Category Archives: Church Growth

4 kinds of budget plans
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October 6, 2020

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Church Growth, Congregrational Ministries, Pastoring

4 Kinds of Budget Plans

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

It was a cold winter day some years ago. I must have had the boys with me for lunch that day at one of the local fast-food restaurants. The place was rather crowded. This was long before pandemic restrictions reduced seating capacity! We found a booth and landed with a tray of food.

Just as I sat down I recognized two older ladies from one of the small churches just north of town. They were seated at the booth behind us. They could not see out our direction so their conversation was not interrupted by our arrival. While unloading the tray and passing out sandwiches and drinks I could not avoid overhearing part of their conversation. Apparently, there had just been a business meeting at the church the evening before. One of them remarked, “I’m so glad we were able to pay all the bills this month.”

This little church had fallen into the trap of paying bills as they accumulated. They probably voted on each payment to give permission for the treasurer to write the check. Their simple financial strategy consisted of paying the bills when money was available.

Just like every household, every church has a spending plan. Most churches and many individuals use a spending plan that anticipates future expenditures based on past experience. Most churches write down this spending plan in a budget that is prepared in advance by church leaders and approved by the congregation.

Even churches without a budget document have a spending plan. Often this is a plan that operates only out of current cash flow, so if we have money in the bank we spend it. This plan often reacts to felt needs and the current balance in the checkbook. This approach can have serious shortfalls.

  • First, this approach may only meet emergency needs or very basic essential needs as the mindset can become “We only spend when we have to spend!”
  • A second drawback to only operating out of cash flow is the failure to plan for future needs.
  • The most serious drawback to only operating out of cash flow is that this approach may keep the church on a hesitant spending plan because the objective too often becomes one of maintaining a cash balance rather than one of meeting needs.

4 Kinds of Budget Plans

For churches with a written or published budget, there are at least four kinds of budgets.

  1. Zero Based. Zero-based budgeting reduces all line items on the budget down to $0 at the end of the year and then rebuilds the budget based on needs and accomplishments. In a practical reality where utilities, insurance, and building maintenance cannot be reduced to $0 there really is no such thing as a true zero-based budget.
  2. Year to Year Carry Forward. This kind of incremental budgeting assumes that we will continue to do what we have already been doing with necessary adjustments to ensure that we continue to fund what we have always funded. Some years ago I managed a local community utility assistance program. The program was funded by a Federal grant. Interestingly this program had originally been intended only for a one-year life. The heading on the grant form indicated, however, that this was the 17th renewal of the one year program.
    Incremental budgeting often starts with last year’s budget and says, “Let’s bump this up 1%.”
  3. Faith-Based. Many visionary leaders advocate for a faith-based budget. This kind of spending plan projects costs without realistic projections of income. If there are more visionary influencers in the congregation than those with an administrator mindset the church may choose to overextend itself with new programs, expensive building additions, or excessive staffing. In these cases a financial crash is likely. It is also likely in these cases that the church will not recover from the financial crash.
    One variation of the Faith-Based Budget is an A and B Budget. In this plan, basic operations are identified in Plan A. Expansive programs or new ministries are included in Plan B with the provision that Plan A is funded fully before Plan B is activated.
  4. Hybrid Budget. In this case, realism requires that some line items be carried forward since things like utilities and insurance will be just as essential next year as they have been this year. But other categories may identify programs or ministries that were only designed for one year or that no longer serve a purpose so they are ended or replaced with new endeavors.

First Steps to a Church Budget

Whether planning for a budget for the first time or starting early on next year’s plan there are a few starting points that will make overall development easier.

Take a look at the totals from the previous 12-month income/expense reports. Extending the year-to-date rate of expense or income to project a full year may be valid but it may not pick up on seasonal fluctuations that will be identified in a full 12-month review. For example, some property insurance premiums are paid annually. If that one-time expense has not yet been paid this year then projecting the zero expense on the insurance line item will not be accurate. On the other hand, some churches have a tradition of year-end giving that will not be identified in the year-to-date report.

Salaries are likely to be a major item in most church budgets. Salary packages should be reported by the component items that make up the total package. Base salary, what the employee lives on, includes take home, tax withholdings, and employee contribution to retirement and health insurance. Social Security withholdings, health insurance, and retirement should show as separate line items. These are benefits, not bonuses!

Consider income trends both in the community and in the congregation. Currently, some parts of the country are seriously impacted by the pandemic with above-average unemployment. In other parts of the country, employment has hardly been impacted.

Allow flexibility. Budgets are best-guess projections and though they are generally pretty accurate, on other occasions the best-guess can be wrong. Who can predict a severe winter with several weeks of weather-related cancellation and skyrocketing heating bills?

Jesus advocated advance planning, so let’s take His advice.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you” Luke 14:28-29

Ready for the next step? Then download our e-book “YEAR AHEAD PLANNING: GETTING READY FOR 2021“. YEAR AHEAD PLANNING is a Church Talk Publication designed to help stateside General Baptist leaders cope with the “new normal”.

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September 29, 2020

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Church Growth

How Churches Grow: Pastor-and-Allies Strategy for Church Growth

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

The wise pastor who leads a church into growth recognizes early on the need for partners or allies to help accomplish this important task. The allies necessary to result in growth vary according to the size or style of the congregation.

  1. The Small Size Single Cell Church
    The small church functions as a single cell. This means that everyone knows everyone else and the average attendance will generally be 50 or fewer but may extend to 100-150 if a larger family clan is included in the mix.
    In the single-cell church, the pastor must draw his allies or partners from the inner circle of influencers and must have a majority of the congregation sympathetic to or directly involved in the process of growth. To work around or against those who hold influence or to identify with only a minority of the congregation can result in destructive conflict. This conflict almost always results in zero growth unless the replacement pastor moves to town with a larger family than the pastor who left abruptly.
    One strategy here would be to develop new classes or interest groups. The groups are developed one at a time with the pastor as an initial leader and with two or three key congregational leaders recruited along with four to six new members. As the group grows to include new members then leadership can come from within the group that is gathered. Repeated on a two-year cycle, this strategy can double a small congregation in 4-6 years without transforming it into something it does not want to become.
    Because about one-half of the churches in our country are small churches of fewer than 75 people, and because a single cell church can easily stretch to accommodate 100-125 people, most churches in our country could easily double in size without the painful transition of becoming a different type of congregation organizationally.
  2. The Medium Size Stretched Cell Church
    In the stretched cell/medium size church new programs attract new people. A medium-sized church will generally have 100-150 in attendance but may extend to 200, 300, or even 400 depending on the expertise, leadership, and energy level of the pastor and key lay leaders.
    Leadership, however, is drawn from original or long-time families. Thus the allies or partners that the pastor must enlist are the leaders who will organize the new ministries.
    Growth in the stretched cell/medium-sized church is limited by how large the cell can be stretched. For the pastor or key lay leader who can extend pastoral care to a large group of people, this model will stretch farther than it will for the leader whose people skills are not as well developed.
    Often, the tie that holds ministry relationships together in the mid-sized church is the relationship with the pastor. The pastor in a medium-size church often gives permission for ministry to happen. The pastor also provides general oversight to a variety of ministry activities.
    Decision making structures are significant growth restricting obstacles for this size church. For example, the monthly business meeting that effectively governs the single-cell church (where everyone attends everything), will not effectively govern the program-oriented middle size church. For one thing with frequent business meetings regular programming often cannot be established because everything must stop for a business meeting.
    Stretched cell/medium-sized churches will face a definite limit on how large they can become. The often discussed 200 barrier is much more prominent in this group of churches.
  3. The Large-Sized Multiple Cell Church
    In the large church, the pastor’s allies are most likely the staff employed as specialists and ministry leaders. A few high-capacity volunteers may remain as visible leaders.
    In the multiple cell church, there are too many people to know everyone. There are numerous groups and ministries where people can become involved. The church is a congregation of congregations with leadership drawn from several groups, classes, or cells. Staffing is very important in the multiple cell church since specialists are needed to resource, train, and monitor the lay leaders of the various ministries. Worship done with excellence and effective preaching, generally with life application type themes, are key elements that cannot be overlooked. Multiple worship services are often featured in these churches.
    Ministry leaders (often associate pastors) function much as the pastor does in the mid-size church. Ministry involvement is the tie that binds. Assimilation strategies are developed around the personality and the style of the congregation with an emphasis on small-group ministries that enlist a high percentage of the congregation.

Summary:
Effective ministry can never be a solo effort. Moses’ father-in-law Jethro saw the value of having a team to work with the leader. In Exodus 18 he criticizes Moses’ solo leadership and outlines a method of shared responsibility. The wise leader in any size church will recognize the value of a team effort. The size and type of church, however, determine how the team is developed and who is included in it.

How Churches Grow: A Platform for Growth
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September 22, 2020

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Church Growth, Congregrational Ministries, Leadership, Pastoring

How Churches Grow: A Platform for Growth

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

While specific strategies for local church growth must be customized to each church, a few general principles have application in any church location and provide a starting point for discussing growth strategies.

First, outreach must be intentional, not accidental.

On a particular Sunday evening, a first-time guest attended the service. In the course of the evening, this man confessed his desire to become a Christian. That very evening the pastor and his evening crowd were able to share the gospel with him and lead him into a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. That first-time guest had driven past 12 different churches looking for one that had an evening service. Because he found that evening service he became a believer. This accidental outreach happens once in a while in almost every church. It used to be a hallmark of a church’s evangelism. The entire community knew that the church was open and the opportunity to follow Christ was part of every worship experience.

Successful outreach in the 21st century, however, must be intentional. It must be planned, sustained, resourced, and spiritually energized. A young intern made a keen insight as he looked around the church where he was serving. “You can predict when people will be saved around here,” he said in amazement. “Every time we offer our discipleship classes people get saved!”

Second, the power of relationships and the value of invitational witnesses cannot be overstated.

People respond to friends and family they trust. They come to hear the gospel when encouraged to do so by a positive invitation. In many families, however, it has been 2-5 generations since there was a direct family connection to Christ and his church. One very important strategy for growth is Big Day Evangelism when everyone is encouraged to invite friends and family members to share a worship service with them.

Third, when leading an established congregation to new growth, building alongside is much more effective than demolishing what exists.

Changing a church’s culture or preferred way of doing things can take 8-10 years, so invest in the long haul. It is the comers-and-stayers, not the comers-and-goers that make a difference. Because churches by nature are conservative, change can be difficult. It is often much less threatening to offer something new than it is to stop doing something that is already being done.

Fourth, recognize leadership lids and growth ceilings. Limitations exist. One limitation is the leadership skills/gifts/abilities of the leader.

An effective pastor of a multi-staff church with multiple worship services may not be able to lead a single cell congregation where he must be solo and hands-on in leadership style. By the same token, churches reach growth ceilings for a variety of reasons. It may be that the population base is not present or that facilities cannot be secured. As another example, a church that regularly sees large numbers of first-time guests and new members will be more skilled and accomplished at assimilation than the church that counts guests and new members for the year on one hand.

Fifth, will a refocus, restart, or adoption be involved?

This is important since these kinds of growth require transformational growth and radical change. Each can be appropriate at different times in the life cycle of a congregation.

Refocus takes the existing congregation into a new chapter. It occurs most naturally when a congregation is approaching or just past its peak.
Restart generally occurs at the end of a congregation’s life cycle when everything that was is coming to an end. A new beginning occurs with a new direction, new leadership, new programming in a newly remodeled building.

Adoption or merger occurs when one congregation joins another. Two places on the life cycle are the most likely times for this to occur. In the early stages of development, if the newly organized group determines that their dream/vision is not viable, they may keep that dream/vision alive by merging with or being adopted by another group. In the later stages of a church’s existence, a congregation may see adoption by a stronger sister-church as a preferable option to closure. Sometimes this allows them to become a satellite campus of another church.

Sixth, for evangelism to occur, a church must build the basics of evangelism into its very DNA.

The pastor must preach evangelistically. At least 2-3 times in the year the morning message should be nothing more than a simple presentation of the gospel.

The pastor and church leaders must repeatedly explain how to respond to the gospel and must be readily available to explore questions and issues with those who are on a spiritual quest.

The new member’s classes should teach the basics of how to share a personal witness.

The church should regularly share tools with its members so they will be properly resourced to invite and to witness. This could include providing gospel tracts, sample conversation starters, and invite cards. It could also include billboard advertising and saturation mailing campaigns that provide an incentive or secondary reinforcement to encourage congregation members to regularly invite folks to attend with them.
Specific strategies, when customized to the local setting and empowered by the Holy Spirit, will result in church growth.