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January 8, 2008
The Church M.B.A.
Villanova launches a business degree for clergy.
The Wall Street Journal today interviewed Charles Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova, which has just launched an M.B.A. program for clergy. The degree is geared specifically for Catholics priests, following the clergy-abuse scandal and, more recently, a church embezzlement crisis. "Our center on church management surveyed chief financial officers of U.S. Catholic dioceses in 2005 and found that 85% had experienced embezzlements in the previous five years," Zech said. He continued:
There clearly are serious questions about internal financial controls at the parish level, and we are now doing research on parish advisory councils and asking questions about such things as who handles the Sunday collection and who has check-writing authority. Does the same person count the collection, deposit the money and then reconcile the checkbook? Obviously, you're just asking for problems if it's the same person; you can imagine the temptations.
Evangelical colleges and universities have launched M.B.A. programs, which can be financially attractive to CCCU schools who are often very dependent on tuition-paying students. But a church M.B.A. I don't think even the Leadership Network has thought of, though evangelical churches are not immune to fraud.
Comments
An M.B.A. for clergy?
Past experiences of clergy with entreprnuerial interests has me concerned.
Do entreprenuerial pastors sufficiently pastor?
An M.B.A. for clergy?....a correct pastoring focus withing a needful community can be missing.
Blind application and acceptance of Greek philosophy frequently surfaces.
Posted By: Martin Van Dyk | January 14, 2008 2:18 PM
i think that it is so bogous because some of this just has me concerned.
Posted By: jazmine | January 29, 2008 6:31 PM
I totally agree with Pastor's NOT having access to funds or check writing. I think it takes away from what they are called to do, which is to preach the gospel, shephard the flock, and offer guidance in the spiritual matters of the church. However, as the head of the church, he should be "aware" of the financial matters as well.
Vas
Posted By: Vas | February 23, 2010 1:17 PM
I work with survivors or religious authority sexual abuse, as well as supporters. It is clear that lots of boundary violations have gone on, unchecked, related to money and sexual crimes. The bottom line is that people in the pews, so to speak, are the ones who need to understand boundary management, as they will bring accountability to those who may have an MBA.
Chapter 5 of my workbook outlines how supporters can see themselves in stages of organizations (unconsciously incompetent- consciously incompetent - consciously competent - unconsciously competent).
Posted By: Jaime | July 30, 2010 7:52 PM
Exactly, churches are not immune to fraud. While some may shy away from a church being treated as a business, because of the frequent accounts of churches vulnerable to fraud experiencing just that, any measure that can be taken to prevent embezzlement is a step in the right direction. Sure, the purpose of a church is not to make money, but money is still part of the equation so business savvy and financial safeguards are a must.
Posted By: Church Finance Fraud | February 26, 2011 3:19 PM