Are you putting off an outreach project for lack of funds? You don’t have to, says Sam Healey

We had been playing Trivial Pursuit for several hours. My next-door neighbour and I had collected all of the coloured segments and had made it back to the centre of the board.

Having fluffed my final question, I was now staring at defeat. Around the board, several pairs of eyes watched as the game came to its conclusion.

‘Right this’ll fox you,’ I said. ‘Which two principle forces are involved in the creation of diamonds?’
My neighbour responded with lightning speed: ‘Heat and pressure!’ Game over.

Malachi 3 refers to those who fear God as his ‘jewels’, and, just like diamonds, churches, and individual Christians, are formed by heat and pressure. God does this so that we can become the bright and dazzling light that he wants us to be in our communities – the jewel in his crown (Isaiah 62).

One of the sources of heat and pressure is money. A recent survey by Christians Against Poverty (CAP) of over 150 of its church partners in the UK found that two-thirds had delayed or postponed doing some form of social outreach because of insufficient finances. CAP runs a funding training day and one of the concepts introduced to delegates is the ‘wheel of fortune’. The aim of the wheel is to show that a successful church-funding model encompasses the short, medium and long term.

Each term represents the circles of relationships, either in or around a church, which can provide incomes streams. Like the Trivial Pursuit analogy, you can’t win the game without having all the coloured segments; this applies to church funding too.

Too many churches build their funding model on one income stream. The recent survey of CAP’s church partners found that eight in ten who responded were 80-100% reliant on congregational giving.

If you want to increase your income over the next six months, focus on the short to medium term. This will generate money quickly and allow you to use it where it is needed most.

Let’s look at some practical things that your church can do…

___

This is an extract from an article that was published in the October 2017 edition of  Reform

Subscribe to Reform