Need for Missionary/Accountant

When I was approached by this field’s recruiter, he told me their field had been diligently praying for 2 years that God would send them a missionary with an accounting background. Their field Treasurer had just moved to Nepal, and the only other missionary with accounting knowledge had returned to the US. They had reached a critical and desperate point of need but trusted God to provide and I just “so happened” to be graduating within a few months from Dallas Seminary with the intent of becoming a missionary.

Team France currently has 19 units (17 families, 2 singles) throughout the country. Allowances and work funds are transferred from the US to the France field, requiring on-field accounting.

Accounting: General Explanation

Funds are transferred from the “Home Office” of TEAM in Wheaton, IL to the France field twice a month. The first is for “Allowances” (similar to salary but based on size of family, not ability) and the second is for “Work Funds” (ministry expenses).

At the field level, there is much accounting in order to allow pastors and church planters to do what they do best and not be bogged down with administration. I handle the accounting that compiles financial data both for each missionary and the field as a whole which then gets reported back to “Home Office” where it is consolidated with data from fields around the globe to create reports for donors and the IRS for which a voluntary audit is prepared annually.

Additionally I help with budgeting, a critical part of the ministry so that we can be godly stewards with the resources God provides through donors like you.

The field allocates funds for various ministries and I account for these as well. Our work funds help to pay National Pastors through church plants until the church becomes self sustaining. We also raise and distribute funds for the acquisition of buildings to be used for church space (not at all like the churches in the US)… these are normally small facilities without any of the luxuries. Just enough space for stackable chairs and a couple rooms for kids' ministries.