month cash-flow forecast has been built using actual seasonal giving patterns
- Operating runway has been calculated in months, using current reserves against average monthly expenses
- Three distinct scenarios have been modeled: baseline, reduced giving, and ministry expansion
- A draft reserves policy states a target runway range and a replenishment approach
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Convert ministry priorities into a realistic financial operating plan.
A forecast tested against real scenarios turns budgeting from an annual guess into an ongoing tool for faithful, confident decision-making.
Why it matters for your church
Without a seasonal forecast, leadership may panic during a predictable low-giving month or overcommit during a predictable high month.
A ministry expansion approved without scenario testing can create financial strain that outlasts the enthusiasm that launched it.
Churches without a reserves policy tend to treat reserve funds inconsistently, drawing them down for reasons that were never intended.
Examine the evidence
Use Stewardship Nsites financial dashboard and statements, trailing 24 months, Current-year approved budget, and Reserve account balances to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by Runway calculation shown for baseline and both stress scenarios, and At least one ministry or staffing decision tested against the reduced-giving scenario. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Build a realistic, tested financial operating plan and a written reserves policy leadership can rely on. The Twelve-Month Forecast, Scenarios, and Reserves Policy produces the Twelve-month forecast, operating-runway calculation, three scenarios and draft Reserves Policy, which contributes to the module's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: What ministry decision currently on our table would I feel more confident about if I had already tested it against a reduced-giving scenario?
Key terms
- Operating runway: The number of months a church could sustain normal operations using current reserves if income stopped.
- Cash-flow forecast: A month-by-month projection of expected income and expenses used to anticipate shortfalls or surpluses before they occur.
- Reserves policy: A written statement of a church's target reserve level, the conditions for drawing on it, and how it will be replenished.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Building a budget once a year and never comparing it to the forecast or actuals again until the next annual cycle
- Approving new staff or programs based only on current giving without testing a reduced-giving scenario
- Holding reserves with no written policy, so the funds get spent on whatever feels urgent rather than what was intended
Ministry case — The Hire That Almost Wasn't Sustainable
A growing congregation was excited about adding a full-time youth pastor and had the cash on hand in the current month to cover the first year of salary. Before approving it, the finance committee ran the hire through a reduced-giving scenario and discovered that if giving dropped even ten percent, which had happened twice in the prior five years during a regional economic downturn, the church would need to draw its reserves down to less than one month of runway by the following summer.
Rather than canceling the hire, leadership used the scenario to negotiate a phased start date and identified two variable ministry expenses that could flex if giving softened, allowing them to move forward with genuine confidence instead of hope alone.
Lesson takeaway: A forecast tested against real scenarios turns budgeting from an annual guess into an ongoing tool for faithful, confident decision-making.
Exercise — Twelve-Month Forecast, Scenarios, and Reserves Policy (produces: Twelve-month forecast, operating-runway calculation, three scenarios and draft Reserves Policy)
Build a realistic, tested financial operating plan and a written reserves policy leadership can rely on.
- Build a month-by-month income and expense forecast for the next twelve months using historical seasonal patterns.
- Calculate current operating runway by dividing reserves by average monthly expenses.
- Model a baseline scenario using the forecast as built.
- Model a reduced-giving scenario using at least a fifteen percent income decrease.
- Model a ministry-expansion scenario including the full cost of a proposed new hire or program.
- Calculate resulting month-end cash position and runway for each scenario.
- Draft a written reserves policy stating a target runway range, draw-down conditions, and replenishment approach.
Worksheet columns: Month or scenario · Projected income · Projected expenses · Month-end cash position · Resulting runway (months)
Saves as you typeForecast and Scenario Planning Worksheet
Complete the Twelve-month forecast, operating-runway calculation, three scenarios and draft Reserves Policy here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Forecast and Scenario Planning Worksheet # Month or scenario Projected income Projected expenses Month-end cash position Resulting runway (months) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Riverside Grace Church (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 18/20)
Riverside Grace Church is a fictional congregation of about 275 attendees used to model a completed forecast and reserves policy.
Reserves Policy (draft): Riverside Grace Church targets four to six months of operating expenses in reserve. Reserves may be drawn upon for verified emergency facility repair or a documented, board-approved revenue shortfall. Any draw-down below the four-month floor triggers a mandatory twelve-month replenishment plan presented to the board within thirty days.
- The finance committee recommended delaying the youth hire start date by four months to allow reserves to build past the four-month runway target first.
- The board adopted a draft reserves policy targeting four to six months of operating runway, with any draw-down below four months requiring board notification and a replenishment plan within twelve months.
Riverside's team built a seasonally realistic forecast, tested all three required scenarios, and produced a specific, actionable reserves policy, though the ministry-expansion scenario could have modeled a second staffing option for comparison.
Discussion prompts
- Which scenario surprised us most, and why?
- What expenses would we need to flex first if giving dropped fifteen percent?
- Is our current reserves target realistic given our giving volatility?
- What ministry decision in front of us right now should be tested against these scenarios before we commit?
Reflection: What ministry decision currently on our table would I feel more confident about if I had already tested it against a reduced-giving scenario?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Lesson 4: Controls, Reporting, and Financial Action
What you will learn: Protect church assets and establish decision-ready reporting.
75 minutes · Pastor, treasurer, financial secretary or counting team lead, and a board member
Scripture lens — 1 Corinthians 4:2
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
King James Version (KJV) · Public domain
This verse ties faithfulness directly to being found trustworthy as a steward, and is proposed here to frame internal controls as protecting trust rather than expressing suspicion of any individual.
Materials and evidence you will use
- Written or informal description of the current counting and deposit process
- List of who currently has check-signing or approval authority
- Completed artifacts from lessons one through three
- Every process step documented by the person who performs it
- Every gap assigned a named owner and target date or adoption status
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to
- Every step of the offering-to-deposit-to-reporting process has been walked through and documented
- Every gap in separation of duties, counting, deposit, or approval has been named without assigning blame
- A remediation register exists with a named owner and target date for every identified gap
- Leadership can describe how the completed Church Financial Health and Stewardship Plan will be reviewed on a recurring basis
Study reading
Understand the concept
Your work in this lesson focuses on this outcome: Protect church assets and establish decision-ready reporting.
Strong controls protect faithful people as much as they protect church assets, and this final artifact completes the Church Financial Health and Stewardship Plan the module set out to build.
Why it matters for your church
A single point of control over offering counting or bank reconciliation exposes both the church and the volunteer to unnecessary risk.
Undocumented processes make it difficult to train new volunteers consistently or investigate discrepancies when they occur.
Without a recurring review cadence, even a well-built plan quickly goes stale and stops guiding real decisions.
Examine the evidence
Use Written or informal description of the current counting and deposit process, List of who currently has check-signing or approval authority, and Completed artifacts from lessons one through three to compare your church's present practice with its stated intentions. Look for documented patterns, missing information, and differences between what people assume and what the evidence supports.
Your completed work should be supported by Every process step documented by the person who performs it, and Every gap assigned a named owner and target date or adoption status. Record uncertainty honestly so your team knows what still needs to be verified.
Prepare for the shared exercise
Document actual financial handling practices, identify control gaps, and assign ownership for closing each one. The Internal Controls Walkthrough and Remediation Register produces the Internal Controls Walkthrough and Remediation Register, which contributes to the module's principal deliverable.
Before working with your team, consider this reflection: What is one control gap in our current process that, once named, seems obvious in hindsight, and why did it take this long to see it?
Key terms
- Separation of duties: Structuring financial tasks so that no single person controls a process from start to finish, reducing risk of error or misuse.
- Remediation register: A tracked list of identified control gaps, each with a recommended fix, an owner, and a target date.
- Approval threshold: A defined dollar amount above which an expense requires a second person's authorization before payment.
Failure patterns to avoid
- Assuming a long-tenured, trusted volunteer makes strong controls unnecessary
- Writing a controls policy once and never checking whether it is actually being followed
- Completing the financial plan for this module and never scheduling a follow-up review
Ministry case — A Fix That Cost Nothing
A small congregation discovered during its controls walkthrough that the same volunteer had counted the offering alone for over a decade out of long-standing trust and convenience, with no one questioning it because she was universally respected. The finance committee realized this exposed her personally to risk of suspicion far more than it protected the church.
The fix cost nothing: the church simply began rotating a second counter each week from a small trained pool of volunteers, which took less than a month to implement and immediately removed the single point of exposure for everyone involved, including the original volunteer, who reported feeling relieved rather than replaced.
Lesson takeaway: Strong controls protect faithful people as much as they protect church assets, and this final artifact completes the Church Financial Health and Stewardship Plan the module set out to build.
Exercise — Internal Controls Walkthrough and Remediation Register (produces: Internal Controls Walkthrough and Remediation Register)
Document actual financial handling practices, identify control gaps, and assign ownership for closing each one.
- Walk through every step money takes from receipt to reporting, in the order it actually happens.
- At each step, ask who is present, whether it is ever done by one person alone, and how quickly it happens.
- Document current approval thresholds and who reconciles the bank statement.
- Identify every point where separation of duties is missing or inconsistent.
- For each gap, record the risk it creates in plain language.
- Recommend a specific, low-cost fix for each gap where possible.
- Assign a named owner and target date to every fix on the register.
Worksheet columns: Process step · Gap identified · Risk created · Recommended fix · Owner and target date
Saves as you typeInternal Controls Walkthrough and Remediation Register
Complete the Internal Controls Walkthrough and Remediation Register here. Your answers are kept under your name and are waiting for you when you return.
Internal Controls Walkthrough and Remediation Register # Process step Gap identified Risk created Recommended fix Owner and target date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Saving keeps it private to you; submitting shares it with your coach and church panel.Worked sample — Harvest Point Church (illustrative example — not actual church data) (illustrative, scored 18/20)
Harvest Point Church is a fictional congregation of about 190 attendees used to model a completed controls walkthrough.
Remediation Register summary: three control gaps identified, none reflecting misconduct. All three now have named owners and target dates, with the approval-threshold fix already adopted by the board this meeting.
- The board formally adopted the $500 dual-approval threshold effective immediately.
- Grace T. was asked to build a rotating three-person counting schedule within thirty days.
Harvest Point's team documented the process thoroughly, framed every gap without blame, and produced specific, low-cost, owned fixes, with only the reconciliation review needing a firmer start date.
Discussion prompts
- Which control gap feels most urgent to fix, and why?
- Who will own bringing this full plan back to the board each quarter?
- What is the lowest-cost fix we could implement in the next two weeks?
- How will we know, six months from now, that this plan actually changed how we operate?
Reflection: What is one control gap in our current process that, once named, seems obvious in hindsight, and why did it take this long to see it?
Use these prompts to prepare your own response before the group discussion. Honest differences help the church identify where further work is needed.
Rate this module
Rate each area from 0 to 4 as the church is today, not as you hope it will be.
- 0 — Not Established: Nothing is in place for this area today.
- 1 — Emerging: Something has been started but it is informal and inconsistent.
- 2 — Developing: It works in parts of the church but is not documented or dependable.
- 3 — Established: It is documented, consistently followed and reviewed.
- 4 — Exemplary: It is a strength others could learn from, with evidence to prove it.
1. Reporting Reliability
Weighted 20% of the Money score.
What this represents: Monthly statements are produced on a fixed schedule, reconciled against bank records, and reviewed by leadership with documented questions and follow-up.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- No regular financial statements exist, or leadership cannot say when the reports were last produced or reconciled.
- 2 — Developing:
- Monthly statements are produced from Stewardship Nsites and reviewed by the treasurer, but the wider leadership team rarely sees them or asks questions.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Leadership reviews timely, reconciled statements every month against budget and trend, uses them to make specific ministry decisions, and can trace any figure back to its source in Stewardship Nsites.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
2. Giving Health
Weighted 20% of the Money score.
What this represents: Giving health is reviewed at least twice a year using aggregated, deidentified data, and findings inform stewardship teaching and follow-up.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- No one has looked at participation, average gift or recurring giving in the last year; giving is discussed only anecdotally.
- 2 — Developing:
- Basic giving metrics are calculated occasionally, but findings are not shared with leadership or connected to any generosity teaching plan.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Giving health is reviewed quarterly, trends in participation and lapsed giving trigger proactive pastoral and stewardship response, and generosity is taught as discipleship rather than fundraising.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
3. Budget and Cash-Flow Discipline
Weighted 20% of the Money score.
What this represents: A twelve-month cash-flow forecast is maintained, budget variances are reviewed monthly, and adjustments are made with leadership input.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- There is no written budget, or the budget bears no relationship to actual ministry spending.
- 2 — Developing:
- The budget is reviewed against actuals periodically, and a rough sense of cash position exists, but there is no forward-looking cash-flow forecast.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Leadership uses a rolling cash-flow forecast and scenario planning to make proactive ministry and staffing decisions well before a shortfall would occur.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
4. Controls and Compliance
Weighted 20% of the Money score.
What this represents: Documented controls cover counting, deposit, disbursement approval and periodic reconciliation, and are followed consistently by trained volunteers and staff.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- One person handles counting, depositing, recording and reporting money with no oversight from anyone else.
- 2 — Developing:
- Basic controls such as dual counting are documented and mostly followed, but approval thresholds and periodic review are inconsistent.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Controls are documented, followed, periodically tested by someone outside the finance process, and updated whenever a gap or near-miss is identified.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
5. Sustainability and Reserves
Weighted 20% of the Money score.
What this represents: A written reserves policy is adopted, reserves are tracked separately, and the church holds a meaningful, though not yet complete, operating-runway cushion.
Reference points for your rating
- 0 — Not established:
- The church has no reserves, no stated target, and would face an immediate crisis if income dropped for even one month.
- 2 — Developing:
- A reserves policy has been discussed but not formally adopted, and current reserves fall well short of even a minimal operating-runway target.
- 4 — Exemplary:
- Reserves meet or exceed the policy target, replenishment after use is automatic and monitored, and reserves are factored into every major ministry and staffing decision.
Use the closest reference point, then select 1 or 3 when your church falls between two descriptions.
90-day plan for Money
Name the first three moves, who owns each one and when it is due.
Completion checklist
- • All four lessons marked complete
- • All four exercises submitted
- • Required evidence uploaded
- • Named principal deliverable generated and approved
- • 90-day action plan created with owners and dates
- • Coach review recorded
0 of 4 exercises written · 0 of 5 areas rated
Pastor Lee Jenkins
3
Participant Workbook
Sample contents created by Allan Bell - CPA, CMA, MBA, for illustrative purposes.
What happens to these answers
Approval sits with people, not the software.
- Individual answers are held for the coach. Church reporting, board packs and the printed workbook show compiled scores and themes only.
- Nine M methodology, content, exercises and deliverables by Pastor Lee Jenkins.
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A partnership between Pastor Lee Jenkins, the Stewardship Coach, and Allan Bell - CPA, CMA, MBA, Nsites founder and creator.