Leland's Seven Stewardship Principles — Church Stewardship Program

A partnership with Leland Rubin, creator of the Seven Stewardship Principles, and Allan Bell - CPA, CMA, MBA, Nsites founder and creator

Action plans

Findings, recommendations and assigned work

A shared workflow across Church Financial Health, Church Operational Readiness, People & Engagement and the Seven Principles Academy. Nothing is auto-executed: every action carries a human approval state.

Synthetic Sample Community Church data

Action register

Each row traces back to the evidence that produced it.

  • ACT-001 · S4 Cultivate Generosity Through Giving · Church Financial Health

    Reactivate 138 lapsed contributor households

    High severityIn progress

    Run a pastoral reactivation sequence segmented by lapse reason, beginning with paused recurring givers.

    Owner
    Stewardship Lead
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-10-31 · Q4 stewardship
    Outcome measure
    Reactivate 40+ households; recurring share above 42%.
    Evidence: Donor lapse signals · trailing 12 monthsConfidence: HighApproved by leadership

    · First 60 outreach calls completed.

    · Track results against the 41 already reactivated this quarter.

    Attachments (placeholders): lapse-segments.csv (demo)

  • ACT-002 · S2 Build a Financial Reserve · Church Financial Health

    Reduce operating runway risk to the 6-month reserve target

    Critical severityApproved

    Adopt a written reserve policy and a funding schedule tied to monthly surplus.

    Owner
    Finance Director
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-11-15 · Board approval
    Outcome measure
    Reserve policy adopted; runway above 5 months by March.
    Evidence: Forecast & reserves · 4.1 monthsConfidence: HighApproved by leadership

    · Board finance committee reviewed draft policy.

    Attachments (placeholders): reserve-policy-draft.pdf (demo)

  • ACT-003 · Operational — Guest Follow-up · People & Engagement

    Assign a follow-up owner to every first-time guest

    High severityIn progress

    Route check-in records to a named owner per service with a 48-hour standard.

    Owner
    Connections Director
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-10-12 · October connection push
    Outcome measure
    48-hour follow-up rate above 90%.
    Evidence: Visitor pipeline · 13 unassignedConfidence: HighApproved by leadership

    · Owner rotation drafted for all three services.

  • ACT-004 · S1 Build Financial Literacy · Seven Stewardship Principles — Build Financial Literacy

    Close the offering-count segregation of duties gap

    High severityComplete

    Require two unrelated counters and independent reconciliation review.

    Owner
    Church Administrator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-10-10 · Controls remediation
    Outcome measure
    100% of counts two-person verified.
    Evidence: Controls walkthrough · Lesson 4Confidence: HighCoach approved

    · Verified on three consecutive Sundays.

    Attachments (placeholders): count-sheet-sample.pdf (demo)

  • ACT-005 · Operational — Guest Experience · Operational Readiness — Facilities

    Complete accessibility audit at both campuses

    Medium severityProposed

    Engage an accessibility reviewer and log every barrier with an owner.

    Owner
    Facilities Lead
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-11-30 · Sunday experience plan
    Outcome measure
    Audit complete; all critical barriers assigned.
    Evidence: Guest journey map · accessibility gapConfidence: MediumPending leadership approval

  • ACT-006 · S7 Give Generously · Seven Stewardship Principles — Give Generously

    Consolidate 17 missions commitments into an aligned portfolio

    Medium severityProposed

    Score every commitment and recommend continue, improve, expand or end.

    Owner
    Missions Pastor
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-12-01 · FY27 budget
    Outcome measure
    Portfolio of 6-8 commitments with written agreements and outcome measures.
    Evidence: Outreach inventory · $214,000 across 17 partnersConfidence: MediumPending leadership approval

  • ACT-007 · S5 Invest in Future Ministry · Seven Stewardship Principles — Invest in Future Ministry

    Publish the future ministry investment filter

    High severityIn progress

    Adopt a five-question future-ministry investment filter and apply it to the next budget and calendar cycle.

    Owner
    Executive Pastor
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-10-15 · FY27 planning
    Outcome measure
    Leader alignment above 80% on re-measurement.
    Evidence: Leadership alignment at 68%Confidence: HighApproved by leadership

    · Draft filter circulated to the leadership team.

    Attachments (placeholders): future-ministry-filter-draft.docx (demo)

  • ACT-OR-001 · S1 Build Financial Literacy · Church Operational Readiness — Accounting

    Close the internal financial controls readiness gap

    Critical severityIn progress

    Adopt a written internal-controls policy with two-person counts, dual authorization thresholds and an annual controls self-review reported to the board.

    Owner
    Church Administrator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-10-31 · Controls remediation
    Outcome measure
    100% of counts two-person verified; policy adopted and self-review filed.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Internal Financial Controls scored 2 of 6 (33%)Confidence: MediumApproved by leadership

    · Two-person count rota drafted for both campuses.

    Attachments (placeholders): controls-policy-draft.pdf (demo)

  • ACT-OR-002 · S2 Build a Financial Reserve · Church Operational Readiness — Accounting

    Close the cash flow management readiness gap

    Critical severityApproved

    Adopt a written reserve policy with a funding schedule and maintain a rolling 13-week cash forecast reviewed monthly.

    Owner
    Finance Director
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-11-15 · Board approval
    Outcome measure
    Reserve policy adopted; runway above five months; forecast reviewed monthly.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Cash Flow Management scored 2 of 4 (50%)Confidence: MediumApproved by leadership

    · Reserve policy shares the ACT-002 board milestone.

  • ACT-OR-003 · Operational — Technology governance · Church Operational Readiness — Information Technology

    Close the it security measures readiness gap

    Critical severityIn progress

    Enforce multi-factor authentication on all accounts, deploy managed endpoint protection, patch within 30 days and adopt a written incident response plan.

    Owner
    IT Coordinator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-11-30 · Security baseline
    Outcome measure
    MFA on 100% of accounts; endpoint protection on 100% of devices; incident plan adopted.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · IT Security Measures scored 3 of 6 (50%)Confidence: MediumApproved by leadership

    · MFA enabled for finance staff; remaining accounts pending.

  • ACT-OR-004 · Operational — Technology governance · Church Operational Readiness — Information Technology

    Close the data backup & recovery readiness gap

    Critical severityProposed

    Automate daily backups with an off-site immutable copy and perform a documented restore test at least annually.

    Owner
    IT Coordinator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-12-15 · Data resilience
    Outcome measure
    Daily automated backup with off-site copy and one successful documented restore test.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Data Backup & Recovery scored 2 of 5 (40%)Confidence: MediumPending leadership approval

  • ACT-OR-005 · Operational — Technology governance · Church Operational Readiness — Information Technology

    Close the email security readiness gap

    High severityProposed

    Publish and enforce SPF, DKIM and DMARC, enable external-sender warnings, and require a verbal wire-verification rule.

    Owner
    IT Coordinator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-11-30 · Security baseline
    Outcome measure
    DMARC enforced; external warnings on; phishing training completed by 100% of staff.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Email Security scored 1 of 2 (50%)Confidence: MediumPending leadership approval

  • ACT-OR-006 · Operational — Human Resources · Church Operational Readiness — Human Resources

    Close the hr policies documentation readiness gap

    High severityProposed

    Consolidate and date-stamp all HR policies, obtain an annual legal review, and collect signed acknowledgments from every worker.

    Owner
    Church Administrator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2027-01-15 · HR foundation
    Outcome measure
    Complete policy set reviewed within 12 months; 100% acknowledgments on file.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · HR Policies Documentation scored 2 of 5 (40%)Confidence: MediumPending leadership approval

  • ACT-OR-007 · Operational — Human Resources · Church Operational Readiness — Human Resources

    Close the employee training & development readiness gap

    High severityIn progress

    Define required annual training by role — safeguarding, controls, privacy — and track completion to 100%.

    Owner
    Church Administrator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-12-31 · Required training cycle
    Outcome measure
    100% completion of required training recorded per person.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Employee Training & Development scored 2 of 4 (50%)Confidence: MediumCoach approved

    · Safeguarding training scheduled for October.

  • ACT-OR-008 · Operational — Data governance · Church Operational Readiness — Information Technology

    Close the data privacy & protection readiness gap

    High severityProposed

    Publish a privacy notice, complete a data inventory with a retention schedule, and enforce role-based access to giving and pastoral records.

    Owner
    Church Administrator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2027-01-15 · Privacy foundation
    Outcome measure
    Privacy notice published; inventory and retention schedule adopted; access matrix enforced.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Data Privacy & Protection scored 2 of 4 (50%)Confidence: MediumPending leadership approval

  • ACT-OR-009 · Operational — Technology governance · Church Operational Readiness — Information Technology

    Close the network security readiness gap

    High severityProposed

    Separate guest wifi from staff and finance networks, keep firewall firmware current, and review remote access quarterly.

    Owner
    IT Coordinator
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2026-12-31 · Network hardening
    Outcome measure
    Guest traffic isolated; firmware current; remote-access review documented quarterly.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Network Security scored 3 of 5 (60%)Confidence: MediumPending leadership approval

  • ACT-OR-010 · S1 Build Financial Literacy · Church Operational Readiness — Accounting

    Close the audited financial statements readiness gap

    High severityProposed

    Engage an independent firm for an annual audit or review, publish a year-end close calendar, and track management-letter items to closure.

    Owner
    Finance Director
    Coach
    Leland Rubin
    Due · milestone
    2027-02-28 · FY27 assurance cycle
    Outcome measure
    Independent report issued within 120 days of year end with zero material weaknesses.
    Evidence: Operational readiness topic · Audited Financial Statements scored 3 of 6 (50%)Confidence: HighPending leadership approval

Workflow states

The same lifecycle applies to every finding, wherever it originated.

  1. Step 1

    Proposed

  2. Step 2

    Approved

  3. Step 3

    In progress

  4. Step 4

    Blocked

  5. Step 5

    Complete

  6. Step 6

    Verified