Puzzled About Church Budget

Submitted by Bill Spangler, Pastor

CHURCH FAMILY BUDGET 2020

The Sylvan Lake Church has developed a “puzzling approach” to raising church budget funds. Each year, after the budget is voted, a puzzle is used to keep track of how steady those funds are coming in.

Two identical puzzles are assembled (in case pieces get lost), and a spreadsheet determines the amount to be applied to each piece. That amount is recorded on each puzzle piece and also traced onto a display board. Church members then select puzzle pieces reflecting the amounts they choose, and as they bring their offerings from month to month, they also deposit the corresponding piece into the church envelope, and that piece is displayed on the board.

Pictured above to the left is the puzzle we nearly completed in 2019. On the right is the puzzle we have in 2020 and how far we had advanced before we closed for the Coronavirus guidelines. Many pieces are ready to be included when we update what has been received since then.

The church members like this approach and check the puzzle week by week to see how we are advancing. The use of the puzzles has resulted in a 17% increase in giving toward the church family budget as people work to see a complete picture emerge by the end of the year.