MEU NEWSLETTER FOR TREASURERS APRIL 2010

T he Treasure r’s Ledger

CONTENTS A Note from your Treasurer
1 Thank you for the overwhelmingly of our church members really understand the
CHECKLIST positive response we received for the first offerings as listed on our tithe envelopes.
Sixteen reasons you should be issue (January) of The Treasurer’s Ledger. The result was a decision to devote some
using Church Pal! We appreciate your feedback! Because we additional time in future issues to clarify the
-Roger Taer, hope that our newsletter will be a good use of various offerings.
Associate Treasurer, MEU
resource for treasury in the Middle East Donovan Cleary, Secretary Treasurer of
2
Union, we recommend you file copies for EMF, will be sharing some thoughts about
OFFERINGS
Why do we separate tithe and future reference. Your email is important to the spiritual purpose of Tithe Envelopes, and
offerings and how are the various us so that we can continue to provide a viable the change in perspective. You will be
offerings used? Part 1 newsletter, with informative articles and impressed by the picture of one tithe
-Yvonne Novlesky, topics of interest, beneficial to your work as envelope currently used in the British Union
Stewardship Director, EMF church treasurer. where they have prayerfully addressed the
3 In this issue we will be looking at Tithe need to have tithe envelopes reflect giving as
TITHE ENVELOPES Envelopes, the various offerings, their use and an act of worship.
How and why are they changing? distribution.
-Donovan Cleary, Yvonne is sharing about the That about sums up this issue.
Secretary Treasurer, EMF development of investment offerings and Happy Accounting!
4 their use through the years. She has found an Richard Novlesky
INVESTMENT informative article by Ed Reid, Stewardship
Yesterday and Today PS!
Director for the North American Division,
-Yvonne Novlesky,
Stewardship Director, EMF (NAD). Please note our announcement on page 2
Unbeknownst to you, we’ve been doing and our request on page 4!
5.1
a little sleuthing to determine just how many
WHAT IS INVESTMENT?
A few words from the NAD
-G. Edward Reid,
Stewardship Director, NAD
Sixteen Good Reasons You Should be Using Church Pal
Roger Taer
5.2 Associate Treasurer, MEU
MEET RAVEEN
The man behind Church Pal 1) No formulas ~ easy to understand and use!
-Yvonne Novlesky, 2) Treasurers can enter receipts with few key strokes;
Stewardship Director, EMF 3) Cash balances are easily monitored;
6.1 4) Treasurer can access giving records at members’ request;
TREASURY GUIDELINES 5) Files are easily backed up and restored;
Setting up and using local church 6) Reports are generated quickly and are easily understood by board members;
accounts 7) Field and local church funds are properly segregated;
-Richard Novlesky,
Treasurer, MEU 8) Accurately records transfers between departments or funds;
9) Budget is easily monitored;
6.2 10) Provides church membership detail;
CHURCH PAL 11) Offering codes and descriptions can be designed according to need;
It’s good for you!
12) Church expenses can be labelled for easy review;
-Richard Novlesky,
Treasurer, MEU 13) Best of all - Church Pal has a bank reconciliation capability!
14) Easily facilitates sending monthly financial reports to field or union;
Volume 1 Number 2 15) Technical support and training is available from the MEU;
16) Updates to better handle the unique needs of the MEU treasury are in process.
 THE TREASURER’S LEDGER PAGE 2
Ty
pe
to
ent
er
tex
t
God’s gifts returned
Your Tithe Envelope
Each Field creates and prints their
own tithe envelopes. A well designed tithe
envelope is so much more than solely an
envelope to record tithe and offerings.
When properly designed and understood,
it reflects God’s needs in the local church,
the Field or Section and indeed around
the world. Returning tithes and offerings
is an act of worship, and even the
envelope on which we prayerfully record
our offerings should be reflective of our
respect to God, our faithful appreciation
of His gifts, and a sincere desire to see His
work go forward. In other words, we
should not carelessly fill it with whatever
change we dig up from our pocket, at the
last minute, before the offering plate
comes around.
Distribution of Tithes
and Offerings
The Seventh-day Adventist Church
is a world church with missions in your
local city and country, reaching out
around the world. Your Tithe Envelope is
divided to give you opportunity to
prayerfully consider where and how much
God is calling you to return to him. After
the first line reserved for tithe, the
envelope is generally divided into sections
for local church offerings, Section or Field
offerings, and World Mission Offerings.
Tithe
Your tithe is sent from your local
church to your Field or Section, where it
is used to operate the work in your area.
Tithes are used to support the pastoral
ministry, and for administrative costs
directly related to the work of ministry.
Each Field passes on 6.4 % of their tithe
to the TED and 10% to the MEU. The
MEU passes on to the TED, the 6.4%
received from the Fields with an
additional 10% of Union tithe money
received. This means TED receives 7.4%
of all tithes collected from within the
Middle East Union. The TED retains
5% of this amount for its operations and
passes on the .4% to Newbold College,
and the remaining 2% to the General
Conference. (TED returns some of these
tithe dollars back to the Unions, in the
form of appropriations.)
Local Church Offerings
Your local church offerings remain
within your church and are recorded by
your local church treasurer. They support
the local church congregation and its
ministries. These include expenses related
to outreach, Sabbath School, utilities,
local building projects, etc.
APRIL 2010
But sacrilege
does not only consist
of profane use.
In its worst form
it consists of taking
something and giving
to God when it
means absolutely
nothing to us.
G. Campbell Morgan, 1863-1945
Field Offerings
Your section or field offerings provide
for projects that affect every member of
the church in your section or field. These
include for example evangelism, Christian
education, and youth outreach.
World Mission Offerings
These offerings support various
ministries worldwide such as global
mission projects, investment, 13th
Sabbath special projects, media ministries
and institutions of higher learning.
YN
Treasury Announcement
MEU will soon be designing new tithe
envelopes, for use within our Sections, at
no cost to them. Their design will be
incorporating both the spiritual and
confidential approach as described in this
newsletter’s feature by Donovan Cleary.
Your input is welcome. Each field is
responsible for the development, printing
and distribution of their own envelopes,
but we recommend that a prayerful
evaluation of the current envelopes and a
subsequent new approach may be in
order.
~Richard Novlesky, MEU Treasurer
THE TREASURERS’ LEDGER PAGE 3 APRIL 2010

Tithe Envelopes: How and Why They're Changing

NOW
And Donovan Cleary
Secretary Treasurer, EMF
THEN Donors have a right to confidentiality. As
treasurers, we have a duty to respect the
privacy of the donor’s gift. We also have
the duty to respect the honour of the gift.
A gift is a gift, whether large or small --
size does not determine the respect given
to either the donation or the donor. We
should never make assumptions about the
reasons for giving or make inferences
about the welfare of the donor.
The purpose of giving should be a matter of
the heart, and these new tithe envelopes
introduced by the BUC a decade ago, focuses
on encouraging these spiritual matters of the
heart. The envelopes have biblical texts and
illustrations which aim at complimenting the
reasons for giving, such as making God a
priority in our life and putting Him first by
keeping our promises of giving, as well as
expressing the goodness of God in our lives.

The new tithe envelopes used by the Tithe and offering envelopes should be used to
British Union Conference (BUC) allows enhance and encourage the spiritual reasons for
the donor to give information simply and giving, rather than focusing on the mechanics
the gift is concealed within the envelope and amount of giving. God is the author of
for confidentiality. The back of the every gift in our lives and shouldn’t the tithe
envelope has the donor’s details. The envelope reflect that generosity of experience?
offering and amount details are
concealed. With these thoughts in mind, The BUC
envelopes (one of which is illustrated above) are
The purpose of our giving should not be printed in full colour with varying spiritual
regarded as a test of fellowship, although themes.
it is a symbol of discipleship, and an
expectation for leadership.
DC
 THE TREASURER’S LEDGER PAGE 4
We would like to hear about your investment projects. .
Investing for Jesus
Investment
Yesterday and Today
Yvonne Novlesky
Stewardship Director, EMF
Becoming involved in an
investment project is an exciting
endeavour between God and you.
“Investment” for missions is an
earning project, with the proceeds
given as a special offering. Did you
know that the investment idea was
followed as early as the 1880’s and
1890’s? Members dedicated such
projects as an acre or two of a crop,
some cattle or some cash to provide
camp meeting equipment. Even
today, many church members
dedicate proceeds from specific
parcels of land to investment. In
time as the idea of investing for
missions grew, articles appeared in
various Adventist publications
sharing testimonies. In 1925 the plan
was officially called “Investment
Fund” and its promotion was
officially undertaken by the Sabbath
School department. The idea flew
around the world with various names
in various countries.
Our ideas for investment funding
are limited only by our imagination.
For example, in the early days when
health reform was new and members
were learning better ways, there is
the story of one man who quit the
habit and gave the money he would
normally spend on tobacco, to
investment. Today many nurses and
other medical personnel who must
work on Sabbath, take their Sabbath
pay and dedicate it to investment.
One year I decided to bake
bread. In no time at all I was baking
over 40 loaves a week! A church
member, who was a wheat farmer
donated freshly ground flour and
God blessed our partnership.
APRIL 2010
And so he had received five
talents, came and brought
five other talents, saying
“Lord, Thou deliverest
unto me five talents,
behold I have gained beside
them five more.”
Matthew 25:20
Another year, our children sold
garden vegetables to neighbours, in
our immediate neighbourhood.
Investment is a fun and unique
way to partner with God in a
business venture to watch His funds
grow. It feels good to know that we
can be a part of supporting world
missions. Why not consider a spring
project? You’ll be glad you did!
Together we can make a difference.
YN
If you have some ideas for our new
tithe envelopes, (or suggestions for
future issues of The Treasurer’s
Ledger) we would like to hear from
you. Email us at :
yvonne.novlesky@gmail.com
 THE TREASURER’S LEDGER PAGE 5
What Is Investment?
G. Edward Reid
Stewardship Director
North American Division
It’s been around
in the Adventist church
for more than 100 years. It brings in about $4
million each year. And some people don’t even
know what it is. But Sabbath School Investment is
coming back to life. Investment was designed for
church members who like to see new, innovative
projects that have the potential to really make a
difference in communities in the interests of the
kingdom of God.
Investment offerings go beyond what we regularly
and systematically do in our tithes and offerings.
The Investment idea starts in the mind of a
person who is challenged by the concept of
partnership with God—with making an initial
“investment” in a project that is dedicated to God
through the Sabbath School Investment program.
C
H
U
R Church Treasurers
C never had it so good
H
P
A
MEET L Maybe church accounting will never be this easy,
RA V E E N but with Church Pal it comes pretty close!
Just so there is no confusion, the man on the left is Raveen Pal,
author of Church Pal, an accounting package designed with the
church treasurer in mind. It was designed specifically for Seventh-
day Adventist churches and conferences.
Raveen began development of the program in 1999 when he
was employed by the Ontario Conference, Canada. He noticed
that the DOS system had become old and antiquated, not able to
meet the changing needs of church treasurers. After seeing the
struggles for supporting the old system and the frequent requests
for new features, he decided to design a new program, a private
undertaking, which was very quickly adopted for use in Ontario.
Raveen never thought that it would be used outside Canada,
APRIL 2010
You begin with “seed money” to start a new
venture that is dedicated to God. The profits from
this project are then contributed to the
Investment program in support of new outreach
programs.
Each year, on a rotating basis, two union
conferences in North America are encouraged to
select projects in local conferences that are new
and interesting enough to spark the support of
Investment leaders and church members. All 13
world divisions of the Adventist Church have
their own projects. From the funds allocated to
the North American Division for Investment, a
portion goes to the projects that have been
highlighted and advertised throughout the year.
To see the 2010 Investment projects,
visit www.adventiststewardship.org
On the home page click on
“Investment,” then scroll down to
“2010M issionIn vestmentP rojects.”
Join the growing ranks of Sabbath
school mission investors!
and he says he is humbled to see how it has grown, and how it
is beneficial to so many church treasurers. Church Pal is used
and enjoyed by many church treasurers across Canada, and
the United States and now in the Middle East.
Church Pal is vastly different than when it was first
released. They have released so many new features over the
last decade, they have literally lost count. As it expands into
new regions, Church Pal is customized to meet the needs of
that region. Raveen says, “Church Pal is where it is because of the
valuable suggestions we receive from users. We absolutely welcome
suggestions.” Raveen is working on some specific adjustments to
accommodate the unique needs of the Middle East region
and upgrades are scheduled to be in place in summer of 2010.
YN
 THE TREASURER’S LEDGER PAGE 6 APRIL 2010

TREASURY GUIDELINES Board approval is required for any

Setting up and Using Church
Accounts
Richard Novlesky, Treasurer
Many of you have recently begun using
Church Pal or will be doing so soon.
Following are guidelines for you, as well as
for those currently not using Church Pal:
MEU Accounts
The Union will give you a listing of
accounts. They have been grouped to
reflect the distribution of funds for TED/
GC and those that remain with the MEU.
When your statements are presented to
your church board, the distribution of
your funds will be easily understood and
present a good opportunity to educate
church members about the use and
distribution of these offerings.
Church Accounts
For your local church accounts, you
will likely use many of the same ones
currently in use. However, you will need to
keep the guidelines at right in mind, when
adding and changing your local accounts.
Account Name: Women’s Ministry
Source: Weekly offerings/donations
Purpose: For activities related to
Women’s Ministry;
Authorization: Treasurer, Pastor and
Women’s Ministry Leader
If you do not have a record of accounts
which has been approved by your board,
it is important to begin doing so right away. Treasurers should work closely with their board to go
through the account names, presenting their source , purpose and authorization. Final approval by
action and vote should be recorded with the file listing.
new accounts or for changes to
THE
existing accounts. Often unknowingly, TREASURER’S
church members give donations to non-
existent accounts. Treasurers then add
LEDGER
A resource newsletter for Field
these as new local church accounts. (I have
and Section Treasurers as well
seen churches with as many as 30 plus
as for local church treasurers.
accounts!) As treasurer you are
responsible to educate the membership
regarding accounts approved by the www.adventistmeu.org
board. This is done at Church Business
meetings when financial statements are
presented to the church members and also NEWSLETTER STAFF
on Sabbath morning when offering
appeals are made. Richard Novlesky
MEU Treasurer
A listing should be made for each
account indicating the following: Roger Taer
i) Source of funds: Is this a one time gift, Associate Treasurer
or an on going account?
ii) Purpose of funds; Malou Taer
iii) Authorization for spending; Distribution
The number of accounts you have Yvonne Novlesky
should be determined by the Editing & Lay Out
board’s decision as to what is used
and what is important for tracking. Contact Information
They should be as simple and as few as yvonne.novlesky@gmail.com
practical. The standard accounts used
include Church Budget, Church Expense, Contributors
Sabbath School, Pathfinders, etc. Middle East Union welcomes
pertinent articles from
Accounts should be set up or treasurers across the Union
changed only after board approval
by vote and as duly recorded in the
minutes.

Church Pal: It’s good for local churches and it’s good for the Union
Church Pal is the buzz word these days as many MEU local church
treasurers are setting up their accounts using this (new to the Middle
East) church accounting package. Church Pal has been around for
over 10 years and evolving to accommodate the unique and specific
accounting needs of the Seventh-day Adventist church treasurer. It
has been tried and tested by many church and conference treasurers
who speak highly of its easy to use approach, excellent statement
presentation and a host of other benefits.
It allows treasurers to transmit reports, (or even the entire database
when needed) to the Field or Union. This not only facilitates the
Field Treasurer to give better support to his treasurers, but it also
serves as an excellent internal control mechanism. And it’s all done
via the internet! Your treasurer has questions? Needs helps with his
books? Help is only a mouse-click away! It allows the Field or
Union Mission Treasurer to work with multiple churches and switch
between them with ease. Church treasurers can export reports into
Excel or PDF files. Church Pal checks for, and updates itself
automatically! The audit process is more efficient because Church
Pal creates a more complete audit trail, with monthly statements and
transaction details.
RN