Almost every month many of us voice the same question after we finish paying all of our bills – “Where did all my money go?” We don’t really expect anyone to answer that question. Rather, we just have a need to express our frustration that our bills often exceed our income.

Occasionally, we ask that same question in all seriousness in the context of our church. “Where does the money go that I give to my church regularly?” I know that some of us could give a very clear and precise answer to that question. But recently I am finding more and more individuals that just aren’t sure about where their money goes and all the connections in the distribution of those funds. Therefore, I am writing this article as a primer for some and a review for others in the hope that we might all learn something new along the way.

Let me use myself for this case study. My wife and I tithe our income to the church where we are members. Where does our money go? Each year our church presents a budget to the church for that specific year. The budget represents a spending plan including personnel, utilities and building payments, literature, missions, and various church related ministries. As the church receives my tithe and that from others, the staff

and finance team have the authority to spend money and pay the bills that were authorized and represented in the budget. So I can look at my church’s budget and the financial statement and know where my money has gone.

Some of the money I give to my church is sent by my church to the Cooperative Program. The Cooperative Program was established by Southern Baptists in 1925 to provide a means to fund most of the various ministries that we do together. The Cooperative Program is administered first by the state conventions. In Texas we have two state conventions. Most churches send their Cooperative Program dollars (usually a designated percentage amount of the church’s income) to one of the state conventions. The state convention keeps a portion to use in its state ministries such as colleges, children’s homes, disaster relief, and church starting.

The remaining portion is sent by the state convention to the national convention. There the money is divided among such ministries as the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, and the seminaries. While these are only a few of the ways monies are used in both the state and national conventions, you can see the types of ministries that are being performed by various groups.

The one entity that has never been a part of receiving Cooperative Program money is the local association. My church has a budget line item for Denton Baptist Association. Each month a portion of my tithe comes to the association where it is used to help start churches, provide operating assistance for the Baptist Student Ministries, supplement the Camp Copass general fund, and to help strengthen the work of existing churches in our association.

While I may not remember where all of my personal spending goes, I do know where my tithe goes each month. By giving through my local church whose budget I voted for, my tithe is making a difference in my church, in my state, in my nation, in my world, and in my association right here in Denton County. By looking at your church’s budget and financial report, you, too, will know where your money has gone.