Catalyst Blog [happenings and other things at catalyst]
I’m starting a church from scratch. Well, it’s not just me. There’s a few people chipping in. But the key word here is “scratch.” This means we have nothing.
This isn’t good. Churches that have nothing end up making very little impact. Every church planting book I’ve read, every conference I’ve attended and every website I visit tells me that I can’t launch a church without money. They are mostly right. But I don’t care. I’m doing it anyway.
It’s not that I disagree with the experts. I sure do wish I had a lot of money with which to launch so I could say that those guys know what they’re talking about. But, unfortunately, money hasn’t come easily for us.
We started working on the plan to launch Catalyst about a year ago. I did the research and wrote up a budget. I sent out some letters and emails to friends and churches. I didn’t get much response. Actually, I don’t think anyone responded the first time. So I lowered my sights. Thinking I had scared people away, I reworked the budget. I cut things in an attempt to make it seem we could get by with only the bare necessities. I sent another round of letters and emails. I even offered to meet with people in person to share our vision. Crickets.
I’m not an expert but I do have some experience asking for money. I once sold fruit in my neighborhood when I was in eleventh grade. It was for my high school Future Farmers of America. My parents bought some. I think a neighbor did too. But I didn’t win the prize for selling the most. No big shocker there.
My high school failures aside, I thought it would be relatively easy to ask for money for a new church. I thought the funds would come pouring in. After all, isn’t church stuff something that most of my friends care about? And other churches…I thought they’d be lining up at my front door to offer a handout.
This just hasn’t been the case. For whatever reason I have not been very successful at raising money for my church plant. I don’t feel like a failure and I haven’t lost much sleep over it because I honestly believe God will provide what we need. But I can’t just stop there and quit asking. Why? Because this isn’t about me being successful at raising money. It’s about something bigger.
I know from looking at Scripture that PEOPLE are the primary way through which God provides blessing. God doesn't give church planters a money tree. We have to get out there and ask until we’re tired of hearing no – then ask some more. Some of my friends think I sound like a broken record. But God has spread out wealth among the masses. And those masses with the money don’t know that we need some of it until we ask.
So, in case I have missed some of you in my first several attempts, I’m sending out another ask. We’re not asking for a lot. Five bucks, that’s all. From our friends, from other churches, from anyone who has five bucks. That’s not a lot. After taxes, it wouldn’t even buy a foot long sub. But if enough people give it will add up fast.
And naturally you would ask, “Just where is my money going?” Good question. Here’s the short list:
- Rent. We will be renting public facilities. We don’t have our own building for several reasons. Buildings cost money…a lot of it. We believe we can make better use of our resources if we rent space instead of dumping a lot of funds into upkeep and maintenance on our own place. Money not spent on a building equals money we can spend on ministry.
- Equipment. Because we’re renting, we will need to provide all of our own equipment. This includes everything from a sound system and projection equipment to nursery supplies and print materials.
- Free stuff. We believe that the money we receive is not our own. It belongs to God. Therefore, we shouldn’t be holding onto it. We should be spending it on ministry. We want to be the church in town known for giving things away – Bibles, coffee, resources, free lunches and school supplies for kids, and so on.
- Staff. We currently have one staff member – me. And I don’t get paid a dime. I’m OK with that for now. But we MUST add additional staff in order to meet the needs of our community. We need to hire a youth pastor and a children’s pastor immediately. It’s hard to hire an expert in any area without paying them.
- People. You will not be investing in Catalyst Church. You will be investing in the lives of people in Cullman, Alabama who need to know that there is a God who loves them and is passionate about them. You’ll be helping provide them with a safe place where they can hear about God and explore who he is. You’ll be helping us reach folks who have been burned by the church or think it’s irrelevant.
Why am I asking again? Why now? Because we are getting very close to launching. In fact, the ink is still drying on our rental contract. I can’t share details at this time but we’ll be opening our doors in a matter of weeks. It’s going to be a mad dash to that first Sunday. We have a lot of things to get in order before then and we need money to do it.
I secretly hope that someone will see this post and give us a truckload of money. I hope there’s another church out there that’s been where we are and will want to bless a new church with a lot of resources. I hope there’s a wealthy couple that wants to do something generous. I hope word spreads about this new church in a little town that wants to do big things. But I’ll settle for $5 from my friends, their friends, and their friends’ friends.
For an easy, tax-free way to donate your $5 visit https://www.givimo.com/welovecullman
posted by Chris Owens
I have a calendar on my desk. It’s one of those flip calendars. It was a gift from the last church I worked at in Cincinnati. They give them out to all new staff members. It’s a monthly calendar and each page contains a sentence or two that serves as a reminder of why they do what they do. There are only 31 pages and every month you start over so you are constantly reminded of the vision of Crossroads Church. It helps keep leaders focused on what’s important.
After I left staff I took that calendar with me. I use it as a reminder. I still flip the pages every day. Each thought on that 31-day calendar helps remind me of why I’m here and why we’re starting this church in Cullman. I’m looking at one of those thoughts right now. It says,
We’re not here to create a new-and-improved religious service. And we’re not here to try to make Jesus “cool” or relevant. God is always relevant, and “cool” isn’t something to be strived for.
Our purpose in starting a new church isn’t to create an awesome worship experience with killer music. Our purpose is not to have the best teaching in town. We don’t want to have better programming, ministries or events than the church down the street. We’re not here to try to outdo, outperform or out-anything anyone else.
So what are we here for? We’re here for one purpose only…changed lives.
Too many Christians have an overwhelming desire to justify their faith to their non-believing friends. This often leads to foolish attempts to try to make Jesus look cool. And on the macro level this tends to bleeds into our church services. But if you’ve read the New Testament you can’t overlook the fact that Jesus didn’t give a rip about being cool. Neither did the leaders of the early church. They were only interested in changing lives.
We want to be more like Jesus. That’s why we don’t put a lot of stock in being “cool.” We’re more interested in allowing God to be relevant through the timeless truths we find in Scripture.
Now, this doesn’t mean we won’t throw in some great music or stunning visuals. And we hope our teaching is above average. But we’re not so caught up in hoping that our music or our creativity will make somebody like us and want to go to church here. We want to have the kind of effect Jesus did. We want people to rearrange their lives around the freedom found in having a relationship with him. And like Jesus we will do anything, short of sin, to help someone get there.
posted by Chris Owens
