A friend of mine posed me a theoretical question about his church, and I think it's a great one to put some creativity to. This modest-sized church has been making a regular debt payment around $20,000 every month for a few years. It intends to pay off this building debt soon.
Which means the church will soon be in the position of having an extra $20K in its budget...unattached to anything. Certainly it could spend the money on itself. New lighting, new audio/visual, new whatever. But this church doesn't want to head this direction -- which is highly commendable, in my opinion. It wants to use the money to do good in its community, to help people, and to make the world a better place.
So, even though the question is theoretical at this point, there's a chance it really could happen. What this minister is asking for is ideas.
If your church had that much money to spend on others every month, how would you spend it?
I have my own ideas, but I thought I'd open it up to you guys. What would you do?
Comment away...
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(Note: When I say above that it's "a friend of mine," that's not a sneaky way of referring to myself. It's not me. Please don't come asking me for $20,000 next month.)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Ideas Needed: What Could You Do with $20K/Month?
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14 comments:
Mission budgets are sorely lacking in most churches, esp. money directed overseas. IIRC, only two cents on every dollar given in churches goes to cross-cultural ministry.
I Tweetered this to you, but I'll repeat it here: I'd send people around town all day in a church people mover, picking up corner panhandlers and giving them a meal, a wash, and some words of hope.
"But they'll game the system! And steal stuff! And probably make the van smell!"
Perhaps. But shut up.
@webtraffic Thank you for those kind words. The "shut up" at the end was my favorite. Not a joke. Laughed so hard it made my brain hurt. And now my brain hurts. THANKS.
Honestly? I would love to see the pastor let the people know about the new money in the budget. Come up with a list of about 5 things they could do with it. All of them should be something either community or missions related. My personal vote would be to build 3-5 clean water wells in developing countries per month (see charitywater.org). $20,000 can make a huge, ginormous, unbelievable impact. PER MONTH is even more astonishing. I applaud this church for not wanting a new sound system. *COMMENCE VIGOROUS, SINCERE APPLAUSE*
Soup kitchen, homeless shelter, adoption assistance.
Really, if I went there I would push the adoption assistance the most. It's extremely expensive, and children all over the world need loving homes.
The church that my mom is a secretary for actually saves a lot of money. She's not sure what for, but they have a pretty good sized account for a rainy day...so that's probably what they would do with the money.
Without a doubt, I would start a food bank. The church I attend ministers to about 500 families who really need the help, and in these economic times that number is growing.
I think the needs in the Tasmanian community are in the area of young people. If I got to decide where the money went in Tassie, our church would sponsor some chaplains to go into government high schools.
Hi Jason,
I'd like to see them use the money to reach out right there in their community. Maybe they could buy grocery store gift cards and stand outside the store and hand out the cards with a church business card attached. That would shock some people! I loved the food bank idea. Maybe they could put together a fund to assist single moms with utility bills...car repairs...gasoline...college tuition...daycare assistance...maybe they could open a daycare.
This isn't all that creative, but why not partner with a ministry that's already existing? Rather than spending money on the start-up of a ministry, go to one that is already established and help them. Or pick a couple ministries to help. I'd imagine that even half of that a month would be a huge help to a lot of ministries.
Thanks, everybody, for the great ideas. I'll pass them along to the guy at the church. If you have more, keep 'em coming.
I'm not trying to brag -- well I guess I am, but I'm bragging on God.
About 4 years ago, our church was under an interim pastor with over $6 million of debt and little cash in the bank. The church asked members to pray for God's provision to clear the debt in one year. It actually took about 20 months, but it got done -- under an interim pastor.
Then the church decided to keep giving above and beyond the tithe. That additional giving has helped with a national launch of Kid's Beach Clubs, a new Chinese translation of the Bible, countless short-term mission trips, and church plants around the nation.
You can see a summary of all this at http://www.firsteuless.com/miracle-story/
Today, it's becoming an organized compassion ministry to meet the needs of the less fortunate in our community. You can see what's just getting started at http://www.6stones.org/
I would pay off someone's debt and challenge them to use the money they were paying to debt for a cause (social justice, poverty, etc...).
MISSIONS
As a church planter, my vote is for church planting grants. Help launch a new church every month.
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