OUTGOING TREASURER ANDREW SMITH REVEALS WHAT A ST NICOLAS CHURCH TREASURER DOESOne of the qualities I admire about St Nic's is the very ambitious agenda we set for ourselves. We work hard as a church to serve. Ours is not a "just on Sundays" sort of place. At each life stage we have ministries targeted to build, encourage and transform. Almost every day - from before sunrise to well after sunset - our Church is at work extending God's kingdom. Yet our care extends further. Without hesitation we stand behind and support a number of projects and initiatives that stretch beyond our day-to-day ministry commitments at St Nic's. Making all this happen requires God's grace. It also requires the time, talent and commitment of our people. Yet, in this modern age, and perhaps somewhat disappointingly, it requires significant financial resources if we are to be successful, which, not surprisingly, leads us to the role of the Church Treasurer. As the name suggests, the treasurer deals with the management, control and accounting of our church revenue and expenditure. At first, this may all sound rather dull and boring, hardly the place where any energetic church member would wish to get involved. However, a quick review of the various functions and activities suggests that this role sits right at the heart of our church, which when supported by the incredible group of people on the Finance Committee, has a busy agenda to deliver: Control and financial management of annual outgoings of approximately £350,000 and assets of nearly £1 million (excluding the church hall and buildings); Working with clergy, the churchwardens and the PCC to ensure that all key decisions are properly funded; Working with office staff tocoordinate the day-to-daymanagement of the expenditure of the church; Helping to decide on key prioritieswithin the church and sometimes having to make the tough recommendations when budgets nolonger add up or cannot be stretched further; Working to set the 1 - 3 year forward view of our church and to ensure that our ministry priorities match up with our financial resources; Managing the financial andcommercial risks faced by our church; and Liaison and coordination with theDiocese and the Deanery, particularly budget setting.
Putting it all together, it is a very fulfilling role seeing things get done; it is a challenging role (sometimes we just have to say no!) and it is an important team role. This is no back room job. Rather, even though I work all around the world and am never in Newbury during the week, being the Church Treasurer has allowed me to serve and assist in extending God's kingdom here at home, where more traditional contributions would be extremely limited. If you would like to learn more, then drop me a note at treasurer@st-nicolas-newbury.org Andrew Smith |
