Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART I: D EVELOPING U RBAN C ONGREGATIONS • 69

Plan the Finances

Finances can be either a blessing or a curse to the new congregation. “Carefully handled, finances are a source of pride and accomplishment... Badly handled, they become a source of debt, disgrace and division.” 133 It is therefore essential that the financial dealings of the young church be conducted with integrity.

When the discipling fellowships move to begin Celebration there are three tasks to undertake:

1. Determine the church’s financial needs. 2. Identify the financial resources. 3. Manage the money.

Determine the Church’s Financial Needs Celebration financial needs usually center on the costs of a temporary meeting place, support for leadership, ministries to the community and a permanent location for the new work. 134 The church must be flexible in determining a temporary meeting place. Often inconveniences must be tolerated in the early stages. It is advisable that no more than one third of the budget go toward renting a facility. 135 The amount of the budget needed to support leadership depends upon the nature of the church’s ministry. Often young churches do well with a part-time pastor. Bi-vocational lay leadership is the foundation of many church-planting strategies, especially in poor areas. 136 The strategy of World Impact calls for a team of church planters who partner with apprentice leaders from the community. Together they lead the church until the apprentice leaders can assume full leadership or until the church is ready to call a pastor who has been trained elsewhere. Since the goal is to develop a self-supporting indigenous church, the church’s needs and vision must be balanced with its financial ability. Determining needs will go hand-in-hand with identifying financial resources.

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133 Redford, p. 82

134 See Jones, pp. 104-107 for detailed list of needs.

135 See Redford, p. 83

136 See Patterson, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement , p. 606