Your church probably has a benevolence ministry. You may call it a mercy ministry, but the concept is the same: gifting people money who are in a tight spot…
It’s a good idea to have a policy in place in order to establish objectivity in case judgements over time. God favors just weights and measures.
You may also be worried about IRS exposure and tax risk. A sound policy mitigates tax risk and provides your church cover should the IRS ever come knocking.
Here are some links to web sites that contain sample policies. I encourage you to click through and take a look. If you already have a policy, there may be useful information you discover that can enhance your existing policy:
Free Church Accounting – Benevolence Fund
Take note of the verbiage at the bottom of the form at the second link: it mentions that those requesting aid may have to take a course on Biblical financial management as a condition for receiving the money.
I think this is a good idea, for members and non-members alike.
That’s why I created a free 12-lesson video course offering Bible-based financial education.
I posted them for free on my site to help deacons like you who agree with the idea, but don’t have the time to develop such a course yourself.
You can get to the free course by going to my website here: