Some of what we’re learning about money and churches is confounding. However, much is also liberating. I spent much of today with pastors of both newly planted churches and thriving congregations who are learning to tame the money monster thru carefully chosen jobs, businesses and/or careers. The benefits to churches and their pastors are obvious. …
Liberating Finances in a Church Plant (actually, in any congregation) Read More »
Planting microchurches as a freelance pastor carries many strong benefits. There are the obvious financial strengths like medical benefits, paid vacations with bonuses and retirement accounts. These goodies come with a career but not necessarily with a bivocational fallback to make ends meet. But one of the greatest benefits associated with having a career while …
I was sitting in a pub in Cork, Ireland when an interesting blog popped up in my email. In, “Rural Matters: Part of God’s Plan to Transform Our Communities and Our World,” Ed Stetzer points to the, often unmet spiritual needs in rural communities. The people across the table were American missionaries making their home …
I sat through an interesting board meeting early this week. Church management underwent some healthy change. As we looked at our financial statement, someone voiced concern over some costly, “out-of-the-box,” expenses associated with an annual missions project. Specifically, moving resources through a certain country we “tip” officials at various checkpoints. The tips involve a lot …
Thinking of planting a church? Or, perhaps multiplying one from your congregation? Maybe you pastor a “portable church” that meets in public spaces. The following might be helpful to you. It is an excerpt from an upcoming book series called “How To Hire, Fire and Manage In Between.” A Single Salary Consider a congregation that …
Single Salary, Virtual Office, Financial Surplus… Read More »
While the Western church grows richer it is gradually edging itself to the margins of society. We’ve shown little numerical growth in two decades and some studies show it dipping into negative territory—furthermore our society is more polarized than ever, mostly over issues pertaining to morality. That’s the bad news. Have you noticed that what …
How would you like to have a billion dollars worth or real estate to help with your newest church plant? We did and it was better than we expected. Illegal At The Beach We actually started our last congregation under a tree in a beach park—illegally. Not real fun when the policeman would slowly check …