The Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) has just released a new publication – the Finance Resource Guide (FRG), now available through Forward Movement. The FRG serves as a handbook for congregations and vestries, providing in-depth financial management practices and principles and promoting year ‘round, theologically driven stewardship.

“Financial stewardship is an important part of church leadership,” said Donald V. Romanik, ECF President, “and it requires a practical, yet spiritually grounded understanding of money and its impact on mission and ministry. In developing this new publication, we spoke with people at all levels of the Church to discern their needs in this critical area. In response, we are pleased to offer the Finance Resource Guide. Rather than a manual of business procedures, this tool will help readers develop a theologically based proficiency for skillful financial management.”

The FRG is written for lay, clergy, and diocesan leadership and speaks to readers with a wide variety of financial backgrounds and expertise. This spiritually grounded resource guides leaders as they develop and steward financial resources for local mission and ministry. It offers tools that range from how to talk about conflicting money stories in scripture to conversation starters and budget templates.

Editor Demi Prentiss adds, “Our intent in creating the FRG was to engage leaders throughout the church in honest, open conversations about money and how to use it in loving, life-giving, and liberating ways, to borrow a phrase from our presiding bishop. Those conversations, which build awareness of a diversity of viewpoints, can help form vital communities of mindful financial practice in congregations and dioceses.”

The FRG will stand alongside ECF’s popular Vestry Resource Guide (VRG) as an important companion volume. The two books together provide church members with tools to enrich their congregations’ lives.

Kate Adams, Specials Projects Director at ECF said, “The Finance Resource Guide was made possible through a grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc.’s National Initiative to Address the Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders. We are so grateful to the Lilly Endowment for giving us the opportunity to develop and share such a critical financial resource with the Church.”

The FRG was written to encourage and inspire readers to face their discomfort about money and think about the ways that money is important to the health of their congregations. Chapters include stewardship, budgets, leadership, and financial administration supplemented by first-person stories of how financial principles have been applied to real challenges faced by congregations.

The FRG will be available in both print and e-book formats. A Spanish language version is planned for release next year. The FRG is distributed by Forward Movement and will be available through www.ForwardMovement.org or by calling 800-543-1813. The introductory cost is $12.00 per copy. For bulk orders, please contact Forward Movement.