10 Lessons in Bootstrapping a Church Plant

By Nelson Searcy and Tommy Duke

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Money makes the world go ‘round.” While those of us in ministry understand the skewed nature of this adage, one thing is for sure: Money is critical to the work we do – especially when that work involves launching a new church.

Every idealistic, would-be church planter must come face to face early on with the reality that starting a church takes a lot of financial resources. In fact, if you are preparing to launch a new church and have been trying to ignore the importance of money to its success, I suggest you do one of two things:

1) Get over your hang-ups and start asking.
If God has called you to start a church, then he has people out there ready and waiting to support it… but you have to ask!

or

2) Find a safe, comfortable job on an existing church’s staff.
At least there you know you'll have a guaranteed paycheck.

If you’d prefer to go with Option 1, keep reading….

Starting your church plant with healthy financial support is a tremendous indicator of how successful your new church will ultimately be. Make sure you get as much information as possible on how to raise the resources you need to fulfill the God-given vision you have for your church. (Click here for more information and resources.)

That said, there are times in launching a new church when money is nowhere to be found. Whether this dearth of funding is due to the lack of a strong network, poor asking skills, or to just not knowing any better, the fact is that many (if not most) new churches launch painfully underfunded.

If you find yourself in this position – i.e. if you have already launched without adequate resources – don’t get discouraged. You can still raise support. In fact, there are some potential partners out there who will equate the fact that you are already meeting with more reason that your church is a "viable investment" of their missions budget. So, don’t give up. Keep asking.

But here’s the best news for those of you in the midst of the “rolling but under-resourced” struggle: Valuable lessons can be learned as you go through the tough process of post-launch fundraising.

In the business world, starting with little to no outside assistance is known as "bootstrapping," so borrowing from this bit of lingo, here are

The Top 10 Lessons Learned from Bootstrapping a Church Plant:

10. HAVE FAITH: YOU'LL LEARN TO BE THANKFUL FOR GOD'S PROVISION
Where God guides, he provides. Nothing is a better reminder of this truth than looking at your bank statement at the end of the month and wondering how everything got paid. Fair warning: when bootstrapping your church plant there will be dark days, financially speaking and otherwise. But God's light shines brightest in the darkest situations. You'll learn to recognize and give thanks for all those times when God shows up in just the nick of time.

9. PRIORITIZE: YOU'LL LEARN WHERE YOU SHOULD AND SHOULDN'T CUT CORNERS
When your young church's cash flow is more like a drip and the outlook seems bleak, you may be tempted to shut down as much as possible and wait for brighter days. But if your church is to survive long enough to thrive, zeroing out critical areas is never the right solution.

Evangelism is one area where you should never cut corners, for the sake of your church’s long-term health. Skimping on your missions giving (yes, even in a brand new church) will not make you a better steward either. Save money on office supplies? Sure. Negotiate a better rental rate for your meeting place? Definitely. Carve money away from activities that directly relate to fulfilling the Great Commission? Don't do it!

8. EXCEL: YOU'LL BE FORCED TO STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE, BUT NOT PERFECTION
If the bank account was overflowing and the monthly support checks were rolling in, you might be tempted to spend three times as much on a projector or sound system for a negligible increase in quality. After all, you want your service to be perfect, right? Wrong. As a bootstrapping church planter, you're going to learn that getting everything perfect for Sunday is not your goal. (Even the attempt will drive you insane.) You'll learn instead to strive for excellence by always doing the very best you can with what you have.

For example, if by chance Chris Tomlin isn’t available to lead your worship this week, don’t fret. Help your worship leader do his best; help him develop his abilities as he strives to become more like Christ. In every area, always be on the lookout for areas of improvement, but don't let perfectionism sidetrack God's calling for you and your church.

7. SYSTEMATIZE: YOU'LL DEVELOP EFFICIENT SYSTEMS
Sadly, some of the sloppiest church systems exist in some of the best funded church plants. Why? Because no amount of money can make a system that is inherently bad any better. Money may mask the effects of a bad system for a while. After all, if you've got the funds available to hire a staff member to handle a broken assimilation or small groups system, those areas may appear healthy in the short term. But without a well-developed, scalable system in place, the cracks will begin showing soon enough. Thankfully, as a bootstrapper, you'll be forced to hone in on making your systems highly efficient so you can maximize every ounce of ministry effort.

6. MOBILIZE: YOU'LL RAISE THE VALUE OF PERSONAL EVANGELISM
If you want to reach more people for Jesus (and if not, don't plant a church), you have to tell them about him, right? While the well-funded church plant may be tempted to lean too heavily on paid promotion (direct mail, billboards, radio and TV ads, etc.), the bootstrapping church planter knows that his best asset to connect with more people is the people who are already attending his church. Click here to read an excerpt from Ignite: How To Spark Immediate Growth In Your Church on the formula for fostering effective personal evangelism.

5. LEAD: YOU'LL AFFIRM YOUR ABILITY TO LEAD YOUR CHURCH
If you're not clear about mutual expectations on the front-end, financial support often comes with strings attached. A few months in to your new church, you may find yourself getting more and more heavy-handed "suggestions" about how you should lead, what you should be preaching, what your worship style should be and even how the congregation should be dressing (yes, some people still make a big deal about this).

As a bootstrapper, you won’t have to deal with the noise of too many opinions, which means you'll be able to listen more closely to God's unique vision for your new church… and then lead in that direction.

4. FOCUS: YOU'LL STAY FOCUSED ON YOUR CHURCH'S VISION
Bootstrapping will force you to drill down on the two or three things you feel called to do in order to fulfill your God-inspired vision. You won’t have time or money for rabbit chasing. For example, at The Journey we’ve chosen to focus on the weekend worship services and small groups. Anything that doesn't support or flow through those two activities is a distraction from God's vision for our church. We can attest that not having that pesky funding floating around will keep you from heading off in too many different directions.

3. BE BOLD: YOU'LL LEARN TO TEACH WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT GIVING
God isn’t shocked by the fact that your church needs resources to fulfill its purpose. He set the church up to be supported in a specific way, and he lays out the plan for that support in his word. During this bootstrapping process, take time to dig in and confirm your understanding of what the Bible says about money, on both a personal and corporate level.

One of the primary reasons pastors don't teach on finances is that they're not sure what they really believe. But once you have settled your theology of money (and are modeling the way of biblical generosity), you'll have the confidence to teach your people about giving boldly, passionately and in a way that resources the church as God intends (Mal 3:10). Stewardship is discipleship. If you shy away from teaching on money, you are doing both your people and your new church a disservice. (For more on this topic, be on the outlook for Maximize: How To Develop Extravagant Givers In Your Church, coming in October.)

2. APPRECIATE: YOU'LL BETTER APPRECIATE RESOURCES WHEN GOD DOES SEND THEM
The above lessons (if you apply them well) will place you in the rare position of truly being a good and faithful servant. Each one will guide you as you grow in your stewardship of the resources God does send. As you prove yourself faithful with a little – both in the way of financial support and newfound wisdom – God will entrust you with more (Matt 25).

1. DEPEND: YOU'LL CONSTANTLY BE REMINDED OF WHOSE CHURCH IT IS
Your church is not yours. Bootstrapping will re-teach you this truth day in and day out. Each time things are uncertain, each time the bills are coming due and you don't see any way to pay them, you'll be driven back to a complete awareness of the one who owns your church in the first place. Let your financial dependence on Christ remind you of his words from Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

As we wrap up, let me reiterate: A fully resourced church plant has a greater chance of reaching health and stability than one that's underfunded.

However, to all of you out there who are struggling to make ends meet, don't lose hope! Strewn along the difficult road you are traveling there are valuable lessons waiting to be uncovered – lessons that will help you grow your new church plant right now and that will serve you well for the rest of your ministry. Don't miss what God wants to teach you along the way!