Should A Church Treasurer Be Bonded?

Is it necessary to have a church treasurer be bonded?

Safety in Numbers

If you are not certain about whether your church should have the treasurer bonded or not, call a meeting and seek the counsel of the church leadership and membership because “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Prov 11:14) and again, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed” (Prov 15:22), so it’s wise to ask about this important issue to protect the church’s interests. There are others who run non-profits that work with huge budgets and so clearly, they will need to be bonded but the decision to have the church treasurer bonded or not depends a lot on the amount of money in the church treasury, the number of members there, if someone else must sign off on the checks (which is strongly recommended), and if they have the authority to write checks by themselves, perhaps with no one else’s knowledge in the church or non-profit.

Checkered Past

The church I am now pastoring at had a pastor (if he really ever was in the first place) years ago that simply robbed the church and we later discovered, that he continued to do that at other churches he went to until he was stripped of his pastorate. The church didn’t have any protective measures that could have prevented this tragic occurrence from happening. As it was, the pastor took almost all of the church’s money, except the small amount that was in their savings account, and it nearly destroyed the church. Today, this church is now growing again, the membership are supporting the church, and there is much more accountability today than before. This church learned the hard way that they should have had a checks and balances way of ensuring that any one person didn’t have control of all of the churches money, thus protecting it from wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Recommendations

I believe that a bonded treasurer adds assurance and gives comfort to the church leadership and membership in regards to their offerings and donations. It engages protective measures from someone taking advantage of the church. One way to do this is to make the checking account require two signatures; one place for the treasurer to sign and one for someone else on the church staff or in a position of leadership to sign. This can make the membership feel more confident in trusting the church treasurer with the church’s money.

Stewardship

We are all stewards, not just churches, and we will be held accountable for what we do with what we’ve been given. Some have been given much and some given little, but it is still the same principle no matter how much is involved. Jesus taught that “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much” (Luke 16:10) with His point being, “If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own” (Luke 16:11-12)? The fact is they probably wouldn’t be good stewards in the kingdom if they’re not good stewards with the little they have here on earth.

Conclusion

Churches are responsible, just as individuals are, with what they’ve been given and they too, particularly the church’s leadership, will be held responsible and accountable for how they spend the money that is the church’s and especially considering, this is Jesus Christ’s church, not ours. Church leadership must put in place those measures which are designed to protect the interests of the church because they will have to give an account someday before Christ.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.