Money for Planting Your Church

Kenya Church Growth Bulletin, Oct 01, 1995.

Rev. Egba Awo

Since the day of Pentecost until today, church planting has been a vital
part of Christian ministry. The society needs the church. Remove the
church, and the rest of our society will not be anything better than
hell. This is one of the motivating factors for the Church Planting
Centre working day and night to see the church in Kenya become
more healthy. However, church planting as an activity has slowed
down a lot in Kenya and in many other African countries as a result of
many obstacles, notably finances.

Lack of finances has brought confusion and discouragement to the

point that some church planters have left the work. It has been hard,
no support from anywhere. We begin to feel "I have prayed and waited
enough; I'm not sure I can make it; I better look for an alternative
job."

But before you quit, let us consider the following questions.

Who Initiated the Planting of that Church?

We read the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 16 verse 18
saying "I will build my church." The church is not founded by men, it
was established by God. Wherever a new church is needed, God will
call out a man to start it. The church planter who moved at the
initiative of God should respond like Isaiah, "Here am I, send me" (Is.
6:8). It is unlikely for people in the community to be excited about the
arrival of a new church. This is because the devil does not want to see
new churches planted.

You cannot go on your own desire, or imitate what others are doing
and expect success. If God does the sending, then He will be
responsible for the support as well. The planting of a new church
should be a miracle from God. This is a miracle that God would like to
perform with you. There are so many examples of men who succeeded
because God sent them. Think of John (John 1:6) and Isaiah (Is. 6:8),
just to mention a few.

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I consider it a great opportunity to team up with the Holy Spirit and
build a church. When you are working with God, you are not limited by
resources or circumstances. I strongly believe in what you can achieve
through the gift God has deposited in you. Be a faithful partner with a
great God and you will plant a great church.

What is Your Target?

The businessman does not embark on building a factory without first
determining what he is going to produce. The type of products or
services expected will determine the plans and approaches of setting
up the industry. The same kind of demand is applicable when we are
involved in church planting. To the church planter, people become the
expected raw materials as well as the product. The reason for starting
churches is people. People are basic to church planting. Our financial
and leadership needs can only be solved by people. We help people
serve the needs of other people.

Church planting should have people as top priority before money,

buildings, programs or equipment. Whenever the issue of church
planting is mentioned, we are quick to point out the problem of
finance. I think this is completely wrong.

The first consideration should be the conversion of people who in turn

will be involved in sharing the responsibility of the ministry. When
Peter was worried about money to pay taxes, Jesus asked him to go
and catch fish. Out of the belly of the fish God provided enough
money. Do not be surprised that within your reach God has prepared a
big fish with enough resources for your needs. People won to the Lord
should be involved as partners in the ministry. However, this does not
mean that the church planter should adopt unrealistic methods to
extract money from the people, or only reach out to people who seem
to have a lot of money.

Have You Determined Your Financial Needs?

I will not take any church planter seriously who goes about
complaining about lack of money without concrete evidence that he
actually needs that money. Does he really know how much money he
will need at a given period of time? Or does he know the specific needs
that would cost him money, and if so, how much? In other words, he
should be able to demonstrate his need for finance with a written plan
or budget indicating how much money is needed and how it will be
used. Doing this does not require financial expertise, it requires only
clarity of vision and purpose. Many of the initial stages of church

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planting are not all that expensive. Proper steps should be taken to cut
down or avoid expenses where necessary.

Some Christians believe that so far as it is God's work, all we need to

do is to pray and He will provide as the needs arise. But it does not
always work out that way. If you do not have plans, your prayers will
lack focus and it will be difficult to measure progress. Planning itself is
a proof and application of faith.

Moreover, people will give only as they are convinced that a need
exists. Churches on their own part need to sit down and prayerfully
determine the needs before sending out a man to plant a church. If
the church is not able to look into the future and decide what results
they expect, then I wonder what business they have in church
planting.

Have You Identified Your Sources of income?

Planting the new church cannot wait until all the money is available in
hand. Financial assistance must come in from somewhere to get
certain things started. There are many available sources to finance
church planting. The duty of the church planter is to discover these
sources and use them to the maximum.

The initial funding should come from the sponsoring church

denomination. Any church that still takes the Lord's Great Commission
in Matthew chapter 28 seriously will not fail to provide for church
planting in its annual budgets. Such grants should normally take care
of the pastor's salary, rent, literature, transport and some other needs.

Another source of financial assistance could be the previous local

church of the pastor or the local church where the church planter has
been called out from. It should not be strange for a local church to
identify itself with the financial needs of a man who has been called
out from among them to plant a new church. The church at Antioch
(Acts 13:2) presents a good example. Whenever God calls a man, He
will also call a church to support him. I have seen churches in Nigeria
that make donations to their church planters two or three times. In
some cases the church handles the issue as the church planter merits
it.

The third source of finance is the members of the newly planted

church. Many church planters, in their bid to gain outside financial
support, normally plead that the believers are new in faith and are
poor. But remember the story of Elijah and the woman of Zarephat (I

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Kings 17:9-l 6). The prophet made this woman give all she had, which
resulted in sufficient supplies for all of them. This principle is still
working today. I knew of a teenage girl who sold all the crops in her
farm and gave the entire amount to the church for a crusade. She
deprived herself of school fees, knowing fully well that nobody was
responsible for her school needs. Within a few weeks, God provided
someone who took over the expenses of her schooling throughout her
secondary education. When people are not encouraged to give, with
the excuse that they are poor, they are deprived of the opportunity m
receive blessings from God.

The best time to teach Christian biblical stewardship is at conversion.

Full, faithful Christian living includes the proper use of our resources,
no matter how meagre we think they are. A Christian who doss not
tithe when he is a new convert will find it difficult to tithe later in his
Christian life. Outside financial assistance should only augment what
the people have given, not be a substitute for their giving. If the idea
is to plant a healthy church, then you must think of raising a giving
church from the beginning. Remember, the initial teachings and
impressions will determine the type of church that will grow. A group
depending upon outsiders to pay for their bills will not function as a
true church.

The last source of financial help I want to point out is God Himself.
Church planting is partnership with God. He is the founder and initiator
of every church that is to be planted. When He says, "Lo, I am with
you always..." (Matt. 28:20), it includes His presence in the time of
financial needs. When He asks "whom shall I send?" (Is. 6:8), the
implication is that all arrangements have been made, including
finances. I have a conviction that all that God said is possible. He
made the material world out of nothing. He cannot be limited or
affected by the inflation in our country. God has his own way of
providing for His work. In the words of John Wesley, truly "God's work
done in God's way will not lack His support."

Rev. Awo is from Nigeria, and is currently in Kenya studying at Nairobi

Evangelical School of Theology, in Karen. Before coming to Kenya, he
served as Academic Dean of Wesley International Bible College in his
home country.

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