Full Disclosure

Inquiring minds want to know. There is a big buzz in the KC metro area right now over a particular church that is accused of some questionable business and accounting practices. I want to say a few words about the operation of your church, Woods Chapel United Methodist.

1. We have a policy of full disclosure. If you are a member or a constituent, you can ask anything that you want to ask. All reports are available to you and the business administrator will answer any questions that you have. Open doors, open books.

2. Our policies do not permit the supervision of relatives. None of the pastor's family are allowed to work at the church. Any other supervisory personnel cannot have someone from their family working in their department.

3. Staff does not handle money [except for the bookkeeping/admin staff.] If in a last resort you do have to give money to a staff person, they are required to turn it in and a phone call will be made to you from the business office verifying that the funds are received. It puts staff in a very difficult position when they are asked to handle checks or cash outside of normal proceedures.

4. The budget of the church is available for review by all members and constituents in December. The budget is approved at the first meeting of the church council/dream team in January. Every member and constituent is welcome and encouraged to attend. The budget and cash flow issues are reviewed monthly by the budget team.

5. We work very hard to protect the tax-exempt status of your church. No outside businesses are allowed to use the church for their personal gain. Any tapes or cd's of the pastor's sermons are made available at no cost or at the cost of the materials. The pastor does not profit from the production or sale of any audio or video materials.

6. The church has employment policies and an employment handbook. There are many other policies that have been put in place to insure the integrity of operations. All of these are available to you to view at any time.

7. Our recordkeeping is impecable. Our bank has worked with us over the years to insure that everything is in order. We have an annual audit, per United Methodist guidelines. If you want to see the financials from five years ago, you can. Our business department works hard to insure that all gifts are recorded as inteneded. It is a United Methodist policy that funds are always used for the identified purpose.

Let me close by saying that you can have full trust in your church and its operations. You can come to worship and participate in ministries with full confidence in what is happening behind the scenes, and if you ever ever have any questions, just ask.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.