Our church is governed by a team of elders, as modeled for us in Scripture. These Elders shepherd our church body and staff through prayer, spiritual direction, and accountability.

ACC has chosen a One Fund approach to better position us to respond to where the Lord leads us as a church body. Rather than having designated funds that are locked into funding a specific project, the leadership at ACC wants to remain open handed with what the Lord has entrusted us with. Our Elders and Leadership do not take this responsibility lightly.  Our team remains desperate for the Lord to guide every decision made and this direction is only revealed through surrender and prayer. Our greatest desire is to seek His will and step in faithful obedience wherever He leads us as a body of believers.

Each Fall, the Directors on our staff are asked to begin preparing their budget requests for the following year. During this process each Director carefully reviews how they spent their budget for the current year, forecasts any ministry growth opportunities for the upcoming year, and projects the budget needed for any expansion. The proposed budget is then submitted to the Operations Director for review, then presented to the Elders. The Elders then review the proposed budget in detail, asking for additional clarifying information and/or requesting adjustment be made to proposed budget lines. After prayer and deliberation, the Elders approve the Operating Budget for the coming year.

As a church we also want to tithe on what is given to us as a church. That is why each year we give away 10% of what we received the prior year. For example: in 2022, ACC’s income was $8.3M, so in 2023 we will gave away $830,000; in 2023 our income was $10M, so in 2024 we will give away $1M. Overseeing this process is our Missions and Benevolence team. This volunteer team vets organizations both locally and globally and reviews all funding requests.

After months of searching, God opened the door for us to purchase the piece of property on Hamilton Road in 2019. At that time, ACC had enough to pay for 50% of the property. A loan was taken out to finance the remainder of the purchase price, which was paid off in full within 12 months. After interviewing multiple contractors, we felt the best match was JohnsonKreis out of Birmingham because of their extensive experience building churches. Construction was set to begin in 2020, but the pandemic put a halt on that timeline. In March of 2021, we were confident the Lord was opening doors for ACC to finally begin the building process. During the building process, we met many obstacles, but none of which caught the Lord by surprise. We have trusted Him every step of the way for His provision. We could have never anticipated the environment in which we would find ourselves: supply chain issues, labor shortages, escalating building materials costs, delayed shipping challenges – but through it all the Lord has been so faithful. While in the end, the project exceeded what was originally projected, because of your generosity, we self-funded over 30% of the total building cost, contributing $10M toward the project. The remainder of the project was financed through a kingdom-minded organization called Wesleyan Investment Foundation. This group is so passionate about equipping churches for growth and expansion, and we are honored to be a part of their mission.

The Elders’ approach annually is to project income and then have budgeted expenses come in well under that income for the year. Each year ACC’s income has exceeded our expenses by a healthy amount. Excess is used for debt retirement, future expansion opportunities and placed in operating reserves to maintain a strong financial foundation as a church.

Donations made through ACC’s Venmo account will be reflected on your giving statement. Venmo transactions are imported into our system weekly, so it may take several days for them to be reflected on your record.  If you have any questions, please reach out to us at giving@auburncommunitychurch.com.

Giving statements are emailed quarterly and year-end statements are emailed by January 31st every year.  If you do not receive your giving statement please reach out to us at giving@auburncommunitychurch.com.  You may also access your giving history anytime in your church center app or at this link!

If you have questions or need assistance with your giving, please feel free to reach out to us at giving@auburncommunitychurch.com