Church planting is a risky endeavor that requires sacrifice, faith, & hard work. The goal should be to bring new people into the kingdom & to do it for years to come. Most church planters who start from scratch begin with support raised from denomination, other churches, & personal relationships. The church planter usually feels an internal clock ticking for the day when this support will begin to diminish. My denomination usually supplies 2-3 years of financial support. Sponsor churches will usually commit 3-5 years. Individual partners may stay on longer, but to be sustainable, the church plant is expected to & will have to make disciples who support the work of their church. A recent audit of failed church plants in my state, found that 50% of them just ran out of time before becoming financially self-sustainable. The outside support ran out before the disciples reached could carry the budget of the church. So how does a new church begin with the end in mind in relation to finances? Here are some helpful questions / exercises that a planter or planting team can work on to help count the cost & plant for financial self-sustainability: 

1. If my vision is realized in 5 years, how much will it cost?

or a better question may be, How much will it cost annually to bring new people into the kingdom in this community? The work here is first to design a strategy that will actually reach the unchurched in the community, instead of just looking at what’s been successful in other places or by other people. Then, if the strategy & need is for the church to have things like full-time staff & a building of its own, go ahead & plan for those realities now. You will most likely need a budget of at least $120,000 per year to afford small doses of those two common realities.

2. Does this vision fit my context?

or, How long will it take to become financially self-sustainable in this particular community? or How many people will I need to reach to become financially self-sustainable in this community?

So this exercise is to look at economic realities in the community to begin to diagnose reasonable expectations of financial viability from within. In Louisiana, we’ve used a figure of $800 per year per person in average attendance that can be expected from the congregation as a way to project financial viability. So, average attendance, multiplied by $800 will usually put you in the ball park of what your annual budget will be. So if I will need $120,000 per year, divide that by $800 & that tells me that I’ll need to reach 150 people to be around financial self-sustainability. But the economic realities in some communities may not support that figure. For some, $400 per person per year may be more realistic. Talking to local pastors & looking at average incomes in the area will help with this exercise. We know all things are possible with God, but now you’re counting the cost of a potential church plant in this community. Questions are: Do I believe this can happen here? Am I willing to lead my family & people reached to get there? Do I need to be bi-vocational to start a church here?

3. How many years will I need financial support from the outside?

Outside support is great & needed, but most church plants will not be able to depend upon it beyond five years. These exercises may tell you that you will need to because of the realities on the ground. Plan for that by spending more time & energy on raising outside support. Developing partners that will be OK with long term sponsorship of your work. Or raise large amounts of capital on the front end for the new work. With more churches looking to support church planting directly, the good news is that this is possible today. But we also must be cognizant of the danger of getting top heavy – depending upon an amount of outside support that the congregation will never be able to sustain on its own. This scenario has meant for some plants, losing staff & making major course corrections in years 4 to 6, which could prove fatal to the work or put much pressure on the planter family or sending church.

4. How will I teach new people reached by the new church about Biblical Stewardship & Giving?

The sooner you begin discipling people & teaching them the principles of Biblical Stewardship the better. If you really do reach new people, you will have to lead them down the road to Biblical giving. Today, people are experiencing mountains of debt, high costs of living, & more taxes, so it may take longer than in previous generations. So don’t wait to start healthy financial systems in your new church that teach people to steward their money for the work of God’s kingdom.

5. How can I create a reproducible model that can produce disciples, leaders, & churches for years to come?

And one major consideration for the future of church planting is that new churches learn to create reproducible models that can plant churches that deliver the gospel to different communities for generations to come. If it costs you $2 million dollars over five years to launch a church that has reached 150 people, who are now strapped with debt on the new building that took hours of volunteer labor to build & seats 175 (not an uncommon scenario), it may be a tough sale when you start talking about doing it again. Making reproducibility a core value at the beginning will call for simplicity, creativity, & people based not funding based strategies. These things require more patience, but will lead to less stress & pressure for the church planter & plant in years 4 through 6.

What do reproducible models look like? Most of the time in the west, it’s about strategies that keep cost down. Scenarios like:

• Plants led by bi-vocational staff, at least initially.
• Keeping gatherings smaller, but adding locations to grow.
• Commitment to longer term portability may work in some communities.
• Starting a non-profit to raise money through grant writing & corporate donations for ministries to the communities.

I love the axiom, “Begin with the end in mind.” Jesus commended counting the cost (Luke 14:25-34). These questions may seem unspiritual, but are necessary part of planning for delivering the Gospel to generations in your given context.

The vast majority of churches start out with less than 50 people. Actually, 70% of our current plants in Louisiana started below 50. 38% (or 618) of all Southern Baptist Churches in Louisiana reported attendance below 50 in 2018. 

Having 50 people or less is not bad. In some communities, 50 is a big church. A church of 50 has some advantages. Less overhead. More community. 50 people can encourage one another and reach out in ways that bigger churches cannot.

Most pastors have the intention of their church growing beyond 50. Mostly because we are motivated to see more and more people saved and discipled for the glory of God. Also, if you are seeing to be a vocational minister and make a living as a clergyman, but 50 people is usually not enough to sustain a large personnel budget in a church.

50 can be a barrier that’s tough to get beyond. So how do we get beyond 50 people?

1. Pray for breakthrough opportunities!

Sometimes a breakthrough opportunity can happen in the life of a church. These are opportunities that open up that can only be explained as a work of God. A key meeting place for a church plant, a well-placed news story, a large financial contribution, a merger with another congregation. Pray regularly for God to open doors that man cannot open or explain.

These do not always = church growth, but they signal God is at work and will usually lead to fruitfulness and health (which have been known to lead to church growth).

2. Give away responsibility and authority

40-50 is a barrier often because 40-50 is about the number of people that one person can lead by himself. Unfortunately, many leaders are just not willing or able to let go of or share the reigns to let others lead with them.

To multiply, the leader must become a leader of leaders.

Fear of losing control. Fear of someone doing it better. Fear of someone messing up. And, “They’re just not ready yet!” I know. Every time I read the passage about Jesus sending out the 70, I have to stop myself from yelling, “They’re just not ready yet, Jesus!”

Sending the disciples out was part of Jesus’ strategy for getting them ready, and it will be so for your leaders as well. For the sake of your sanity, for the development of people, and the growth of church and kingdom, let go and send them into ministry and leadership.

3. Develop a 2nd and a 3rd group

40-50 is a barrier often because it’s a group that can fit in one big room. And sometimes we are too much in love with knowing everybody, having everybody together all the time, and having everybody listening to me (ouch!).

To move past 50 you need multiple groups, which means multiple leaders, which means more people owning the vision and growth of the church.

And starting multiple groups, whether its classes, teams, or whatever, helps get multiplication muscles moving for future growth.

4. Establish systems that lead people to Christ and His mission

How do people hear about your church? What do we want people to know and do once they attend? How do we want people to connect beyond just attendance? How will we help people move toward Christ? How do we help people become leaders?

These kinds of questions help us develop a step by step path for new people coming into the church. Today more than ever, connecting with Christ and His church is not something we can assume people know how to do. We have to lead them there. Systems help us do that.

5. Be on the lookout for speed bumps and dead ends.

Where are people getting hung up in their development as disciples? What is causing attendance to stagnate? What needs are going unmet? Some common speed bumps:

• Building & space issues. A full building is fun for us pastors, but it can put a lid on the growth of the ministry. Starting a second gathering or moving to a larger facility can keep the group growing. Rule of thumb: at 60% full, start making other arrangements and thinking about how you can create more space (2nd service, larger facility, etc.).
• Unity issues within the church. The radar of the world is up for hypocrisy and disunity among believers. Keep relationships straight in order to grow people and the church. 
• Needs in the body that are going unmet. Watch for your Acts 6 moments. In Acts 6, the Hellenistic widows were being neglected, threatening unity and testimony. A ministry was started to meet the needs and keep the people and churches growing together.

What other issues or observations about breaking the 50 barrier would you add to my list?

One of my favorite church planting axioms is “In every apple there is an orchard.” God made every living thing in creation with the potential to make more. We’re all carrying seeds that can be planted to grow more of what God wants. For us, that’s disciples and churches. Do you see your church, no matter the size as a potential orchard to create more for God’s glory?