A Financial Literacy, Management & Well-Being Resource
The COMPASS Academy resources inform and empower ministers in biblical financial leadership, stewardship, and well-being. Resources are organized into six categories.
Each category has several sub-topics. This page highlights four featured resources in each category.
Click on category titles for the full list of resources.
Personal Budgeting and Debt Management
- A free app that links to your bank and credit cards that helps you keep track of your spending and savings
- A biblically based course in basic personal finances
- A step by step how-to and multiple articles by Dave Ramsey about the fundamentals of budgeting
- Online tools for comparing repayment options for your student loans using your own data
Retirement Readiness
- See how $2,000 now can be worth more than $12,000 later
- What you need to know about making catch-up contributions to your 403(b) retirement savings account
- The issues of retirement that you need to consider
Training for Biblical Stewardship
- Sermons, bulletin inserts, PowerPoint slides, letters, and Bible lessons for a monthlong church-wide stewardship emphasis
- Campaña de mayordomía devocional y nacional de 40 días disponible en más de 50 idiomas
- A variety of resources including curriculum, videos, articles, preaching/teaching materials, and Excel worksheets
- Resources available from Generous Church: Training videos, sermon illustrations, epapers, articles
Communicating Finances as a Leader
- Stewardship Ministries' free stewardship toolkit that explores gaining and saving all we can in order to live more generously.
- Dave Ramsey's churchwide stewardship movement
- Brian Kluth's ebook for pastors and church leaders
- Video driven training on eight principles for preaching on money, stewardship and generosity
Local Church Finances
- An ECFA webinar-on-demand with Rollie Dimos, a certified fraud examiner and certified internal auditor, helping churches reduce the risk of fraud and increase financial accountability.
- The form that EVERY church board needs to fill out in order to contribute to the pastor's 403(b) retirement account
- P&B Memo #11 - Auto and Other Business Expense Reimbursements
- A P&B video with everything you need to consider in structuring your pastor's compensation package
Financial Glossary
- An independent examination of an organization’s records and accounts to make sure that they show a fair, accurate and legal reflection of the financial position of the company at the accounting date. Audits can be either internal or external.
- A plan of spending over a certain length of time, based on how much income a person(s) or organization anticipates having.
- Theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer.
- A designated portion of a pastor’s salary (officially designated in advance of payment) for the amount actually used to provide or rent a home not to exceed the fair market rental value of the home (including furnishings, utilities, garage, etc.).