Find yourself pinching pennies a lot? You’re not alone. In a survey we conducted, we found that finances are the number one stressor for church planting families. (You can find our full research report here.)
How does your family deal with the stress of finances?
This post was written by Kim Whipple. Kim and her husband planted The Church at the Ridge two years ago in Hiram/Douglasville, Georgia. Excerpts from this post are taken from Kim’s blog.
Church planting is at times a very scary ride. I will be honest and let you know that finances are probably one of the most frightening areas. Here are some of the questions that go through your head. Will we have enough to survive? Will our partners be faithful and give? Will our congregation give? Can we make payroll? Can we pay rent for the facility? Being the wife of a lead pastor, you not only feel the weight of making your own payroll, but I think you feel an even bigger responsibility when it comes to the staff and you may worry about there being enough to pay the staff as well.
The only advice I can give you in this area is to personally live on a budget and trust God to provide. Budget seems to be a four-letter word among some people. Really all it is, as Dave Ramsey says, is telling your money where to go instead of your money, or lack of it, controlling you. Thankfully, my husband and I read Dave’s book several years ago and had been trying to apply some of the principles. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the most benefit from it until recently, when as a church we offered his Financial Peace class to the community. In my opinion, for what it’s worth, every staff family should go through Financial Peace.
Not only is it good for you and your staff to be on the same page concerning finances, you and your husband must be on the same page too. There is more than enough stress with planting alone. You don’t need the added stress of managing the finances by yourself, nor should you live in the other extreme, not having a clue what your budget is at all. Both you and your husband need to know where the money is going. Most marriage conflict is money related. Don’t think that just because you are a pastor/church planter family that your marriage will somehow be immune. Be proactive. Budget together each month. As Dave Ramsey says, “Put it on paper, on purpose.”
Having been a minister’s wife for over twenty years, I can say from experience that God always shows up when we have a need. Usually, it is what we considered the last possible moment. Don’t take away the chance for God to bless you and show those around you who He really is by whipping out the credit card when things get tough. Our God is bigger than that. If He called you to this journey, He will meet your needs. Remember, manage well what He gives you and pray for wisdom along the way.
The following post was written by Amy Colón. Amy has a facebook page for church planting wives. If you’re on facebook, do a search for “church planting wives” and you’ll find her page.
Two years into starting Cool River, my husband, Kevin, was working 2 jobs. We had raised support and that was covering about half of the bills. Then he was working as the director of an after school program at a school in our community to supplement our income. It was an ideal job for a church planter. It got him into the community, it was great hours and it provided retirement and insurance that we did not have otherwise.
But as the church grew it was becoming more and more obvious that Kevin needed more time to get to know people in the community and get things done like sermon prep and everything else that goes along with church. One day he came home to me (not long after our 3rd child was born) and simply said, “I think I am going to have to quit my job.”
Everything in me wanted to say, “Are you insane?” And then the list of reasons flooded my mind. We have a baby, diapers to buy, bills to pay… on and on and on. But when I opened my mouth, what came out shocked even me. All I said was “okay.” He was shocked. I was shocked. It was the confirmation that he needed to be able to go through with what he felt God was leading him to do. We hugged. We sat there in silence. And for days after that we just held out breath and waited for that last paycheck to come in.
Next to actually starting the church, it was the scariest thing we had done. But in our hearts we just knew that God was going to somehow take care of everything. He always had.
Then about 2 weeks later I went to the mailbox. I had become accustomed to watching for the $100 support checks that kept us going each month. But this time in my search for little white envelopes I uncovered a great surprise… it was not a $100 check, but an anonymous donation for $10,000!!!! Almost the exact amount of money that Kevin was going to be losing for the remainder of the year by quitting his second job!
So I say all of this just to remind you… God will ALWAYS provide when we are faithful…even when it sounds like the most ridiculous thing in the world that He is asking you to do. When He tells you to “go for it,”…just “go for it!” You might just get one of the biggest blessings of your life.
