CONDSIDER THESE BEFORE STOPPING CONTRIBUTIONS TO RETIREMENT
By: Richard Skidmore
I remember my father trying to teach me to “measure twice and cut once.” When you are cutting a board for a barn or fence, if you aren’t careful, you can cut too much off the board. Then the board will not fit and you will have to cut another board and hope for a shorter place to use the one you miscut. That same principle might apply to some of the current financial decisions being made by churches. It would seem wise to use caution and try to measure all potential results and other possible areas to consider before making cuts. A prime example is the Church Retirement Plan.
Before contributions are suspended to the Church Retirement Plan, careful consideration needs to be given to the outcome. Every minister serving a Tennessee Baptist Convention church, bivocational or fully funded, regardless of ministry position (pastor, music, youth, etc.) has some protection provided to them if they are active in the Church Retirement Plan. A Tennessee Baptist minister who has a contribution made to the plan by the church, either as a benefit from the church or by salary reduction, has up to $500 per month coverage for disability and up to $100,000 payable to their family as a survivor benefit in the event of the minister’s death. These benefits are provided by the Tennessee Baptist Convention in partnership with GuideStone Financial Resources. The premium for these benefits is paid monthly for each month a contribution is made to the Church Retirement Plan. If no contribution is made in any given month, there is immediately a gap created in the coverage. The operative words here are minister, active, monthly, gap. Decisions about changes in retirement contributions should involve staff members. If the church contribution is decreased, staff should be reminded of the opportunity to begin or alter a salary reduction agreement to have tax sheltered contributions sent to the retirement plan.
These protection benefits are provided to other church support staff members who work 20 hours or more weekly and have 36 months of Baptist employment. Again, a monthly contribution means the monthly premium is paid by the TBC. Churches or staff members who have questions can call the Tennessee Baptist Convention at 800-558-2090 and ask for Richard Skidmore at extension 2009 (e-mail rskidmore@tnbaptist.org) or Joyce Harvey at extension 2053 (e-mail jharvey@tnbaptist.org).
