Should your church start a business venture to increase cash flow?
The number of conversations I’m having with church leaders about their church possibly starting a business venture is increasing. Some are wanting to absorb a local nonprofit that is doing good work but can’t survive on its own. Some are looking to generate alternative revenue streams to supplement their regular cash contributions.
Whatever your reasoning is for exploring this option, Nonprofits and Business Ventures offers some good advice.
Of the seven points listed, the one – in my opinion – that should be listed at the top is list at #3:
Stay true to your mission. Make sure the for-profit activity fits with your primary mission. It will be easier to get the support of your board, volunteers and donors. Make sure that the business you choose is compatible with your mission and reflects your organization’s values. However, while keeping your mission in mind, do pick the best business idea for your organization. You do need to make money, so pick an activity that is likely to succeed.
It is absolutely essential that you are clear about what you’re doing and how it will help you accomplish your church’s core mission and purpose. That is the “contract” you have with those who financially give and faithfully volunteer to make the ministry of your church happen. You don’t want to do anything to dilute the intensity of that effort or distract from your primary purpose and function. Both could be disasterous to your ability to sustain your current ministry efforts.
It’s a viable option. Just be intentional and know what you’re doing. This is not one of those places where “winging it” is a good idea.
How you present your church matters
Perception is reality. PERIOD.
How people…your people…the ones who sit in your pews…perceive YOUR church…matters.
People gravitate toward things that they connect with emotionally.
What people connect with is what they are drawn to.
What draws them can become their source of inspiration.
What inspires thems shapes their passion and view of the world…and the role they play in it.
That passion drives their interest and willingness to get involved.
Being involved is critical to life transformation.
When we fund the minsitry of the church, we are empowering the Body of Christ to facilitate total life transformation.
Funding church isn’t about budgets and dollars but about extending an invitation to something BIGGER than our own lives.
How we present our church to the people in our pews every Sunday matters. The funding and people needed to accomplish the mission of the church depends upon it.
Think about this carefully.
Here is an example of how one church starts their service. How does your church compare?
Build Community, Fund Ministry Series: Connection creates community
One of the great things about hosting a blog like Church Giving Matters is that I get a good excuse to hang out with really great people doing BIG things for the Kingdom. I’m so excited about this new series entitled “Build Community, Fund Ministry.” It is a first attempt to make the connection between the process of member assimilation and ministry funding.
To help, I have Lauren Hunter with ChurchTechToday.com, Steve Caton with Church Community Builder, and Tom Roepke a really innovative church leader who has experience in institutional fund development and currently serves in a local church setting. This is a six part series. Each Monday, I’ll post a new podcast capturing our discussion. I will also post a brief outline so that you can quickly preview what will be discussed.
I hope you are as blessed by this series as much as the four of us were in the process of creating it.
Here is the outline of our second conversation:
Key ideas:
1. Movement to an emphasis on large group participation only makes it easy for people to go unnoticed.
2. Measure more than who is coming in the door and who is leaving. The most undervalued and mismanaged aspects of church membership are assimilation and retention.
3. Leverage technology to make assimilation less intuitive and more systematic. Drive social media activity toward a measurable outcome.
Listen or download the second podcast in this series.
Previous posts in this series:
1. Lifecycle of Church Membership
How to leverage social media for greater ministry impact
Today I will present to a group of church leaders at an event hosted by Jeff Ingram from the Louisiana Baptist Convention. My purpose is to expose the philosophy and practice of social media within a ministry context so that churches can begin to leverage this incredible medium to increase ministry impact.
Every church should have a social media strategy. Even if you’re not “there,” the person in the pew has already made social media a part of their lives. By not having a strategy, we are self-limiting our communication efforts. With so many nonprofits fighting for the mindshare and dollars of the person in our pew, the church simply can’t afford to ignore the ministry value of this platform.
Fundraising is not the “F” word
I really appreciate this statement from Marc A. Pitman.
I was reminded of it after a conversation that left me with an even greater sense of resolve and clarity about my role in helping churches fund ministry. It was also a reality check that there is an intentional effort by organizations outside the church to capture the dollar of the people who sit in our pews every Sunday morning.
Recently, I met with the leader of a very large Christian nonprofit. My intent was to get to know him as a partner in ministry to the community. Something unexpected happened during our conversation. The more he learned about what I do, the more visibly uncomfortable he became with the direction of our conversation.
He finally said what was on his mind. He was appaled at the idea that any church would actively engage with someone like me to improve giving in local churches. He believes that people give faithfully to churches already and don’t need encouragement to give more. As he unpacked his history as a preacher’s kid, I began to understand that some of his perspective was deeply rooted in bad experiences and faulty assumptions. I also observed the contrast in his belief that it was OK for his organization to ask those same pew sitters to financially underwrite his organization and cause.
I don’t believe in scarcity. I believe in multiplying dollars rather than arguing over how to split dollars. I also believe that whatever God has called us to do, He will also ensure we have to resources to accomplish the task. However, I don’t believe it’s given to us on a “silver platter.” Church leaders have to cultivate it.
This experience also reminded of a sobering reality that the church is competing for share of mind and share of dollar with many other organizations and causes. It’s the responsibility of the church leader to ensure a compelling case has been made so that the time, talent, and treasure God intended to fund the Kingdom is appropriately invested by the person in the pew.
What keeps me up at night is wondering how much money finds its way elsewhere because we, as leaders of His church, refuse to overcome our reluctance to talk about stewardship and generosity. Sometimes it just makes me sick to my stomach.
Reality check: The more we remain silent about the subject of money, the more we help fund someone else’s budget.
It’s “game on.” Are you ready?
Are you a church leader looking for a “social media 101″ event?
My friend Bill Seaver is leading an event called Social Media Bootcamp on March 24, 2010, in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Everything I know about social media I learned from this guy. Seriously!
I asked Bill why church leaders should attend this event even though it’s not directly tied to local church ministry. Here is what he said:
Boot camp is important because it’s going to equip and empower with a plan just for you. It’s not just an info session like some seminars.
My interest in social media and the interest of the clients I work with related to social media is NOT about looking “cool.” My clients are interested in a social media plan of action that will make a difference in their ability to increase giving capacity, multiply ministry opportunity, and maximize Kingdom impact.
Again, I learned EVERYTHING I know about social media from Bill Seaver.
If you can, I would suggest you make plans to attend. This event would be a great place to start learning how to communicate in ways that are already native to the people in your pews.
Before you can leverage social media to increase funding, you have to understand how it works.
Tithing rap video
I particularly enjoyed the references to MC Hammer and New Kids on the Block. (Does that make me old?)
Top 10 posts from Church Giving Matters in February
Just in case you missed a few posts along the way, here are the top 10 from February:
1. Tithing tricks you don’t want your members to know about
2. 11 ways to turn year-end statements into dollars
3. How important are the 30 seconds before you take an offering?
4. Morning Star Church pastor talks about recent giving letter to congregation
5. 10 ways to ensure “no Sunday services” doesn’t break the church budget
6. 3 questions every church leader needs to ask when giving is down
7. Five ways to DECREASE giving in your church
8. The economy’s impact and I DON’T CARE!
About
Ben Stroup recently joined GENERIS, an innovative stewardship consulting firm focused on accelerating generosity and funding the work of the Kingdom, after more than four years of ministry on church staff and five years of ministry with LifeWay Christian Resources.
His primary focus is helping churches maximize their giving capacity and diversify their funding streams while providing the structure needed to build long-term sustainable ministries.
Ben writes and presents at various events on subjects such as leveraging technology to drive funding, understanding the changing rules of church giving, and establishing sustainable funding models for ministry. His writing has been published in magazines such as Church Solutions, Church Executive, The Ledger (NACBA) and other trade and industry publications.
He maintains an ongoing dialogue about stewardship and giving with pastors and church leaders through the Church Giving Matters blog, Twitter (@ben_stroup), and Facebook (Ben Stroup).
Ben calls himself the “Chief Broker of Opportunity” because he helps pastors change the conversation from “What do we have to cut to survive?” to “What does God want us to do next?” He graduated cum laude from Belmont University. Ben and his wife, Brooke, and son, Carter, live near Nashville, Tennessee.
Ben published his first book in 2009 which sold more than 6,100 copies in the first 10 weeks and is currently available in more than 100 retail stores across the country. He is currently working on a second book.
View Ben’s profile for more information.
