Lehigh Presbytery

Strengthening & Supporting Congregations

710 N. Cedar Crest Blvd.
Allentown, PA 18104
(610) 391-9020

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You are here: Home / Resources / Church Financial Info

Church Financial Info

The following information is provided for those involved with Church Finances. If you have any questions about the information on this page, please contact the Presbytery office at 610.391.9020 or

 


The Lehigh Presbytery hosted two Church Finances Workshops led by Frank Orzehoski (Business Administrator of the Synod of the Trinity) and Nelson Rabenold (Treasurer for Lehigh Presbytery). If you missed joining the workshop you can view the recordings and informational documents below.

  • March 14, 2021 – View the recording of this workshop by clicking here.   Frank shared the following documents:
    • Best Financial Practices
    • Shred-it-Guide-to-Document-Retention (2)
  • September 26, 2021 – View the recording of this workshop by clicking here.
Some additional links that are helpful, as well as some links to books.
  • Office of Faith-Based Investing and Corporate Engagement
  • 2021 General Assembly Divestment/Proscription List
  • Smart Church Management

Books by Rev. Edd Breeden (Treasurer of the Presbytery of San Jose):

  • The Church Treasurers Manual 202o
  • A Handbook for Church Treasurers: Concise Information for a Complicated Task
  • The Volunteer’s Audit Guide for Churches and Other Non-profits: A Step-by-Step Workbook for Internal Reviews of Non-Profit Organizations.

 


PC(USA) Resources

Legal Resource Manual 2020 – PCUSA

Church Lease & Covenant Issues – PCUSA General Counsel Mike Kirk has prepared advice on best practices when a church is considering an outside group to use its building.

 


Lehigh Presbytery – Forms etc.

  • Church Remittance Form
  • 2022 Mission Support PLEDGE FORM

Per Capita Information and Rate

2022 Minimum Terms of Call

2022 Honoraria for pulpit supply & moderating

2022 Combined Lehigh Presbytery-PNEC UCC Supply List – Honoraria 4.21.2022

2022 IRS Mileage Rate

IRS increases mileage rate for remainder of 2022

2022 Per Capita

Forms and Policies of Lehigh Presbytery

ON LINE GIVING PROGRAM THROUGH THE PRESBYTERIAN FOUNDATION

Your church can easily accept secure online donations through the Presbyterian Foundation’s online giving system.

  • Add a donation form to your website to accept gifts by electronic funds transfer, debit or credit card.
  • Simple, safe and secure.
  • No setup or maintenance fees.

Many Americans find that the only check they write is their offering to the church. Those in younger generations may not even use a checkbook–preferring to handle all of their contributions and bills electronically.  When your church passes the offering plate on Sunday morning — are you limiting your offering to pocket change from those who feel obligated to put something in, but would give more with an online account option?

Online Options to Simplify Giving

Through the Foundation’s Online Giving Program, your church can now accept secure online donations. You can add the donation form to your website to accept gifts by debit or credit card, and electronic funds transfer. Your members can even set up recurring gifts, adding predictability and regularity to your offering receipts.

No need to negotiate with credit card vendors, merchant services, banks or any other company. The Presbyterian Foundation will take care of processing all online gifts, validating and reconciling transactions for you. Online fund management tools allow you to :

  • Monitor donations and funds balances
  • Receive disbursements from money raised monthly
  • Thank donors and tell about the impact of their donations
  • Produce giving reports

For more information click here.

On-line giving program FAQs

Below are links to the program guide, application and basic sales sheet along with a sample pew card.  If you sign up with our online giving program, your church will receive a starter set of 100 pew cars as well.  Once you complete the application, you can submit it along with a voided check via email, USPS or fax.  it takes 5-7 business days once received from our home office for your site to be live.

If it would be helpful to schedule a zoom meeting with your finance committee and/or session to answer questions and provide a demonstration of what donors see, Rev. Ellie Johns-Kelley (Ministry Relations Officer) would be happy to do so.  Simply let her know and she will schedule a time.  There was a webinar on on-line giving that you can view at https://recording.join.me/yr2y78cGfUWuaVdVTblosQ. There is also a powerpoint presentation from this webinar below.

Online Giving through the Presbyterian Foundation

10928.PFD-Online Giving Program Guide.F

Online Giving Application 7.19 Form F

10910.PFD Online Giving Sales Sheet – Rebrand.F (002)

GivePlus_Mobile

Pew Giving Rack Card

Rev. Ellie Johns-Kelley
Ministry Relations Officer
Presbyterian Foundation
855-251-8212

Board of Pensions

The Board of Pensions 2022 traditional benefits package for members is 37% of effective salary (Medical 27%; Pension 8.5%; Death and Disability 1%, and Temporary Disability 0.5%); If the effective salary is lower than the Board of Pensions Medical participation minimum of $44,000, then the medical portion would be based on the Board of Pensions minimum effective salary.

http://www.pensions.org/

Board of Pensions informational documents

2022 Board of Pensions Benefits Plan – Quick Facts and Dues Schedule

2022 Board of Pensions – benefits update

Board of Pensions Update – June 2022

Board of Pensions Ministers Choice

Board of Pensions – Understanding Effective Salary

Board of Pensions – Median effective salary

 

Benefits Connect

Churches need to log on to Benefits Connect to enter and make changes to the pastor’s benefits package. Click the logo below to go to Benefits Connect.

Benefits Connect Log-In page

2022 Board of Pensions Benefits Plan

2022 Board of Pensions – benefits update

 

Information

  • Guidance Regarding Church Members Securing Supplies for a Church-Authorized Program
  • Legal Resource Manual for PC(USA) Middle Governing Bodies and Churches
  • PC(USA) Financial Review Guide
  • PC(USA) Financial Review Checklist
  • Treasurer’s Manual
  • 501(c)(3) IRS Tax Guide for Churches & Religious Org

Links

  • Extra Giving Opportunities
  • Presbyterian Foundation – Investments & Endowments
  • Scholarships, Grants, Loans, and Awards – Synod of the Trinity
  • The Hubbard Press – Source for all giving materials such as: Offering Envelopes, Pledge Record Forms, and Automatic Debit Services for Pledge and Gift Giving. See Appendix for Electronic Funds Transfer Program.

Annual Report to the PA Department of State

Churches should submit an Annual Corporation Report to the PA Department of State to help reserve your corporate name and doing so will exempt you from the Decennial Filing in 2021.

You can verify that your church is correctly registered with the state by going to the PA Department of State site – and doing an entity search – https://www.corporations.pa.gov/Search/corpsearch

By doing this you will know the correct corporate name to use when filing the report.  You may view the online fillable form by clicking the link below….

http://www.dos.pa.gov/BusinessCharities/Business/RegistrationForms/Documents/Updated%202017%20Registration%20Forms/Domestic%20Nonprofit%20Corporation/15-5110%20Annual%20Statement-Nonprofit%20Corporation.pdf

We encourage every church to do this annually. It’s FREE!

Tax News & Payroll Procedure Updates

The Clergy Tax Journal is an email newsletter created exclusively for clergy and churches that features breaking tax news, tax tips and services that affect your ministry. Below is some excerpts for the latest edition that you may find helpful.

Clergy Tax Law Update: The Internal Revenue Service recently announced cost-of-living adjustments for pension plans and other retirement-related items for the tax year 2015. Most clergy will be able to increase the amount of maximum contributions into their church pension. Find out how much you can contribute.

Church Payroll Procedures – New Hire Checklist: Before an employee can begin work, the church must have certain documents on file to prove that the worker is indeed eligible to work in the United States. Find out which documents your church needs on file for every worker. 

HR Hot Topic: Our employees often don’t turn their timesheets in on time. If an employee doesn’t submit his sheet on time, can we delay processing his paycheck until the next pay period? Find out the answer.

Clergy Financial Resources
11214 86th Avenue N.
Maple Grove, MN 55369

ClergyTaxNet.com

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Lehigh Presbytery is called by God to nurture its congregations as they grow in every way into communities whose head is Jesus Christ, so that they will go out to make disciples, baptizing and teaching in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to witness, through their actions, to the love of God. cf. Ephesians 4:15 and Matthew 28:18-21

Learn more…

Lehigh Presbytery
710 N. Cedar Crest Blvd.
Allentown, PA 18104
Tel (610) 391-9020

Monday – Friday
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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Presbytery Quick Links

  • 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
  • Amendments to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
  • Information for Church Clerks
  • Information for Church Treasurers
  • IRS Standard Mileage Rate

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