Financing the work of the church has been an evolving process over the course of church history. The very early church, as recorded in the Book of Acts, operated on the free will offerings of those who were moved to give. Later as the lines between church and state became blurred, taxation was often used to provide resources for the church.
I have seen old church buildings in New England where they charged “pew rent” as a means financing the church during the early days of our country. The method most of us are familiar with is church members giving their offerings as the primary source of income for the church. However, there are often other methods that are used to supplement the offerings of church members. Garage sales, car washes, bake sales, and other events can be used to finance special projects.
Once I was invited to meet with an African congregation in Dallas to explain how a capital fund program works for a church. I spoke about prayer and following God’s leadership and making commitments and being willing to give sacrificially. All of the things you normally hear during a capital fund campaign. This church needed to have a campaign because their project was estimated at one million dollars. A reachable figure for them but it would require commitment.
They all listened very politely, but it seemed like I was not getting through, so I stopped to ask if they had any questions. One lady graciously addressed me and said that I did not understand what they wanted from me. They were expecting me to talk to them about bake sales and carnivals like those that they used at school when they needed to raise money.
Obviously we had a disconnect. They wanted to hear about throwing beanbags and selling cookies and I was talking about sacrificial giving. I finally got them to give up the idea of holding a carnival when I asked how many carnivals it would take to raise one million dollars.
A new congregation in Schaumburg, Illinois, Waterfront Community Church, under the leadership of Pastor Jim Semradek, has developed a novel way of doing church finance. He recruited eight sponsors who are willing to give enough money to provide for the operational expenses of the church. They are very diligent to keep expenses at a minimum and do not have lofty goals of owning or building a large structure someday.
As a consequence, the congregation is able to give away 100% of the money that comes through the weekly offering. The money is used to meet the needs of people in the community or the church. Shenell Cooper is a great example. The twenty-eight year old had no one to turn to for support. Her mother was addicted to drugs and as a teenager, Shenell was left to fend for herself. At 18, she was a single mom to a daughter with cerebral palsy.
Pastor Semradek found Cooper through a Christian agency working with at-risk moms and their children. He was seeking someone who needed a hand up, not a hand out. Within a month, Waterfront church collected more than $10,000 for Cooper.
"These people truly of their heart want to help me," she said. "I came from nowhere, and feel like I'm going somewhere."
Not many small, young churches can afford to give that much money to help one mother and her child. Churches often find themselves caught in the viscous cycle of spending so much on the church that they have no money for real ministry to the community.
I do not know if the approach taken by Waterfront Community Church is a good model for others to follow. It does seem to work well for them. It teaches us the value of creative thinking when it comes to funding ministry. In these days when the economy has placed a serious challenge in front of the church, we must learn to think beyond the normal way of doing things. Perhaps God is the ultimate example of outside the box thinking. I do know that He wants us to do more with His money than simply hang onto the status quo
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