Jude 2

Does anyone know the amount the Assembly recommends churches give their pastors for General Assembly expense?

Pastorbps wrote:Does anyone know the amount the Assembly recommends churches give their pastors for General Assembly expense?

Wouldn't the expense be different for pastors in different cities & states? I can't imagine that someone has written down or published a suggested amount when a guy travelling from California would incur a much greater expense than a guy from Huntsville.

Is it possible to add up how much the trip costs, tell the deacons/clerk the amount and have the church just pay that much (unless the congregation has no money in the bank)?

I think that is something done at the State Level. The accepted practices for MS (passed at the State Convention) is for the church to provide $1,040 for the Pastor to attend the International Assembly.

Of course, some churches are not able to provide that much. And, church's have the authority to give more.


God Bless You
Pastor Daryl

The proper way is to have the pastor keep all reciepts and reimburse him after the IA.

Or, pre-pay the motel/hotel/ airfare. and then give a "per diem" on food expense.

And a church has two years to plan for this........if no funds are available it is the pastor's fault for not making it a budget issue.

Not that this would apply to anyone posting in this thread, but it's commical to me that we (Yes, I used to be a COGOP Pastor) wanted the General Assembly to butt out and let us pastor our churches... Until we needed something like money. Then we hoped there was a ruling that we could invoke.

You've got to plan as Dr. Ron said. I always made sure that my local church was taking care of that from day one. You can call it selfish, but no one is going to look after your needs for you - you've got to do it yourself.

General business practices anywhere are to do what Dr. Ron said, of course an advance could be given up front to assist, but expenses should always be accompanied by full accounting of receipts if a church (or business for that matter) is going to reimburse expenses.

It's important to be VERY up front and detailed when it comes to finances, too many churches have fallen due to real or rumored financial problems, and often the rumors are worse than the real problems.

Having said that, many churches can't afford to do this, and then it becomes up to the pastor to decide whether he will cover his own, or just stay home.

Both Churches I have pastored have given me something toward my expenses for Assembly, but not been able to cover the full amount.

With all due respect Bill, there is no church that can't afford this if they "plan" in advance for it.

That is like saying we can't afford Christmas.....but we all find a way.

I know small churches have issues to deal with. but there are ways if you use the right system.

How important is it to a church for their pastor to attend the IA. If it is important for the local church, then they will support it. If it is just for fun and fellowship, then that is just another vacation and the church shouldn't even consider it.

I know of some that can't, we have some churches that aren't even able to pay the pastor a salary, or that the pastor is even helping to pay the bills. I don't believe that is where things SHOULD be, but we do have some small churches in that shape.

The church I pastored in prior to New Life, could not have afforded it, they were doing good to keep the bills paid, so instead of accepting the first Sunday offering, I left that with the church, and we used that to help cover Assembly expenses.

New Life could probably cover my expenses, and they have provided money to help with the expenses, but I won't ask them to reimburse everything either, there are other areas of ministry that the money can go to.

Dr. Ron wrote:The proper way is to have the pastor keep all reciepts and reimburse him after the IA.

Or, pre-pay the motel/hotel/ airfare. and then give a "per diem" on food expense.

And a church has two years to plan for this........if no funds are available it is the pastor's fault for not making it a budget issue.

absolutely correct.

there is no official recommendation. this is up to the local church to budget as monies are available. the best way, as mentioned is to have the pastor save all receipts and either (not both) turn in to the local church for reimbursement (as funds allow, as mentioned) - OR turn them in at the end of the year as expenses for tax purposes.

Bill, I know what you are talking about...Don't forget where I was SO....
Small states with smaller churches. But they all saw a need for the pastor to attend.....

In those days we had the GA every year. Sometimes they budgeted for the pastors expense every other year..... but, they found a way if they felt it was important....and I can tell you they did.

The faithfulness of the membership WEST of the Mississippi is amazing.....and they endured many issues to attend the GA because they felt the need to do so.

I can tell you now that a church within 3 hours of the GA should be ashamed not to see to this matter........again if they feel the pastor is going for the benefit of the local church and to represent them and not to vacation.

I know, and we are within 3 hours, BUT you also have to remember the focus on the assembly and the organization isn't what it used to be, local churches are more independent in their vision and work. This is good in alot of ways, but it does make Assembly less of an importance to many.

I know if I asked, it would be done, but I don't ask for it. Should I? Probably, but then there are other areas that need the funds too, so it's a trade off.

The church should pay the expenses of their "proxy" for sure and HQ might even need to subsidize such.

My church has traditionally given $1000 which (Because I'm in the south) is enough for me to attend but I spend more when the wife and family attend. I am very appreciative of everything they do and I am appreciative of the International and State offices for bringing the need to the attention of the local churches. Sometimes churches just assume someone else has taken care of it and pastors don't want to appear greedy in asking for money which goes for themselves. I was just wondering if there were any set guidelines. I thought I remembered the IO recommending several years ago that churches set aside $10 a week for the pastor's assembly expense if possible.

Pastor Bill wrote:I know if I asked, it would be done, but I don't ask for it. Should I? Probably, but then there are other areas that need the funds too, so it's a trade off.

Bill, I understand this all too well. If the church has a finite pool of funds, and the pastor is involved in prioritizing those funds, it gets hard to justify "Y'all set aside a thou for my Assembly trip; restocking the food pantry will have to wait."

I have chosen to never ask my church for Assembly funds assistance, and have managed to go the 5,000 miles each time using personal funds, help from Jude2 people, some family help, and small personal love offerings from some members that were off-budget. This year I am blessed to have some State Overseer Travel Allotment to use, but if I didn't, the local church funds are so badly needed elsewhere I would prefer not to ask.