5 Things I Wish Every Church Planter Knew (Part 1)
Recently, I've been talking w/ lots of guys who are launching new churches. I LOVE THIS! History has proven that new churches do an amazing job of connecting w/ people who are cynical of Christians, confused about God and skeptical of Church. Unfortunately, many new churches still fail. As a result, I'm doing a series of blogs on "5 Things I Wish Every Church Planter Knew".
1 - DON'T BE STUPID WITH MONEY!
When I first got married, I wanted to have a home like my parents. The only problem was, they had been married for awhile and it took many years of discipline and hard work to afford the home they owned. Church planters must embrace the fact that they are NEW and attempting to have all the "bells and whistles" is STUPID. Here are some things you can go without:
- Top of the line Mac computers that equal the technology seen on Star Trek.
- An audio/video system that would make the sound engineers at Radio City Music Hall drool.
- Office space (We grew to over 1,000 people, in our first year, w/o an office. YOU DON'T NEED ONE.)
- A special church phone (Google Voice is FREE and gives you your own number. It can be forwarded anywhere.)
- A website that rivals one Bill Gates could design. Clovers sites has templates that are simple, clean and inexpensive.
- Paid staff (It is a waste to pay someone to do something a volunteer is capable of doing. We only hire someone if they will be overseeing and/or mobilizing a large team of volunteers. Our goal is 1 full-time staff member for every 250 people.)
- "Church provided" cell phones, laptops, etc. Great Lakes Church does not provide equipment to staff members that they should already own. We do give a small stipend each month to help offset some of the costs involved w/ phones, internet and computer.
- Food! If everybody on staff expects the church to reimburse them for "business lunches" you'll end up spending loads of money. Don't do it. It's amazing how quickly a "business lunch" turns into a "coffee appointment" if the church isn't paying.
Here is a breakdown of our budget at Great Lakes: 10% savings, 10% missions outside of GLC, 80% operations (building lease, salaries, operational costs, advertising, etc.). Also, our 2011 budget will be based on 90% of 2010's offerings. That's right. We plan w/ lots of margin so that the church does not become a financial burden to anyone. Because of this, we have earned credibility with those who sacrifice financially to support the ministries of GLC.
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