Episode 634: Can a church-planter or team dream big on a shoestring budget? Co-hosts Clint Clifton and Todd Adkins explain why being “under-resourced” actually is a big advantage.
In This Episode, You’ll Discover:
- Why being “under-resourced” actually is helpful for a church-planting team
- How a “we can if …” map can help you and a team process through a problem
- How vision clarity and focus made a difference in how churches weathered the Covid crisis
- Why attendance isn’t engagement, and engagement isn’t discipleship
- Which comes first: clear vision or adequate resources
Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):
Being “under-resourced” actually is helpful because it forces conversations and choices that are really healthy, long term versus perpetuating things that are not essential. @Todd Adkins
Being “under-resourced” causes you to boil down to essentials. @ClintJClifton
There’s a huge lie out there that in order to be creative and innovative, I need unlimited time and unlimited resources. You actually will be much better off having finite time and finite resources. @Todd Adkins
It’s easier and it’s more fun to attempt great things for the Lord on on a limited budget. Your resource “poverty” can actually be an advantage when it comes to growth. In our day, people are really skeptical of the big, wealthy and powerful. That gives a scrappy upstart an advantage over the well-funded franchise. @ClintJClifton
You can actually capitalize on the advantages that have been given to you as a church planter on a shoestring budget if you will just simply own it and and live in that reality. You should not see your your “poverty” as as a disadvantage, but as an advantage. @ClintJClifton
Clear vision always is followed by a sufficient resourcing. @ClintJClifton
We have measured attendance and called it engagement, and measured engagement and called it discipleship. @Todd Adkins
When we have a clear and compelling vision about what it is that we’re doing, then resources flow. If we focus on the resources and say, “Why don’t we have the resources?”, then the resources don’t necessarily come very easily. @ClintJClifton
When we’re headed in a direction that pleases the lord and that makes sense to the people who are around us, people are happy to be generous. @ClintJClifton
I want you to dream big even if you’re on a shoestring budget, especially if you’re planting a church. @ClintJClifton
If you are feeling under-resourced, you’re really under-inspiring, because there are people around you who have the ability to resource you. They just aren’t sure it is a good stewardship. @ClintJClifton
If people are serving in your church, they’re actually more likely to give – not only of their time but of their money as well. @Todd Adkins
As people come in and begin to serve, that’s when they put more skin in the game. @Todd Adkins
The clearer, the more compelling, the bigger your dream, the more easily donors will give to see that accomplished. If you’re lamenting the size of your budget and seeing that as the limitation to what you can do for the kingdom, you’re thinking of it backwards. @ClintJClifton
Helpful Resources:
- Book: A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform Your Limitations into Advantages
- Book: Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples
- Article: Moving from “We Can’t” to “We Can” in Ministry
Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer”
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Published January 20, 2022