Financial Strategy for Multiplication Churches
As exciting as it is to dream about becoming a church committed to multiplication, the financial implications of this become a non-starter for many churches. If you are church leader, you have likely faced the immediate concerns of very real needs right in front of you that overshadow a dream or prayer for something that is not yet in existence.
This is an important consideration for a vision that includes multiplication – the intentional birthing of new churches and gospel-centered communities. Churches need a Multiplication Design (MD) which means that (for most churches) the strategy, staff and financial architecture need remodeling.
Here are some considerations for how churches that are designed for multiplying treat financial strategy differently:
Budget Allocation – perhaps the most obvious shift is to parcel off a substantial portion of the church’s general budget to fund new works that are emanating out of the main or mother church. Not unlike churches that budget for global missions, multiplying churches budget for multiplication: church planting, campusing, and the staff development required to lead these new expressions of the church.
Staffing For Birth – churches with an MD pre-hire staff for their next church. This can take on the form of church planters or pastors in residence, associate pastors in a training sequence pre-launch and more. In essence, these churches don’t wait, but hire leaders that can get groomed and ready to start when the time is best. These churches will also encourage the pastor leaving to start something new to take people from the mother church as a core team.
Capital Investment – a multiplication church will use (and raise) capital for a number of things but will always commit a portion of that money to “seed gift” their new works. This (in business terms) is venture capital or an investment in a new thing. For instance, if a church is raising money for a facility upgrade to the mother church, they may separate 10% of the total amount given for new works. This is a vision casting tool (“we are a church that is about starting other churches”) as much as it is a financial strategy.
Building Size – a strategy for multiplication churches is to limit the investment in the size and scope of their mother church or hub/headquarters with the full intention of starting offshoots. In other words, instead of continuing to increase the size of a campus toward something large (or even mega, however someone chooses to define this) churches with an MD will intentionally split off people into a new work instead of building more square footage at one location.
Managed Funds or Endowments – whatever a church chooses to call these designated funds, it is set aside from the general operation of the church as a pooled resource for multiplication efforts. This pool can be used for grants or seed gifts, borrowed money (the new church will pay it back over time), or other creative ways the sending church deems best. This also creates a spot for major donors to give significant gifts (bequests, annuities, etc.) to a fund other than the general fund.
The above ideas are meant to be discussion starters for churches that need to shift their financial strategy to put resources into multiplication if that is a part of their vision. Church leaders can use these basic ideas to springboard into more custom strategies or even more sophisticated approaches.
Since a Multiplication Design will likely mean a church making structural and financial strategy changes over a period of time, there is no time to waste. Choose a direction and start dreaming about how God may use this for his work through your church.
