Pastor Education Expenses • Push Small Groups • Team Consistency: Management Roundup
Original post by Church Law & Tax on September 21, 2015
1. The tax treatment of educational benefits for pastors. "Pastors who receive educational assistance benefits from their church under an 'educational assistance program' can exclude up to $5,250 of those benefits each year. This means that the church should not include the education benefits with the pastor's wages and other compensation. (This also means that the pastor does not have to include the benefits on his or her income tax return.)" ("Paying for Continued Education," by Richard R. Hammar, Mastering Business Expenses).
2. Push small groups now. "People generally tend to operate their schedules around the calendar year and the school year (regardless of whether they're in school or have kids). So the two times of the year that prove most effective to market your small groups are September (when the school year starts) and January (when the calendar year starts, and a new school semester starts)" ("Effective Marketing for Small-Group Ministry," by Carter Moss, SmallGroups.com).