Can We Start New Churches Without Money?

Short answer:  Yes.

What if we deployed gifted leaders all over the city?  Or rural villages, suburbs, exurbs, or parks?  What if we sent teams of people out into their communities to make connections, serve the local needs, and offer lavish hospitality?

Obviously these leaders need to support themselves financially.  They’d probably like health insurance and a retirement plan.  They’d like the resources to pay for space, refreshments, music, and community needs.

Bi-vocational ministry is one answer, but this feels overwhelming unless the new church is a community endeavor.  I have friends who work construction, create websites, or practice law by day and pastor churches by night.  But they can’t do it for long.

We know pastors who serve congregations part-time and serve in some other specialized ministry the other part of their days being pastoral counselors, college teachers, or hospice chaplains.

There are pastors whose spouses support them financially.  Or maybe they have an account in the Cayman Islands.  But I don’t know many of these people.

But funding new churches allows for leaders to focus on building that community.  Time is freed up to meet over coffee, lunch, or a run.  Churches are rarely funded according to what they really need which adds additional stress.

And then we could start churches without any money.  People could simply get together to talk about God, life, purpose, pain, community.  They might pray with and for each other.  They might even sing spiritual songs and celebrate the sacraments together and study the Bible.  A committed community might share relational tithes to fund ministry and support each other.

“We don’t have the money to start new churches” sounds like an excuse.  Do we really need money to create new communities of faith?

PS – Check this out from our friends in Minnesota.