Charles Lee

As many of you know, I pastor New Hope South Bay, a church run primarily on volunteer leadership. In other words, all but one (a person who does maintenance and some bookkeeping) on our staff/leadership work outside of the church to sustain life and ministry. Our primary reason for this structure is founded in our desire to see the majority of our funds go outward towards those in need around the world, both locally and globally.

This philosophy of ministry allows us to invest and develop initiatives and projects that a normal church our size could not. I really hope that we get to a place where close to 80%+ of our offerings would go towards things outside of facility costs and salaries. I think we are headed in the right direction.

Is it difficult? Yes!

Is it worth it? Most definitely!

In light of this structure, some of have asked me of late about my thoughts about church finances. The following is a great pdf article written by Ray Mayhew entitled, “EMBEZZLEMENT: THE CORPORATE SIN OF
CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIANITY? – An Examination of How Local Congregations in the Early Church Spent
Their Money and the Implications for Us Today.”

This is a lengthy article that is well worth reading if you are interested in this topic. Click on the following to download:
Embezzlement Paper

This post is tagged Church, Embezzlement, Money