The Stewardship & Finance (S&F) Ministry of Hope Church supports the Hope Church mission by providing oversight and guidance of the annual financial operations of the church. Some key activities include:
- We work with all of the other ministries to establish and propose an annual budget for the church. This includes establishing the timeline for the budgeting process, coordinating the annual stewardship campaign, and shepherding the budget through the Consistory and the congregational meeting for approvals.
- We establish and maintain procedures to ensure that the church’s financial activities are handled accurately and with transparency and integrity while also serving the mission of Hope Church.
- We carry-out the budget that is approved by the congregation.
- We do review a summary of financial performance on a monthly basis to ensure that there is appropriate cash available to fund operations and resolve questions that might arise from staff.
- We address finance-related topics that don’t currently have a procedure or method for handling special or unique situations.
- We maintain the “Hope Church Financial Policies and Procedures” manual.
- We periodically perform an audit of the books which includes a compliance review of established financial procedures to ensure everyone who deals with money in the church is following what is outlined in the policies and procedures manual. An audit has been scheduled for April 2018 by an outside auditor.
- We work closely with the Hope Capital Campaign team, acting as a ‘check and balance’ measure over the project budget.
The current members of the S&F Ministry include Fred VanDoornik (co-Chair), Tom Marthens, Kevin Rosenau (co-Chair). Pastors Jill and Gordon are ex-officio members; and the church Financial Administrator, Karla Kammeraad-Bos, also participates in our meetings. We anticipate that there will be openings on the S&F Ministry in the near future, and would encourage anyone who is interested to contact one of the current members. The time commitment is low (1-2 hours per month) for ministry members, and it’s not necessary to be an accountant or have a financial background.
Please continue to pray for this ministry and if you feel called to participate please let us know.
~Fred VanDoornik, Stewardship & Finance Ministry Co-chair