Daniel Ausbun
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4 Ways to Run a Low or No Budget Ministry

12/20/2012

1 Comment

 
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Are you a ministry leader trying to plan and reach people for Christ with a low or no budget? Money drives everything...except the Gospel (Luke 16:13). God is fully capable of using you to reach others for His Kingdom without a dollar.

Don't ever say, "If only we had more money, we could ________." The deception of money is that it always makes you believe you need more of it. Jesus warned us to guard ourselves about thinking this way (Luke 12:15).

Here are 4 proven ways for you to run a ministry/class/church/mission on little to no funds:

1). Do not fundraise people to death. I hate fundraisers. I would ban them if I could. If I was a public school principle, I would run a fundraiser a week...but in a church they hurt. You can only draw so much water from a well. Fundraisers give the impression you only want money and they take from people's weekly tithe. Also, if you have a fundraiser a month or more, people will start complaining, or worse - they'll quit attending.

If you do have a fundraiser, go outside the church. Even non-church attenders will support a good cause.

2). Piggyback on church events. For example, if your church is about to hold a churchwide BBQ, have your middle schoolers play a kickball game afterwards. Teenagers eat lunch in 5 minutes, then they're bored - go outside as a class and have a 4 square tournament.

Make a mission out of the leftover BBQ. Instead of everyone taking home the extras - your men's ministry can deliver plates to people in need. Everyone loves a free hot meal.

3). Carpool to other church concerts/revivals/conferences. If the Baptist church 8 miles up the road is having a free youth conference - you need to be there with a carload of teenagers. You can enjoy all the benefits of the conference, while planning none of it.

Sunday nights are frequently used for concerts - your senior adult Sunday School class should hear the Gospel quartet down the road. Church leaders must move beyond their insecurity of members attending other churches. You don't own people, Jesus does.

4). Play team sports on the county's facilities. I'm fortunate to live in a county that offers multiple team sports. First Baptist Moreland plays men's softball, women's softball, coed softball, youth softball, coed volleyball, and youth basketball - and not a single sport is on our church's campus. We don't even have a gym.

Team sports allow numerous people to play and cheer at the games. This can also be an outreach - if someone wants to join your team, they must attend church. There is a cost for registration and jerseys. Look for a local business to pay for the jerseys if they can advertise their company on the back. We use the same jersey for every sport, every year. Its nice using county facilities - no set-up, no clean-up, and no power bill.
1 Comment
Vicki Gann link
12/21/2012 02:53:52 am

This is really great! I have had a ministry for over three years now and I only used the money my husband's job provided me through God's abilities He gave him. Doors started opening up with promotions and his company grew with more opportunities. He had just lost His job and got another one when I started my ministry. God was asking me to do something I had no idea how to do and also asked me to give up my income that I thought we needed so desperately. I was full of fear and doubt and cried often. His faith overcome all obstacles the world was giving me. God drew people to my ministry that wanted to donate.He also led me to another church that had people waiting to help me in my ministry I didn't even know about, and we have grown through faith because of Him bringing us together. If we are having a true relationship with our Lord and Savior and putting our trust in Him with everything He gives us through relationships and circumstances He finds a way to bring people and circumstances together for His growth in ourselves and each person we meet! My life and ministry is proof we do not have to have money, He gives us everything we need in life if we only trust Him! When you start a ministry He will take you places you never would have dreamed of going yourself. If you are starting it because you want to and not what He has planned for you, you will know it is not the right time because people and yourself will not be changed from it. Every ministry He gives you should bring a change in you and others from Him growing in you to do the work, not you. If you are creating a ministry for your entertainment and not to worship His power in then it will be meaningless.He will put you in places to use what new ideas and abilities He has given you for His purpose of growth for you and others He brings you. My ministry started out to be a writing ministry. Writing was not a ability I had at all until He gave it to me. It has made a difference in many ways in other peoples lives in how He has given me the talent of explaining what He has taught me in my life through scripture and the gift of the Holy Spirit through relationships and circumstances through my ministry. He brought people in my life through my ministry I would have never met on my own. Drug additcits, life haters, people haters, people with wrong truths but truly wanted the right one, people suffering through financial problems to heath problems, mothers needing guidance with lost children, homosexuals, and people not believing in God at all! The list goes on and on. This amount of people I have met has been in three years!!! I would never have had experienced people with a true love relationship we have experienced if it was not for my God and Savior Jesus Christ. The writing ministry has grown into an example of His power in books, devotionals, poems and Bible studies; that has turned into teaching people that want to never stop learning about Him. After I started my writing ministry it went to helping the elderly, helping people that had no transportation to the doctor or grocery store, helping people that had not food or need help cleaning their house because they were sick or to elderly to do it their self. Then I gave my car to someone that needed it more than me through faith in my Lord that He would lead me where I needed to go. Then God brought people in my ministry that took over in the transportation department and the cleaning department. I started writing more because He had given me more time to write. I had learned more about Him through relationships and circumstances He had brought me in my ministry and it became a huge testimony of His power in our lives and How He works. I was given the wisdom to teach and write what He was teaching me for others to trust Him more and how He is within each one of us. The Love4Love Ministry He has given me has taken me where I could have never imagined and some of it was very difficult because each time I was denying myself and receiving more of Him! We will suffer when He wants us to do something we do not want to do. He may ask us to be a person for Him when someone else may not understand what we are doing, but through each trial God has overcome my suffering. He overcome because I did not give up on that person but most of all I had faith in His power through it and not my power at all! I only had faith in Him and He has proven to me many times His ways are much better than my ways of doing things. I have had the ministry Love4Love that He gave me for the past three years and He has created all that I am to be used for Him for others. I can not wait and see what the next day brings and I can't imagine what the next three years will bring. Thank you Danielle because you have been for me one of the relationships I have learned more about Him from.
Many prayers,
Vicki Gann

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