Update on Financial Peace University Materials
For the past several months, the Ministerial Excellence Fund (MEF) Ministry has provided the opportunity for congregations to host Financial Peace University (FPU) sessions at a greatly reduced cost. We have provided the Leadership Kit at no cost to congregations and have subsidized the cost of Individual Member Kits for participants.
When we started, only 9 churches were hosting FPU. Today, we have 35 congregations – fully 10 percent of our ABC/IN-KY and ABC/GI churches – who have or will be hosting FPU. We have received reports of tremendous results – elimination of tens of thousands of dollars in debt and thousands of dollars added to savings. These results translate into resources freed-up to support ministry.
As we move forward, however, the amount of educational funding available through our MEF ministry continues to dwindle. In order to be good stewards, and to meet other needs which must be met through our educational funding, we will be modifying our FPU subsidy grants.
Beginning April 1, 2012, we will no longer subsidize the cost of Individual Member Kits. We will, however, continue to provide Church Leader Kits. Churches who confirm a start date within calendar year 2012 can order a Church Leader Kit through the MEF. The MEF will pay the entire cost of the kit which will be shipped directly to the church. We continue to ask that host churches report results (number of participants, amount of debt reduction and savings increase) at the conclusion of the class.
If your church is considering FPU for your congregation and community, we will accept requests for both Church Leader and Individual Member Kits through March 31. Beginning April 1, however, we will only accept orders for Church Leader Kits. Of course, if you need to order more Individual Member Kits later in the year, you will be able to do so directly from Dave Ramsey, but our MEF subsidy will no longer be available.
If you have questions or concerns regarding FPU and/or our MEF Ministry, please feel free to contact:
Marc Kirchoff, Minister of Grants and Fundraising