Church of God to Participate in Lilly Endowment Initiative
In an historic move, the Church of God has received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of its National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders.
Throughout its history, the Church of God has traditionally placed more emphasis on financial assistance to local church congregations than on personal financial assistance for the pastor.
However, following years of research, Lilly Endowment based this national initiative on the following premise: “When funds are used directly to help alleviate the financial challenges pastoral leaders face, and programs are designed to enhance the financial literacy and management skills of pastoral leaders, local churches are blessed with better financial health and have a greater impact on the community.”
The grant will:
• Help the denomination develop a training program for effective pastoral fiscal leadership that includes laity (such as church treasurers, council members, and elders).
• Enable the denomination to create the Lilly Ministerial Excellence Fund, which will help pastors reduce financial pressures. Pastors must agree to be mentored and trained in financial management and biblical stewardship.
• Require the denomination to match $500,000 to be given away through the Lilly Ministerial Excellence Fund during the three-year initiative.
• Support the denomination in researching the best practices in church financial management and stewardship.
This project presents to the denomination a substantial challenge: how to find 300 pastors dealing with personal financial stress, who will be meaningfully blessed with a gift of $3,000, and be willing to be trained in financial management and biblical stewardship. But in the end, the church is confident that the Lord will direct the initiative in a manner that it will be a great blessing to pastoral leaders and, ultimately, to the congregations He has placed under their care.
General Overseer Tim Hill and the International Executive Committee have appointed Dr. H. Lynn Stone, an experienced and long-time pastoral leader, administrator, and educator, to serve as the project director for the initiative.
Since commitments have already been made to support the Ministry Excellence Fund, the immediate focus of the project will be to establish the structure, initiate a financial-management mentoring program, and develop a training program for pastoral leaders throughout the United States which will interweave seamlessly with the Church of God FINISH Commitment.
Assisting the project director will be members of the Steering Committee, composed of Art Rhodes, Bill Isaacs, Bill Jaber, Clayton Watson, David Ray, Don Bennett, Dwain Pyeatt, Enrique De Jesús, Jayson VanHook, Oliver McMahan, Raymond Hodge, Robin Cole, and Veva Rose.
Initially, the priority goal is to have promotional materials and website applications available by September 1, 2017.
After this three-year national initiative is completed in the United States, it is hoped that the model can be used in other countries in order to address financial challenges facing pastoral leaders around the world.
