Supracultural Principle 48 - Leadership Accountability

BIBLICAL BASIS

I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me. -1 Corinthians 16:3-4

Though Paul was doing the planning regarding this collection, he would not handle the money personally. He exhorted the Corinthians to raise the funds and to store the gift until he arrived. Then they were to choose people they trusted to trans­port the offering. True to form, Paul wanted to be above reproach in all respects so no one could accuse him of raising this money to benefit himself. Not only would he never take what did not belong to him, he would never engage in any activity that could he misinterpreted ­either by Christians or non-Christians. What a powerful lesson for all Christian leaders today.

Supracultural Principle 48

LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABILITY

Those who handle and distribute money given to God's work should be above reproach and should be held accountable.

What an important principle in today's world, when some promi­nent leaders in the church have been guilty of misappropriating funds. In applying this principle, we would do well to follow Paul's model:

First, Christian leaders who receive money directly to meet their own needs should set up a plan whereby they do not handle the money personally without a careful reporting and accounting system. They should never make decisions on their own regarding the amounts they receive.

Second, more than one person should be selected to handle the money for God's work. These people should be approved by those who know them to be men and women of integrity. God estab­lished this principle early in Israel's history, when leaders were appointed to assist Moses. The people were to "select capable men from all the people-men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain" (Exodus 18:2 1; see also Deuteronomy 1:13). Later, those selected to be deacons in the church (men and women in serving roles) were to be individuals who did not and would not pursue "dishonest gain" (1 Timothy 3:8). They were to he "worthy of respect" (1 Timothy 3:8).

In our own church, we have set up a system whereby multiple trustworthy individuals process and record our offerings. These reports, with the money, are sealed in a locked bag and delivered to our bookkeeper, who again counts the offerings and compares those totals with the initial reports. All reports are then filed in a permanent record, and the income is deposited in our local bank. No staff pastor handles offerings directly, and the staff person who does the final processing is protected from any accusation of dis­honesty.

Whatever system your church sets up, this supracultural bibli­cal principle should be applied: those who handle and distribute money should be above reproach in all respects and should be held accountable.

Extracted from Dr Gene Getz’s Rich in Every Way