Churches are houses of worship, meeting places, communal spaces, and a place where people come to build a better relationship with the deity which they follow. In today’s world, churches are looked to more and more for life direction. There is no shortage of topics in today’s world which are bringing stress and worry for people, and churches are the sanctuaries towards which people might look for some sort of path to follow.
Spiritual direction has always been key for people as they deal with their daily travails. Visiting a pastor for direction on a life crisis, fellowshipping with other churchgoers at a Sunday service, attending a church hosted self-help group, or even participating in a Bible study on a regular basis helps Christians to simply deal with life. The tenets of a church’s faith provide direction on helping your fellow man and woman, and such acts of compassion and kindness are often shown through the many services which a church offers. The church is an important aspect of a Christian’s life, therefore, having the funds to keep the church active and involved in the community is crucial. But staying active can sometimes cost a lot of money. Here are some money-saving tips to help manage a church.
The Importance of the Church
Outside of just the spiritual aspect, churches are used for a variety of other activities. These places of worship can also provide non-parishioners a place where they can fellowship, learn, provide community service, and just unwind with fun activities for the family. Churches are used for Boy and Girl Scout meetings, volunteer efforts, clothing and food drives, local talent shows, community affairs meetings, voting locations, and even local government meetings.
We attend churches for a variety of reasons, and the houses of worship serve a variety of purposes. In Australia alone church visitation is huge. Statistics show that Australia has more churches (13,000) than schools (9,500). In terms of visitation to these places of worship, more Australians attend a church service each week (1.8 million) than there are people in South Australia (1.6 million).
Statistics show more than 88% of Aussies felt that churches were beneficial for the community. 43% of Australians though, felt that church was beneficial for them specifically. Churches are important and should be treated as such.
Ways to save money for your church.
With all these various activities and uses, the financial cost for keeping a place of worship open can be costly. You will need to find ways to financially run a church.
First, try to compare electricity providers. Electricity use in a church will be costly, so it might be best to see if a cheaper option is available. Maybe switching from electricity to gas might be an alternative. Or perhaps you could try attempting to renovate the church to a greener standard which can help to save on costs.
Churches should also try to generate a side revenue by leasing out the property to adjoining business owners. Offer parking at a cost for businesses that might have limited parking space. Think about leasing space to small businesses during the week, which might not need as much room space to operate. For example, renting rooms out to a start-up bistro or coffee shop can help with saving the church a bit of money.
Try your best to also maximize digital or email communications. Using email and social media to relay news about your church helps to avoid printing costs. You can spread the same news using the internet (and probably reach more people) than printing a bunch of flyers at a higher cost.
Outsourcing is another option to look at when trying to save your church money. By hiring people who specialize in a particular field (bookkeeping, cleaning, outdoor maintenance), you’re saving on costs by hiring people who know what they are doing. You can also hire more part-time staff, look into buying lower costing supplies like a book of common prayer, avoid a rent tax, bring in interns, keep resetting thermostats, install new windows, and maximize the use of your tax-exempt status, all in the name of saving your church money.
To read more on topics like this, check out the Budget category
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