The purpose of the deacon fund is to assist people who are experiencing a financial hardship by providing funds to help cover their basic needs, in keeping with the spirit of Acts 4:32-37. Its disbursements will be as stated in this policy, under the direction of the church’s Deacon (or deacons).

The Deacon(s) is accountable to the church’s leadership team. The deacon will interface with and report to the leadership team when necessary to discuss needs within the congregation.

The fund’s receipts consist of designated giving through regular church offerings and individual gifts. Gifts intended for the Deacon fund can simply be designated as such at the time the gift is given. Members of the congregation, however, will not be encouraged to give directly to the Deacon Fund in lieu of giving to the regularly scheduled offerings of the church.

The Deacon Fund is intended as a temporary help during a time of crisis, and should be sought only if the person’s personal savings and liquid investments are not sufficient to cover the need.

Assistance from the Deacon’s Fund is generally intended to be a one-time gift. Gifts from the Deacon’s Fund are not to be considered a loan, and will be made with no expectation of repayment.

Those requesting assistance must also be willing to be transparent about their financial situations (i.e. provide a personal financial statement) and give the Deacon permission to follow up on any of the information provided to the Deacon.  The Deacon will be sensitive about handling confidential information. 

In order of priority, recipients of funds disbursed from the Deacon’s Fund as the direction of the Deacon or leadership team will be:

The stated purpose of the Deacon’s Fund is to meet people’s basic needs during times of financial hardship. Normally, basic needs that will receive the highest priority for distributions are defined as:

Needs that are deemed lower priority but which may still be met by the Deacon’s Fund in certain limited circumstances include:

Needs that may not be met by the Deacon’s Fund included the following:

Special projects, sometimes funded by special offerings designated for the Deacon’s Fund, might include supporting local outreach ministries to the poor or helping to provide assistance during times of catastrophe or major crises.

Requesting Assistance

A request for assistance of more than $500 may require the person requesting help to submit a personal financial statement (listing all assets, liabilities, and current income) and a written statement describing their need. Requests for assistance of up to $500 may be made without a written request by contacting the Deacon, but the person making the request must still provide (verbally or in writing) any information requested by the Deacon.

Assistance for counseling cost will be considered if it is perceived that counseling would directly enable the individual to address a current financial situation or is necessary for the person’s emotional or spiritual stability. Requests to cover counseling costs from the Deacon’s Fund, generally, must be made in advance of incurring the expense.

We will pay 60% of the counselling cost, not including the traveling cost. If the counseling is ongoing, there is a cap of $2,500 per year, per family.

We recognize that we can’t recommend some counsellors & would like the opportunity to give our blessing on the counsellor that is chosen. We will pay approved counselors or ministries directly so that it is clear how the funds are being used.

This is a general guideline for our members, however, the ministry team may make exceptions if there are special circumstances to consider.