Money, Money, Money: Your Church Can Achieve Financial Stability
By: Sherri Gragg
The Center for Congregational Excellence will host a Financial Empowerment Workshop for church planters, January 22, 2019.
From the moment a church in the Texas Annual Conference draws its first breath, the financial clock is ticking. “The Conference offers the typical new church plant financial support for an average of three years,” said the Rev. Arturo Cadar, Coordinator of Mission Field Development. “Once that help goes away, many of our church plants encounter a harsh reality. Today church planters need to know how to outreach to the community, to preach, how to engage with people, and tell the story of salvation in Jesus Christ, but they also need to find ways in which the church can be financially stable.”
Cadar, and Director of New Faith Communities, the Rev. Morris Matthis, are offering church planters a valuable resource in achieving sustainability through their Financial Empowerment Workshop, Tuesday, January 22, 2019. The workshop will be held at St. Paul’s UMC Houston from 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
A Challenge Churches Can Overcome
According to Cadar, financial sustainability is a problem for churches across denominational lines. He and Matthis wholeheartedly agree, however, that it is a challenge United Methodist Churches throughout the Texas Conference can overcome.
Cadar believes that one of the most important steps for pastors to take to help their churches achieve sustainability is to learn how to have straightforward and courageous conversations with their launch team about financial matters. The Financial Empowerment Workshop will help leaders learn how to have those tough conversations early on in their ministries.
Presenters Draw from a Wealth of Experience
Presenters for the workshop, the Rev. Karen Horan and the Rev. Phil Chamberlain, will share practical strategies to help pastors and leaders feel confident and empowered when they step before their congregations to present the needs of their ministry.
Horan, the Executive Director of the Mission Vitality Center in the Rio Texas Conference, planted Gruene United Methodist Church in 2006 alongside a launch team of 30 members from Gruene’s parent church, First UMC, New Braunfels. She led the church for 12 years, achieving financial stability and solid growth along the way. As of 2016, Gruene UMC welcomed an average of 700 congregants each Sunday.
The Rev. Phil Chamberlain is the pastor of United Methodist Temple in Port Arthur. His previous appointment, Grace UMC Palestine, bloomed from a small congregation to one of the largest churches in Anderson County under his leadership. Chamberlain will draw on the lessons he learned along the way to speak to Financial Empowerment Workshop attendees about entrepreneurial leadership.
“We want to empower leaders to let their congregations know that coming up with a plan for financial stability is part of planting a church,” Cadar said. “There is so much scriptural basis to have those tough conversations. Jesus talked about money more than he did love. The Lord wants us to use our resources in a way that will bear fruit for his kingdom.”
Would you like to learn more about how to achieve financial stability in your ministry? Register for the Financial Empowerment Workshop at https://www.txcumc.org/financialempowerment but don’t delay. Registration closes Thursday, January 17, 2019.