New Churches Podcast | Episode 627

How Does Funding Work for Church Planting?

Clint Clifton & Ed Stetzer

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

  • The three categories of church planters
  • The process for developing the financial resources to plant a church
  • Why denominational funding for church planting comes with strings attached
  • What is a church planting “side hustle” and what are some good options?
  • Why would a church planter not want to be “overfunded”?
  • How long should it take a planter to get to funding sufficiency?

Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

The three categories of church planters are seen like “gold, silver, bronze,” but there are distinct advantages, missiologically speaking, to being bivocational, covocational or even a volunteer church planter.” @ClintJClifton

What approach you take to church planting depends upon what the call of God is on your life. We have a friend who describes himself as a “garbage man.” It’s a great union job that gives him freedom to plant churches after work. @EdStetzer

If you want to see a church planting movement, it’s going to be powered by bivocational church planting. @EdStetzer

Let me just say to those of you are bivocational church planters, how deeply thankful we are, because we think the model you’re using is how the Lord can and will work in very powerful ways. @EdStetzer

Church planting funding from denominations comes with strings. if you’re planting with us and we’re funding you, we’re going to have certain expectations of that funding. @EdStetzer

There’s definitely a “pay it forward” mentality in denominational church planting. Those expectations make good sense. It’s not just we want our brand to continue. We want the mission to continue. @EdStetzer

When it comes to denominational funding, church planters can be kind of utilitarian. It’s not wrong to say that’s not what we should do because that’s not who we are. @EdStetzer

When it comes to a church planting “side hustle,” it’s good to find a blend, something that allows you to to accomplish the goals of a church planter while you’re earning money. If at all possible, I want to combine my mission and my money making. @ClintJClifton

Is there a “sweet spot” in church-plant funding? The goal of a new church, financially speaking, is self-sustainability. That sometimes means we don’t take on a lot of bills, so we do things in an inexpensive way. But it’s tethered to how much the church grows, and you can’t know that before you begin the church. @ClintJClifton

Tweet Your Peeps:

What’s a good bivo/covo church planting job? #NewChurches

Helpful Resources:

Learn more about church planter funding
Free on NewChurches.com:
– Clint Clifton’s course: Church Planting Primer
– Our Bivocational Ministry course
– The Church Planting Masterclass
– Clint Clifton’s ebook: Church Planting Thresholds
Steve Sjogren’s book: Community of Kindness
Please subscribe to the podcast
Leave a rating and review on iTunes or wherever you listen to this podcast

 

Published on December 16, 2021

About the Podcast

New Churches Podcast

The New Churches podcast offers practical answers to your real ministry questions. We aren’t going to provide lofty pie-in-the-sky theories. Instead, we are going to help you in your real ministry context, with your real thoughts, questions, and issues.

See All Episodes

Subscribe

Meet the Authors

Clint Clifton

Clint Clifton passed away on January 12, 2023, as a result of a small plane crash. Clint and his wife, Jennifer, had been married since 2000 and have five children. He completed a B.A. from The Baptist College of Florida and an M.A. from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Clint founded Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia, in 2005. He oversaw the fruitful church planting efforts of Pillar Church and served as Senior Director of Resource and Research Strategy for the North American Mission Board.

More Resources from Clint

Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is a professor and dean at Wheaton College where he also serves as Executive Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center.  He is the incoming Dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; earned two master’s degrees and two doctorates; and he has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books. He is Regional Director for Lausanne North America, is the Editor-in-Chief of Outreach Magazine, and regularly writes for news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. His national radio show, Ed Stetzer Live, airs Saturdays on Moody Radio and affiliates. He serves at his local church, Mariners Church, as a Scholar in Residence and Teaching Pastor.

More Resources from Ed