If you were planting a church and were given $50,000 in start-up funds to spend as you see fit, how would you spend it?
I’ve kicked this hypothetical question around with several friends and I’ve found that nothing gets to the heart of our theology and philosophy of church and ministry as quickly as the $50,000 question does.
So, assuming your living expenses are already taken care of, how would you spend it?
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
See if you can nab Shane Coffman. Sorry Terry!
Hot tub for the preacher’s wife, BMW for the preacher.
Just kidding.
I would use that as seed money to target a specific area/demographic (research, etc.). It’s amazing how quick 50k goes.
When we started Christ Church:Macomb (our other campus) . . . we spent 30k quicker than you can say “Austin.”
The other idea is to use it to target specific families in need/desperation who live in the neighborhoods you are trying to reach.
3,500 on macbook pro
1,500 on a starbucks card
45,000 on marketing.
I’m kidding about 2 of them. š
Throw an awesome, two-day party with some homeless people, a few prostitutes, gang-bangers, lots of children, and a sprinkling of Christians who aren’t afraid to love the aforementioned. Sounds like something Jesus might show up for.
Put it in an interest-bearing account and use it as a philanthropic endowment – while you “plant a church” by simply meeting with new Austin friends in your home and nurturing each others’ gifts. When your home meeting gets too crowded, ask a friend to split off and start a meeting in their home, and bring half the crowd with them. And when those two homes get too crowded, split ’em again.
Oops, sorry, that leaves you without a clergy job. But it gives the engaged priesthood back to every Jesus follower every time they meet F2F – with everyone taking an active role in sharing, praying, giving of their gift(s), and all the other benefits of a living community.
And, hey, once in a while get ALL of those households together in a big rented hall somewhere and throw a massive party, discuss mission opportunities, have people with important mssgs get up on stage and talk briefly. Hey, you could even get up on stage and give a sermon!
Ok… snark notwithstanding.. doesn’t this look more like the church? Rather than a top-down, CEO, pastor-centric ecclesial model (which doesn’t look like anything I read in the NT) – let the church emerge organically from the bottom up – from small groups of truly engaged individuals gathering together in a circle, rather than a stage-centric Constantinian hierarchy model that delegates “home groups” as a sub-mission.
John L–snarkiness doesn’t bother me. I actually find your answer compelling. Are you part of such a community that does things in a similar way?
1. Spend some time in Isolation praying, reading the word and seeking to hear from God.
2. I would seek out Pastors who know the word and have experience and pick their brains.
3. I would travel and visit churches 50 miles around me and research what they are doing.
4. I would invest in taking a class from a christian institution and meet monthly with a seminary instructor to listen and pray with him.
5. I would start a home bible study and train bible teachers.
i like john L’s answer except for the need for $3,000 for a macbook pro š
It depends on what model of “church” you’re going for, Wade. It also depends on who you’re trying to reach.
I won’t tell you how to spend all of your money, but do suggest you spend a fair amount on a website. I know enough about Austin to know the people there live on the internet.
I really like how the Mars Hill Church in Seattle uses their website: http://www.marshillchurch.org/
Wade, it’s an ideal being embraced by increasing numbers of people (see Cole, Hirsch, Simson, Dale, McNeal, etc.). And in countries with oppressive laws, organic gathering is essential to survival. Like yourself, we’re on a journey of discovery.
John L–I’ve read many of the authors you’ve mentioned and love what they have to say. Still looking for some concrete expressions of it in this culture.
I must admit that now your previous snarkiness bothers me a bit. I don’t mind snark from experience, but snark from an ideal that has yet to be lived out isn’t quite as compelling.
Then again, since I preach (from a stage) much better than I live, I guess I’ve got to give you a pass for preaching (on a blog) much better than your living too.
Blessings
+1 on John L.’s post.
BTW – you might consider cutting his snarkiness a little slack. There are millions of us who are just now learning to breathe the crisp air outside the suffocating, institutional church, haven’t yet worked out how to replace it, and have lay-jobs rather than missionary-style support. Those of us who have young children are pretty spooked by the whole thing. It’s like coming out of a dungeon into the daylight for the first time in a long time; your heart knows you’re better off, but what to do NOW?
qb
“Still looking for some concrete expressions of it in this culture.”
Wade, you might check out J.D. Payne’s survey of 33 missional-organic communities: practical, concrete working expressions in this culture.
Thanks John! Looks like a good book. I’ll check it out.
I would partner with the local public school district to be the volunteer school chaplain for the area schools, host an onsite childrens worship once a week for those schools, (especially the one that I might be renting each week for worship experiences). I would also volunteer for the schools crisis counseling teams as a first responder, allowing me direct and intentinal contact with families.
I’d join a crossfit gym and get to know the community. I’d see if I could do something to serve the gym owners and their instructors. I’d have them over, grill some chicken and ask, how can i serve you. what are the needs you see every day and what do you want to do about them? How can i help you do it?
I’ve been struggling with these questions for a while now and I appreciate you providing the forum to wrestle through them publicly.
Are the concrete examples we’re looking for primarily in the third world where the church is growing and thriving? This is the primary example used by Hirsh and other missional proponents. There are certainly successful small group-focused gatherings in the US and Canada, as well (the Meeting House and Xenos are two whose ministry I’ve examined from the web).
I recently heard a pastor of a traditional church wonder out loud if the third world successes are really applicable to our culture, eg they’re under persecution, we’re not, they have less distractions, our culture expects traditional…
On the other hand, historically the church does grow when under persecution, trials or when its religious underpinnings/security are knocked from under it for any reason. The question is, do we really need to wait for persecution or trial to experience revival and growth?
The US church does a pretty good job of planting if the measure of success is growth by transplant from other fields. This has been one of the complaints against attractional models–we just swap folks from body to body based on who has the best smorgasborg of programs, the better speaker or worship team…
The truth is, regardless of whose numbers you use, the US church isn’t on a rapid growth path, just read the trends for the young adult set in “UnChristian.” Yes there are growing churches, even new megachurches, but the population of unbelievers is growing as well.
If our aim is to do a better job of attracting outsiders and marginalized believers, why do we keep on doing the same traditional things when they don’t seem to be leading to true growth or revival in our culture? What do we need to be doing that lifts Jesus up in ways that stand out in today’s noise? After all, He promised to do the drawing when He’s lifted up.
I hope that’s the real question of what a new plant or a spruced up old plant looks like–how will we lift of Christ in new ways to those around us? I’m still working on that.
(As to the $50K — I agree that its prime use should be in helping widows, orphans and others who need to feel the hands of the Lord through us. Whatever you do, avoid building infrastructure that requires another and another and another $50K to maintain itself.)
Why not have both. It is ok to have a central place of teaching. And then times out in the commuity with small groups. Actually nothing really new , just new terminology. There are times of the church gathering together for edification, worship and equipping. Then being being out in the community participating in various acts of compassion ; sometimes organized and at other times each diciple helping those who come into his or her line of vision on a daily basis. Use the money as the needs arise for both the church gathered and the church scattered.
I like John L’s proposal of home-based churches. It is probably more common than we realize even in the U.S. They just don’t generate the mega-church numbers that are necessary for media exposure.
If you are looking for an example of a similar ministry in your area, you might contact Paul Faulkner who lives close to Austin. I’m not sure what he is doing these days, but back in 2001 he was active with a small-group based church in that area. He might be willing to share his experiences, successes and learning opportunities. Another example is the work Phil and Meredith McCollum are doing in East Hollywood through the support of several churches including Highland Oaks in Dallas.
One benefit of small group based discipleship is that you don’t spend $50,000 in the blink of an eye. It is more relational and organic. To me it feels scary because it’s not as organized and orchestrated, but I suspect that when people engage in authentic community that expects transformation rather than checking off a spiritual to-do list, we will start counting conversions rather than baptisms.
Thanks for asking these questions. They will change all of us even if we don’t understand how or why.
Hey Wade, I am a planter in south central Austin and have wrestled through these things as well. Given the amount you are being given ($50,000) I think we may have more in common even. If you have not already done so, check out http://www.plantr.org which is the Austin Area Church Planter Network. Lastly, I am the Acts 29 South Texas zone coordinator and happy to discuss other church planting networks if you are interested.
Drop me a line at jacobvanhorn@gmail.com and we can chat a bit.