Imagine with me…
Imagine with me a church that didn’t need to raise money to operate (they’re still allowed to raise money to give to the poor & bless others).
What if churches operated at $100 a month rather than $50,000 a month?
What would be possible? How would our churches change?
I’d love to hear how you’d imagine this would change a church. Leave a comment below:
Fund weekends away of rest/reflection in a retreat setting for those that couldn’t afford it on their own.
More high level training for entrepreneurs to use their gifts for the kingdom and make more money to give away.
My passions may have leaked out on this one
The average church budget puts 50% towards salaries. Imagine if large church pastors agreed to make a little less so that more could be given away.
There are many variables to my thought…my dreaming…but it would be an amazing opportunity to take all the tithe dollars and reinvest into the community where the Church is planted. If the particular Church is without a mortgage then (depending on giving and size of Church…which doesn’t matter, but it is a variable I have to account for in my dreaming) they could drop $10,000 on community renewal, or helping a struggling family get back on its feet (not just a gas card…) The Church could go into the community (weird thought I know…) and make a difference in hurting peoples lives. Take the money that would be normally spent on heating/air and pay for a semester of college for a student…The Church could invest in purchasing a taco bell franchise and using it as a means to build the community through offering jobs and job training. My dream if I ever become super rich is to start mailing checks to random homes and in the memo line write…Love Jesus! Bottom line Community renewal and fighting for justice in a way that can truly change a community and when its back to begin a solid community… the Church packs up its tent and moves to another community and repeats the process…
The first thing that comes to my mind is that churches would be much smaller – more of the home church concept. There is a limit to the size of a group that you can bring together on such a limited budget. The home church/small group type of church would fit here, and leaders of each group could meet occasionally to plan larger events. In this way individual churches could still be connected/accountable to a larger body.
Adam- We’re trying to develop a church based on this idea and it’s built around online media and grassroots house-type churches. I’d love to share some of our ideas with you and get some feedback.
You’re speaking my language John. Shoot an email to adam.j.lehman @ gmail.com.
OR give me a call (614.370.9968)