I steward Productive Pastor, a podcast and community of ministry leaders focused on how productivity and strategic ministry in the average church. I write about practical approaches to ministry productivity. I also write emails about church stability/development and my own theological musics in our current social moment.
What does financial vitality look like in a church? | Church Size with Chad Brooks
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Hey Friend - This is part 4 of the series on the Vitality Matrix. This email is about how church finances work inside of healthy church systems. If you missed one of the last emails, you can get the archives here. Is my church healthy (Understanding the Vitality Matrix)? | https://bit.ly/40hTSZh How healthy are the relationships in your church? | https://bit.ly/4atjA0g How good are your metrics (and do they really matter)? | https://bit.ly/4hpycAk So finances. First, let me say something a bit crazy. This isn’t about money (necessarily). It’s about realizing how your financial information is the most objective data set you have in your church. If you are struggling with stability, you might be most anxious about finances. Don’t worry, at the bottom of the email I am going to share with you some of my regular ways we can start to grapple with this. But first, let’s look at how the vitality matrix digs into financial health. Unstable Churches These churches face financial difficulties and cannot cover their current operating expenses. Churches will experience “red” months. But if you are often in the red, relying on reserves to pay the bills, or you have to send out requests for extra money for normal ministry expenses…you are here. If your church has significant deferred maintenance, let’s say more than 20% of your annual operating costs, you are probably here as well. Stable Churches Stable churches have the money necessary to continue ministry at the current level. They might find a bit of extra for new things or emergencies, but their income is only slightly above what is needed. You might say this is where you need to be, but there isn’t room for expansion of ministry or emergencies that come up. Many established congregations get more money in donations each year. But, the cost of ministry, especially building maintenance, keeps rising. Vital Churches Churches in the vital category can identify places of strategic financial growth for future ministry potential. Things are changing and they realize certain ministries will need extra funds to continue to reach new people. These decisions aren’t difficult to make. Yes is a simple word to say, but the affirmations are often rooted in deep strategy. Sustainable Churches These churches have steadily increased generosity to enable future generosity. They are able to build and adapt the current budget without sacrificing necessary items. Remember, this category is about replication. It remains highly strategic, but an increase is anticipated. This doesn’t necessarily happen with the same people giving more, but these by understanding scaled giving. They are growing at all ages and understand generosity is part of discipleship. They know how to work with people who are new to giving, as well as understand the pathway of financial generosity as part of discipleship. So let’s get into the weeds a bit. Say your ministry is in the unstable or stable category. When I work with churches in these categories there are a few actions I rarely see present. Often it is hopes and dreams. Just like our personal finances, we always hope to find something that doesn’t cost much time or extra energy and can provide more money to do what we want. We all know the lottery isn’t a thing we should plan for. And in church ministry, some secret windfall is the hope many cling to. Or the church looks at additional ideas such as alternate revenue streams or renting out facilities. I feel those are band-aids to cover up the real problem we don’t want to face. We need to learn about strategic generosity systems and build them into our churches. I've rarely, if ever, worked with a church that is both struggling financially and has a real strategy for giving and budgeting. Let’s talk about a basic idea of what to build. What would I pay attention to? Go start a spreadsheet and start keeping this information each month.
Tracking this info for a few months will help. It will show you how money is coming in through donations. What would I do? These are the practices I had when church planting and always riding the line. We managed to stay ahead, and it was because of our giving strategy and systems. Over the last two years, I’ve used these same systems in dozens of churches to find financial stability and vitality.
Friends -
Thank you for giving to Jesus through INSERT YOUR LOCAL CHURCH NAME. Your generosity allows us to do the work of Jesus in our community in so many ways. List 5-7 bullet points of ministry celebration for the last month.
None of this would be possible without your generosity and support. You are helping us accomplish our mission of INSERT MISSION in our community.
Thank you again!
YOUR NAME
Sending this email monthly might sound complicated, but using a modern church database linked to an email service like MailChimp or ConstantContact can do it really fast.
Remember, generosity is part of discipleship!
When churches are in a financial crisis, they can struggle to see a way out. Applying a more strategic approach to generosity is the first step. The next email is all about how the vitality matrix helps a church understand its external ministry. See you then! Chad PS. If you want to see the entire vitality matrix you can download it here. |
Hey. I'm Chad Brooks.
I steward Productive Pastor, a podcast and community of ministry leaders focused on how productivity and strategic ministry in the average church. I write about practical approaches to ministry productivity. I also write emails about church stability/development and my own theological musics in our current social moment.
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