This works for me:

Use the signature tool, double click in the measure you want two beats and change the time signature to 2/4 (from 4/4 I assume). Then use the measure tool, double click and choose Always Hide under Time Signature. 

Example:

I think you're talking about splitting a measure between staves. You can do this with split points. Go to the Help menu, open the User Manual and search for split points and follow the instructions there. Way easier than what you've been doing.

I have tried following Martin Haub's advice, but on trying to use the measure tool as he describes, when I double click I get a 'measure attributes' dialog box but this makes no mention of Time Signature or Always Hide .  If i right click instead of double click, I get a menu which includes Time Signature but there is no option Always Hide.

I am using Finale Print Music 2014 with Windows 10. 

https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115000711547-How-do-you-end-a-hymn-score-half-way-through-the-last-measure-

You can also do this by hiding the time signature for the "split" measures and make measures with the number of beats you need. It's a pain, but I notate a lot of church music, and the old convention for hymns was to split the measures according to the text, not by the musical measure. This makes a lot of sense from the singer's viewpoint.  

The main problem you will find with this approach is that it messes with the measure numbers. An instrumentalist playing from such a score will be confused if there are rests. You can fix the measure number problem by selectively not counting the measures in the numbering (under measure attributes). 

Also, rather than mess with the "hide/show time signatures" under measure attributes, I just turn off time signatures at the staff level (staff attributes).

I have been doing some of this with a friend in Tuvalu, where he is translating a number of hymns. We're dealing with two issues, here: the "short" measures at the beginning and end of the staves, and the same thing, midstaff.

For the first pickup, just use a pickup measure. (If this is for playback, and repeats multiple times, the process is different, but let it go, for now.) At the end of the first staff, use the Split Measure plugin to leave that measure with three beats, and move the single-beat remainder to the next staff. You can also choose to end the short measure with an invisible barline.

Mid-staff, use create an expression of the double barline, and drop it in where needed.

Using these two tips, there is no need to fiddle with measure numbers; they will be correct.

I don't remember measure numbers in the hymnals I grew up with, but I suppose if one creates instrumental accompaniments for them, then measure numbers become important.

I agree about the measure numbers. I only used them because the poster Eason mentioned them.

That's technically true about split measures, but the results aren't always satisfactory, especially where lyric placement is concerned. If there were a way to set the split point exactly at beat 4, for instance, it might look better. Maybe they've made improvements to the horizontal split point feature since I quit using it. 

You can select the split measure beat wherever you like. And in your example, the lyrics align perfectly. But nothing is perfect, every time. You let the program do its thing to get it as close as it can. Spend the money on something like Perfect Layout, to maybe get it closer.  But manual intervention will (almost) always be needed.

I'm sorry, the Bach example is over-complicated and confusing.

I just looked at Lutheran hymnals going back a couple hundred years and all have variations of this from the current ELW. Clear, concise and easy to read.