Herbert W Armstrong

There seems to be more and more interest in celebrating the anniversary of the beginning of local Churches. As the number of Churches approaching their 20th or 25th anniversary increases, more and more questions come up regarding the cost of these celebrations.

Because we have to be concerned with the budget and the impact on the current financial situation, we don't want to either encourage or discourage these celebrations. However, we do feel that the celebration should be low-key and for the local area only. The policy for ministerial visits to an anniversary celebration is that the time must be considered as personal time off and requested according to policy. Any cost of travel, such as gasoline expense for a fleet car, must be personal as well ??" the same as the fleet policy for vacation travel.

Because there are 15 Churches in the United States which will be approaching their 20th or 25th anniversary this year, we have to be circumspect about cost. Even though 15 may sound small, it involves 65 present and past pastors plus associate and assistant pastors. As a result, the only item Ministerial Services can help with is a moderate increase in the cost of hall rental for the one Sabbath involved. All other costs must be covered by the hosting Church and its guests.

U.S. Hall Rentals

We need your help with a slight change on the Hall Rental Voucher. Effective immediately, please start putting the Church code on the voucher in the box along with the Church name. The reason we need to start doing this is that some time-ago the auditors suggested we should have a better system of verifying hall rental payments. By adding the Church code we will be able to periodically send you a listing of all hall rental and related payments for your area.

If you do not know your Church code, you can find it on member listings, Feast registration listings, or national telephone network listings. It is a three or four digit number, usually found next to the Church name. If you are unable to find it, please call Ministerial Services and we will provide it.

Also, as long as we're discussing hall rentals there are some other related points we need to address.

There are several ministers who send their vouchers each month directly to the Accounting Department post office box. This delays the processing of the vouchers because Accounting has to send them to Ministerial Services for approval. This round trip takes at least an extra day or two. Since checks are mailed out twice a week, this sometimes causes the checks to be mailed as much as three or four days later than they otherwise would have been.

In some few cases we have had to lease halls where we have to pay utilities or other miscellaneous expenses. These expenses should be listed on the extra lines on the Hall Rental Voucher instead of on a General Disbursement Voucher. Also, in some cases we have been reimbursing the local pastor or a deacon for these expenses when it is better to pay the bills directly. All you need to do is attach the bill to a Hall Rental Voucher and fill it out. If it is necessary to handle it on a reimbursement basis, you should attach all receipts to the voucher.

Finally, as a convenience, any time there is a flat monthly amount being paid for the use of a hall, we can set the payment up on an automatic basis. To do this, we need a Hall Rental Voucher from you and a copy of your contract. In the absence of a written contract, we need a memo describing the arrangements you have made. It should include the following information: amount of monthly payment, expected length of use, who the check is to be mailed to, time of month check needs to be received and anything else that would affect the payment.