Church and Ministry Tax Q&A – Credit Card Rewards by Mark Helland

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Church and Ministry Tax Q&A – Credit Card Rewards
Mark Helland, CPA

Mark Helland, CPA is a partner with the public accounting firm of Elliott, Dozier and Helland, PC (www.edhcpa.com) which is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mark specializes in audit, outsourced accounting and tax related issues for church and ministry clients across the United States. To obtain additional information on these services for your church or ministry, Mark can be contacted via email at [email protected] or by phone at (918) 627-2286.

Mark HellandQuestion: Is it okay to use air miles and points that were accumulated based on ministry-paid purchases or travel, and redeem those miles and points for personal items or trips in the future? Also, is this considered to be taxable income?

While almost all areas of tax law can tend to be confusing, this subject is particularly murky and conflicting as you research it. Following are some of the key things that you need to know in the area.

Credit Card Reward Considerations for Individuals

There are several different categories of “credit card rewards." The first category is “points” that are generated based on the purchase volume on your credit card. This category of credit card reward is viewed by the IRS as a purchase discount and is not considered to be taxable income. For example, if your credit card’s program provides 2% cash back, that would be considered a 2% discount on your purchases. Again, “discounts” are not taxable, so you do not need to keep track of your cash back credit card rewards for tax time.

Travel rewards such as air miles are potentially a different animal though. Travel rewards are not considered to be a “discount” and when cashed in for travel, the value of an airline trip can be quantified. The credit card issuer in theory, could then reported the value of this travel to you via an IRS Form 1099-MISC. However, if your credit card issuer does not disclose that your rewards will be reported to the IRS and you do not receive a 1099, then you do not have to worry about reporting your travel rewards.

Another category of credit card reward is the initial sign-up bonus. With the introduction of large signup bonuses on credit cards, some credit card issuers have added disclosures to the credit card agreement that the sign-up bonus may be considered taxable income. Generally speaking, this may be the case if you receive over $600 back in rewards. If this is the case, you may or may not (depending on the issuer) receive an IRS Form 1099-MISC that you will need to report on your income tax return. It is important to note that that this could apply to more than just cash rewards received for initial sign-up bonuses. In other words, air miles received for an initial sign-up bonus could also be quantified and a 1099 could be issued for these as well.

Credit Card Reward Considerations for “Business”

As noted above, while most personal credit card rewards will not be subject to tax, “business” rewards in the context of a church or ministry are another animal entirely. For example, if your church or ministry purchases an item for $600, and gets a credit card rebate of $15, only $585 can be deducted for the cost of the item as a business expense. In other words, the $15 discount is not necessarily considered income, but it is a reduction of your deduction. This is not so much an issue for churches and ministries that do not pay income tax anyway, but it is important to note that the church or ministry needs to receive the cash rewards. In other words, if you are using a business card in the name of the church or ministry, then the cash back should be received by the church or ministry.

However, if you are using your personal credit card to make business-related purchases and then getting reimbursed by your employer, cash back rewards will not be considered taxable income by the IRS. This means the IRS won’t pursue you for underreporting income by earning rewards on business-related purchases at this time.

A final word on all of these issues that is more of a personal commentary on the subject is this – keep in mind that stewardship of your church or ministry is also an issue here. In my opinion, if the purchases made by your church or ministry generated the reward points or air travel, in my opinion the church or ministry should get the benefit of these rewards. In other words, if a free flight is generated, it should be used for something that has a ministry purpose. Even if the travel is used for say, a trip to Israel that has both a personal and ministry purpose, it would seem to me that this would be acceptable. What I do not think is acceptable is using free air travel (that was earned with church or ministry purchases) to go on a family vacation to Orlando. I just don’t think this could be explained away to donors and there is also the overriding issue of private inurement. I have written previously on private inurement and this is an area that you want to make sure to stay clear of at all cost. As always, feel free to contact on this issue for more help if any questions or concern may arise.

The Lesson of His Lineage

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The Lesson of His Lineage
Rev. Tony Cooke

Tony CookeWe all know about Joseph and Mary, the Inn of Bethlehem, the shepherds, the star, and the wise men. They’re all part of the wonderful story we remember and tell this time of year. There’s more to the story, though. Obscure and often overlooked, buried in Matthew’s genealogy and leading up to the birth of Christ are four women.

Matthew 1:1-6
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: 2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

Most Christians don’t get excited about the genealogies; they are the sections of Scripture that we typically skim over. But there’s something very unique about the inclusion of these four women. It was not customary in those days for women to be a part of such listings. As a matter of fact, women then had little or no legal rights, and were merely the possession of their fathers or husbands.

Consider these four women—all ancestors of Jesus—that Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, included in his Gospel:

Tamar (Genesis 38)

This woman was married to one of the sons of Judah. Her husband died, leaving her childless. She married his brother (according to a custom of that day), but he died, also leaving her childless. Judah told her to wait for his youngest son, but really had no intention of having them marry (he probably considered her to be “bad luck,” the cause of his first two sons’ deaths).

Tamar then posed as a prostitute and had a sexual encounter with Judah, her father-in-law. Another of Jesus’ ancestors (Perez) was born of this illicit act.

Rahab

A Cannanite woman and a prostitute in Jericho. However, she came to recognize Jehovah as the true God, saved the Hebrew spies, and through faith, found the favor of God and became a part of God’s covenant people. She said, “…the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11).

The “scarlet cord” she tied in her window to bring safety and deliverance to her family is considered to be a type of the blood of Christ (Joshua 2:15-21).

Rahab is listed in the great “Hall of Faith” (Hebrews 11:31) and is also mentioned by James as an example of faith (James 2:25). Rahab later married an Israelite and became an ancestress not only to Jesus, but (according to rabbinic tradition), an ancestress to eight of Israel’s prophets, including Jeremiah.

Ruth

A woman of Moab, a despised and outcast people. The Moabites and the Ammonites had their origin through incest when Lot’s two daughters got their father drunk and became pregnant by him (Genesis 19:30-37).

Deuteronomy 23:3 says, "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever…”

Though not part of the commonwealth of Israel, Ruth displayed courageous love and unshakeable loyalty (Ruth 1:16-17), became the great-grandmother of King David, and took her place in the lineage of Christ.

Bathsheba

The woman David had an adulterous affair with before he put her husband, Uriah, to death. After marrying David, she became the mother of Solomon, and like the other women mentioned, is an ancestress of Jesus.

What is amazing is that Matthew made no attempt to cover any of this up! The Bible doesn’t “candy coat” the facts. Instead, he highlighted these four women in an age when women were typically ignored. Further, he neglected to mention any of the other women in Jesus’ lineage, even “respectable women” such as Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah.

William Barclay said of these four women, “If Matthew had ransacked the pages of the Old Testament for improbable candidates he could not have discovered four more incredible ancestors for Jesus Christ. But, surely, there is something very lovely in this. Here at the very beginning of the gospel we are given a hint of the all-embracing width of the love of God. God can find his servants amongst those from whom the respectable orthodox would shudder away in horror.”

Perhaps the very reason that these were included was to demonstrate the great mercy and grace of our God. The Heavenly Father may have been communicating to all of humanity: “It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what matters is where you’re going. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, what matters is what you’re doing.”

I enjoy the trees and the lights and all the festivities of the season, but the true beauty of Christmas is not found in any of these. It’s found in the eternal fact that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

All through history, God has sought us. Even when our attitudes and actions were against Him, He was for us. When we were at our very worst, God gave us His very best!

The Good News Is that Once…

Ephesians 2:12-14, 17-18
12 “you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Jesus has broken down the wall of separation!

  • The outsiders have become insiders.
  • Rejected ones have been accepted.
  • People who were put down have been lifted up.
  • Those that were cast out have been brought in.
  • The forsaken have been embraced.

Galatians 3:28 (The Message)
28 In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.

All of this really is about barriers coming down. William Barclay articulated these three points:

  1. The barrier between Jew and Gentile is down. Rahab, the woman of Jericho, and Ruth, the woman of Moab, find their place within the pedigree of Jesus Christ. Already the great truth is there that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. Here, at the very beginning, there is the universalism of the gospel and of the love of God.
  2. The barriers between male and female are down. In no ordinary pedigree would the name of any woman be found; but such names are found in Jesus’ pedigree. The old contempt is gone; and men and women stand equally dear to God, and equally important to his purposes.
  3. The barrier between saint and sinner is down. Somehow God can use for his purposes, and fit into his scheme of things, those who have sinned greatly.I came, said Jesus, Not to call the righteous, but sinners; Matthew 9:13.

We can have hope, realizing that if God can embrace and use people such as Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, then God can embrace and use us. Moses had murdered a man. Peter denied Christ. Even Paul had committed great sin.

1 Timothy 1:12-16 (NLT)
12 How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for considering me trustworthy and appointing me to serve him, 13 even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14 Oh, how kind and gracious the Lord was! He filled me completely with faith and the love of Christ Jesus. 15 This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — and I was the worst of them all. 16 But that is why God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

Satan desires to use shame in our lives to keep us from God. Some Christians have been legally forgiven of their sin, but they haven’t been experientially delivered from shame.

  • Shame over things we’ve done.
  • Shame over things others have done to them. People who are abused or abandoned often “internalize” it and feel inferior and condemned – what happened affects their sense of self-worth and becomes a part of their identity.

“Shame is a spin-off from guilt. We may feel guilty for what we did, but we feel ashamed of who we are.”
– Dr. Les Parrott

We know that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary – born of a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. But naturally speaking, Jesus had a lineage, a genealogy, and Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gave us that genealogy. He highlighted four women in particular, something that was very uncommon.

I believe the Holy Spirit wanted us to know that Jesus did not come from a perfect line of people. He did not come into a perfect world to save perfect people.

Jesus came from a lineage of imperfect people, fallen people. He came into a world of sinners to save sinners. He came to break down the wall of separation and make us one in Him.

  • One in forgiveness.
  • One in righteousness.
  • One in acceptance.

Because of Jesus, we can celebrate and experience the reality of Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…

See How Much the Father Has Loved Us by Lisa Cooke

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Among the many things I’m thinking about this holiday season is this mind-blowing truth that the God of all creation has called us His children. I am “beholding what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us” as the King James translates this verse. To behold is to see, “to feast your eyes on,” and what I want to be able to see with the eyes of my understanding is the grand meaning of His love toward us. …read more

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How to Be Abased and How to Abound

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Paul said, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound” (Philippians 4:12). To be honest, I get really uncomfortable when church finances are tight. I’m not sure I’ve learned how to be abased and also be content. Also, I’d love to get some insight as to how to handle money very wisely and strategically when it does come in abundance. Can pastors advise me on how to be a steady, proficient, and wise steward in both lean times and in times of abundance.

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The Tithe is Holy by Glen Johnson

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The Tithe is Holy
Glen Johnson

Over 25 years ago, Glen Johnson founded Faith Center Church in Vancouver, WA.
The Vision of Faith Center is to reach our generation with the “Message of Victory!” Pastor Glen attended Rhema Bible Training Center and graduated with his ministry degree 1981. He has spoken at numerous Pastor and Leadership Conferences throughout the United States and the Philippines. Pastor Glen has made 13 visits to the Philippines and feels a real call from God to partner with pastors in the Philippines as well as here in the States. Pastor Glen married Theresa 25 years ago. They have one son, Joel, who is currently enrolled in Rhema Bible Training Center. Pastor Glen loves to golf, ride Harleys and spend time with family and friends. This article is an excerpt from Pastor Glen’s book by the same title. The book can be ordered by contacting the church.

Tithe is HolyOn January 26, 2010 at 1:15am, I suddenly woke up from a deep sleep and God spoke four words very loud and clear in my heart, “THE TITHE IS HOLY!”

When He spoke the words, immediately revelation began to come and scriptures began to open up to me. Things I thought I understood before began making even more sense and were revealed in me.

We, as parents, want our children blessed abundantly. We know that God is a God of abundance and He wants to see His children blessed as well.

Religion makes us feel that God is out to get us. In this assumption the world doesn’t always look at God as a loving father, but as if He is just sitting up in Heaven waiting for us to make one wrong move, and then He will zap us.

That doesn’t sound like a God of abundance or of blessings! Let’s put our faith into action and begin believing that God has more for us.

Maybe it’s time to try something bigger, act bigger, and believe for abundant blessings. He has more than enough to provide for us as His children. We just have to renew our mind to how big He is and not settle for less! God wants to bless us!!!

When the Lord spoke those four words to me, understanding began to flow into me like a computer download from heaven. I began to see clearly what He meant, and how we have made the tithe, in some ways, unholy.

And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord.
-Leviticus 27:30

I began to understand that there are two ways that we have made the tithe unholy: (1) by refusing to tithe because of doctrinal issues, budget, rebellion, or fear and (2) we don’t worship God with our tithe; it just gets thrown into a bucket, with very little thought.

Maybe doctrinally speaking, we disagree with tithing. Maybe we have blown our budget so bad that if we tithed, we couldn’t pay our house payment. Maybe we are in rebellion and decide that we aren’t going to obey the Lord no matter what He wants us to do. Maybe we’re afraid that if we tithe, we won’t have enough money left for other things.

So the number one way that we keep the tithe unholy is by refusing to do it. The Bible said that the tithe is the Lord’s, and it is holy to Him.

An Acceptable Sacrifice

Next, I saw that the way we tithe has been unholy. We’ve just been throwing it in the bucket or offering plate. We haven’t been worshipping God with our tithe. I began to go back and study the Bible in earnest on tithes and offerings. One of those scriptures that flooded over me when God spoke to me was:

Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.
-Philippians 4:15-18

I have read that scripture dozens of times, yet something I had never seen before jumped out at me. Notice it says, “A sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice…” If there is an acceptable sacrifice that must mean that there is an unacceptable sacrifice. So can we give an offering as an unacceptable sacrifice to the Lord? In Genesis 4:1-7, we see the story of Cain and Abel. In vs. 5, it says, God did not respect Cain or his offering. Cain’s offering was unacceptable to God. Scripture isn’t clear on why this was so but it is very clear that Abel’s offering was acceptable and Cain’s was not. Keeping our tithe holy will assure us of making our offer- ing’s acceptable to God.

But when you give it as an acceptable sacrifice, Philippians 4:19, says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Read that verse again — He will meet our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That does not mean He’ll meet our need “according to the great world recession that is going on.” No, it says “ac- cording to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!” If it doesn’t work in the area of finances, then why would I believe it for salvation? But it does work!

We Changed the Process

I began to see how we had been giving the tithe in an unholy manner. After worship the congregation would sit down, we’d do the announcements, then it was time to take the offering. I would talk about giving and receiving for a minute, then we’d pass the buckets.

Then the video announcements would come up, and during the time that the tithe was being received, people would text on their phones, talk to their neighbor, or go to the bathroom. We were acting like the offering time was over after I talked about it, and then just came “the collection” part of the offering, which we did very casually.

But as I began to look in the Bible about tithing, I saw some things. I thought to myself, “What if we took communion the same way we’ve been receiving the offering?” If we took communion and people were talking to each other, texting on their phones, and going to the bathroom, you would say, “That’s crazy! That’s out of order! This is holy communion!”

And notice: the Bible doesn’t say anywhere that communion is holy. But it does say that the tithe is holy.

After I saw that, we changed the whole process in our church of how we took the offering. Sometimes we put the buckets up front. Not because it’s somehow holier up on the platform than it is in the chairs, but because we want the giving of our tithes and offerings to be a time of worship to the Lord. We go right from our worship time of singing praises to God to talking about giving to God. As we collect the tithes and offerings, we continue worshipping and people bring them to the front worshipping the Lord as they come.

Families are joining together as a family unit, either in their chairs or in the front, as they pray and present their offering to the Lord. Single people are joining other single people and presenting their offering together. People are now standing at the alter praying over their precious seed they are presenting to the Lord. It is no longer a bill being thrown into the bucket and then talking to your neighbor about their upcoming week, or where they want to go to lunch, but it is now truly a part of worship to the Lord.

 

Tell Your Money Where to Go by Dale Marples

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Tell Your Money Where to Go
Dale Marples

Dale Marples and his wife, Betty Jo, are ordained through Rhema Bible Training Center and had been pastors for 24 years before retiring in 2010. They pioneered 3 churches during that time. Dale has a degree from the University of Nebraska in Business Administration and Finance. After serving as an officer and pilot in the U.S. Air Force he became a National Bank Examiner and Executive Officer in banking for 25 years. Dale also was Director of Treasury and Budget for the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association for several years.

Today Dale has a consulting company, CFO Omaha, Inc., which provides financial management solutions for companies and churches and prepares business plans and financial proposals. He has also developed a financial seminar for pastors, staff members and church boards entitled "Church Finances 911" which is designed to enable church leaders to be good stewards of the finances that have been entrusted to them and to establish a financially sound and stable church.

Contact Information: [email protected] • www.cfoomaha.com • (402) 502-2255

Tell Your Money Where to GoSeveral years ago there was a commercial on television which said, “It’s 10:00 O’clock. Do you know where your children are?” If we move that into the realm of your church finances, we could restate it this way:  “It’s the end of the year. Do you know where your money went?”

Money seems to have a mind of its own and will go where it wants to go unless you have a plan, tell it where to go. As we quickly approach the end of the year, it is time to be planning for next year. Actually, I suggest this process begin not later than November 1st so you have time to gather all your information, make your plan and revise it several times so it accurately lays out a plan for the coming year. If you wait until the last few weeks you end up doing a hurried budget and it is not as accurate as it should have been. That results in a flawed financial road map for the coming year.

When I was an Air Force pilot, every flight we took required several hours of planning before we ever got into the airplane. We were given the mission of that flight and then it was up to us to lay out the plan to accomplish the mission. I was flying a KC-135 which is an aerial refueler, so, our mission planning was not only for just our airplane, but that bomber we were going to refuel was dependent upon us being at the refueling point at the appointed time and that we had sufficient jet fuel to transfer to him so he could continue his mission.

Now, you may ask, what does my church budget have to do with you’re planning to fly an airplane. I’m glad you asked, because it has everything to do with your planning your church budget. Maybe mine was a little more critical because an error could mean not being able to meet the mission requirement, or in an extreme, could result in a plane crash or even a death.

But there is a strong parallel. In my case, the local Air Force commander would give me the mission requirements but in your case, it is God who is giving you the mission requirements. And you are accountable to God for accomplishing those requirements. You have been called by God to preach the Gospel, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captive and set the people free. God has put you in your specific location to do the work there that He wants accomplished. So, you must use the resources available and go forth and do the work that is set before you. I hope you see how critical your mission planning is to accomplish all the mission requirements of your calling. Because, failing to do so could result in people dying spiritually and spend eternity in hell. So, let’s look at what the planning process entails.

To begin with, you, as the pastor, need to spend time with God listening to Him so you have His vision for the coming year. There will probably be changes to what you did last year. There may be new outreach projects or events you want to hold at the church building. Maybe you will stop some projects you did last year. As you listen, Holy Spirit will reveal God’s plan to you. And that is the plan you need to budget for in the coming year. What I want you to see is that the coming year is not just a carbon copy of last year. It is a unique year, God has a plan so you are responsible to hear that plan and then plan specifically for it.

To start with, gather all your department heads and other leadership together and pray for the plan that God has for next year. This is not your plan or your leaderships’ plan. It is God’s, so you need to hear it from Him. All of you have to be hearing the same plan and the only way to do that is to pray together about it.

Have each of your department heads prepare a list of their needs. That would be based on the number of people involved in their department and the activities they plan for next year. For example, if it is the elementary children’s department, the director would consider the cost of materials, crafts, treats, equipment, videos, vacation bible school, special events and any other creative ideas they have. Every department should go through this process.

When they present their budget to you, it should be in sufficient detail so you can understand what they are requesting, so you can analyze whether or not they have covered everything that you want accomplished. You should discuss their budget with them so that you both understand the details of their budget. Your discussion may result in adding items or making cuts. Just because they had prepared a budget doesn’t mean that it is automatically approved. You as the pastor are responsible to insure that the mission is accomplished and resources are used efficiently.

When you have all of the department budgets, all of the events & projects that God has shown you incorporated into the expense side of your budget, then you start looking at the income. Your income is not whatever it takes to balance the expenses although there are churches that do it that way. That is planning for failure. The income must be based on history you have from your current year plus what you believe you can do in the coming year.

During the current year you should have been recording weekly the number of adults and children in attendance, each with their own total. You should have also been recording your weekly offering and special incomes in separate totals so you know how much is coming in each week for church operation and how much is coming in for special funds or events. If you have done this, then you know the average of how much money comes in weekly from each adult. This is the number you base your budget upon. If you have 200 adults for example, and they average $60. per week, then you could project an annual income of $624,000 from those 200 adults. If you believe you can add 50 more adults in the coming year, and then based on your history of last year, you could add $156,000 to your income. Notice, I am talking adults and not families or children. Families have either 1 or 2 adults, and children do not contribute to the general fund. Their offerings always end up in the children’s fund or some special account.

After you have an income amount that is based on solid information, then, and only then, do you compare it to your expenses. If they match, that’s great. If you have an excess of income, that is fantastic, so you can consider additional projects or start a building fund. But if your expenses exceed your income, then you have to go back through all the department budgets and make adjustments in order to reduce the expenses to equal the income.

This is a detailed job, but it is necessary if you are going to run your church on a solid financial base. Remember, if the financial base of your church is weak, the entire structure is weak. You have to operate your church like a business so you can protect the ministry activity.

If you have properly planned your budget for the coming year, then when next year is winding down, you can say you know where your money went because you controlled it and directed it to serve the Kingdom of God. Well done, good and faithful servant.

If you have any questions about this information I am Dale Marples and you can go to my website: www.marplesministries.org, or you can contact me at: [email protected].

 

Assuming the Leadership Role by Dr. Dan Beller

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Assuming the Leadership Role: The Journey from Chaplain to Pastor
Dr. Dan Beller

Click here to read Dr. Beller’s bio.

Assuming LeadershipWhile the new pastor may be the leader by position, he may not in actuality be the true leader of the church. Many pastors function as “chaplains” (pastor without proper Biblical authority); that is, they perform the “priestly functions” such as preaching, performing weddings, funerals, baptisms, etc. They are available when needed, whereas a pastor who is the true leader is the one to whom the people look for direction. He is out front showing the way and the people follow. Most pastors begin as “Chaplains” and move toward being the true leader (pastor with proper Biblical authority). This process is often painful and will sometimes take five or more years (much shorter if the pastor is the founder of a new church).

It is good for a new pastor to realize that he is dealing with basically two groups in the local church: The “pioneers,” the members who were in the church before the pastor was assigned to the church, and the “homesteaders,” those who were added to the church after the pastor was assigned. The “homesteaders” identify with the present pastor and will follow him more readily. The “pioneers” are more reserved until the present pastor “proves himself.

The following are some observations and suggestions to help make the transition easier. (1) He may be happy and fulfilled just to remain “chaplain.” (2) He may plant a new church, with the mother church plan, and go and pastor it. (3) He can perhaps get permission from the “old guard” privately and initiate certain things. He must consult with those who have “veto power.” (4) He must not try to destroy those in control or he will probably destroy his own influence.

In the process of transition from chaplain to leader, there must be an exercise of much prayer and wisdom. If there is a “patriarch” (male Spiritual leader) or “matriarch” (female Spiritual leader) in the church he must spend time with that person and get backing for those things he hopes to accomplish. If a deacon and wife have great influence in the church the pastor must communicate properly with them and pray for their support and backing. If there is a rich person in the church who has strong influence, and even “veto power,” the pastor can teach on the subject of having a proper motive and attitude in giving. He should teach that the Lord’s tithes and offerings should be given without strings attached or ulterior motives.

Here are some definite steps a pastor can take in making the transition from “chaplain” to “pastor”: (1) Begin as chaplain. (2) Realize that the new people will see you as the leader. (3) Remember that the “pioneers” are won to the new pastor slowly and perhaps one at a time. He must watch for their words of acceptance and may have to prove in several ways that he does really love them. Sometimes they can be insecure because of past hurts. The new pastor must be willing to wait for an opportunity to win these “pioneers,” usually during a time of crisis. This may be during a time when they are sick, have marriage or home problems, economic problems, have had great disappointments, or at the death of a loved one. (4) Build personal credibility by caring, being consistent and being ethical. (5) Deal with the “pioneers” lovingly, as elders. (6) Teach that the local church ministry should be based on God-given gifts, talents, and abilities, as opposed to “seniority.”  Discourage elections, as such, and lead the people toward appointments of leadership positions based on their gifts and abilities. (7) Expect the majority backing of the church within five years. Do not resign under pressure and leave the majority who are supporting you just because of a disgruntled minority who are against you.

Additional note – The pastor must lead the church to grow. He must set the priorities on growth and refuse to allow other “good” things to pull the church away from its commitment to growth. This is the starting point – if the pastor is not committed to leading the church to growth, most likely growth will not occur. For some pastors this price is too high to pay. They will busy themselves maintaining the programs of the church and doing many other “good” things that do not produce growth.