Church Treasurer

The money is neither his nor the church's. It is God's. All these ownership claims in churches start more problems than anything else. If the printer purchase can fit in the budget there is no need to micro manage the issue. If it is outside of the budget then it will require more consultation. Be careful not to let a printer become a source of division.

 

May God continue to guide and give you wisdom.

 

Just my .02 on this.

I get that you are trying to do the right thing for your church, but it seems to me that you are the only one complaining. Unless I missed it in a post, noone else sees this as a problem. Each church culture is different. Some churches are very pastor-centered, others committee-centered, and others congregation-centered. While I personally consider congregational leadership in financial affairs to be the most Biblical, all of these models hae been implemented successfully in various churches.

My point here is not to be critical of you. I think that you are standing on good principles, but your church may feel that this Pastor is of trustworthy character and does not mind him taking a determinative role in the finances. Make sure that you are not stirring up a situation that noone is troubled by.

Second, I am troubled by some of the implications on this board that this pastor is not above board. Clearly, he does not seem to be in this for the money. He seems to regularly pay for things out of his own pocket that many other pastors have provided by their church. I can tell you that if my printer went down, our church would replace it by the end of the week...I say this only to make the point that he was not asking something absurd. Plus, I believe the OP insinuated that in the past, the pastor had personally paid for the church printer, but that at the present time he just could not afford to. Note: he was also regularly purchasing the snacks for the children's program? This certainly does not sound like a man looking to take advantage of the church.

Like many on here, I have served as the pastor of a small church, thus I know the difficulties of a tight budget. I remember when I had to purchase the computer for the Pastor study because the church couldn't. I remember a volunteer music minister buying choir music because there was no money. Frankly, this is part of life in the small church. To me, it sounds like your pastor is fine with this provided he simply has the money to pay it himself...some weeks he may not...that is completely understandable.

As for his belief that he is over the money, I have seen many with this attitude and though I do not agree with it, it seems as if your church culture accepts this view.