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The Capital Campaign Decision

One church's decision-making process for fundraising

    Added June 01, 2005

As published in Worship Facilities, Jun/Jul 2005

In the first half of 2004 the leadership of our church, CrossWay Christian Church of Nashua, New Hampshire made the decision to begin seriously planning the move to a new facility. We have been in leased space since our beginning in 1995. While the leased space has served us well in the past, it is now too small, and the layout is now putting constraints upon our ministry efforts.

We considered simply leasing a larger building. Unfortunately, suitable choices were not to be found in our area. In addition, we do not feel leased facilities adequately reflect the stability and longevity we want to project – two important traits to people in New England. Therefore, we decided to purchase land and build, or find an existing building to remodel, to meet our needs.

Once we decided to purchase property, the question that loomed large in our minds was how to pay for it. Property in this area is extremely expensive. Available land is in short supply. We realized there are several ways a church can pay for property.

Crossway has been operating with a very tight budget the last couple of years trying to save money for the new building. It is possible for churches to continue living below their means until they have saved enough money to buy property or construct a facility. Others might choose to save only the money they need for a down payment and borrow everything else from a lender. We felt that waiting until we had saved up all the money needed would squander near-term ministry opportunities. We also felt that funding the property primarily through indebtedness would be irresponsible and unbiblical. Therefore, we chose to combine a capital stewardship campaign with a loan.

As we set out on our capital stewardship campaign, we developed several goals. First of all, we felt a capital campaign would be an exercise of good stewardship. Obviously, we want to pay as little interest as possible; which means borrowing as little as possible. Any amount of money we can raise will lower the amount we must borrow, therefore lowering the amount of interest paid.

Second, we felt that a capital stewardship campaign would give us another opportunity to communicate the vision of our church. Certainly one does not need a capital stewardship campaign to cast vision. Pastors should be communicating their vision in many different ways throughout the year. But in leading a truly successful campaign, you cannot help but communicate again the reason your church exists. Casting vision during a capital stewardship campaign should not tell your congregation anything new, but it should magnify the vision to greater levels of understanding and ownership.

Third, we felt that a capital stewardship campaign would give us another opportunity to teach about stewardship. We do not shy away from teaching biblical stewardship. Such teaching has paid off (no pun intended) in that we are a very generous church. However, I am sure there are some in our church who still do not practice tithing, much less biblical stewardship. We felt that the intense period of a capital stewardship campaign would provide us yet another opportunity to teach biblical stewardship. Some churches merely berate their people about giving money instead of teaching biblical stewardship appropriately. The two are very different. If your church does the former, a capital stewardship campaign will probably come across as yet another way to ask for money.

We also felt that a capital stewardship campaign would give us the opportunity to get some of our "Sunday morning sitters" out of the stands and into the game. I've never met a pastor that is completely satisfied with the amount of volunteer participation in their church. Most of us admit there are people sitting out there on Sundays who have gifts and talents that can be used for God's glory, but are not. Some of them are a little hesitant to sign on for what they feel is a long-term commitment. Others are not sure how to go about signing on to serve. Still others are not sure if they are really needed. A capital stewardship campaign gives people a shorter-term serving experience, an easy path to involvement, and a clear message that they are needed. I highly expect that many people in our church who get involved in the campaign as a first-time serving experience will continue serving in some way long after the campaign is over.

Next, we believe a capital stewardship campaign will help us to become a more prayerful church. We are asking people to pray like they've never prayed before. Some of the prayers that we're asking them to pray include: "God, what would you have me do – relationally, physically, and financially – to help accomplish our mission in greater Nashua?" "God, help me to be obedient to your instructions." "God, help me to trust you." We're not telling anyone what they should give. That is between them and God. With the emphasis we are placing upon prayer, it is my hope that we will become a more praying church.

Finally, we felt that a capital stewardship campaign would give God an opportunity to work through his people in amazing ways. A church may be able to borrow the money needed to purchase property or build worship facilities, and make the payments easily from the general fund. But in so doing, are you denying God the opportunity to work in and through your people? We are anticipating miracles in our midst. Perhaps some people who are very self-dependent will become more God-dependent. Maybe some who have learned to trust in accumulating more and more money will learn to trust in Him who said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Perhaps God will do a "loaves and fishes" miracle on the money our people give. I'm not sure what the miracles will look like but I know they will come.

There certainly are financial reasons for conducting a capital stewardship campaign. But for us, even more important were the intangible, non-financial reasons. We believe this campaign will grow the people in our church to be more involved, prayerful, and trusting.

In making the decision to conduct a capital stewardship campaign, we also decided to hire a consulting company to work with us. Some churches decide to do the campaign themselves and not work with an outside consultant. The reason frequently involves saving the cost of hiring a consultant, and the cost can be considerable. We made the decision to hire a consultant for several reasons.

First, we knew that we would have only one chance to do the capital stewardship campaign right. In the future, every thought or mention of a capital stewardship campaign will be colored by the experience of this first campaign – either positive or negative. We wanted to increase our chances of having a very positive campaign.

Next, this was the first time many in our church have been a part of a capital campaign. You just cannot overlook the experience that comes with a consultant who has helped hundreds of churches navigate the tricky waters of a capital campaign. We felt a consultant could help us avoid many "first-timer" mistakes that come with any new venture.

Third, a consultant keeps the campaign workload from overwhelming our pastoral staff. Leading a capital stewardship campaign takes a lot of time and our staff certainly feels the added workload. However, a consultant's work can assure that day-to-day ministries are not drastically affected by the additional demands of a campaign.

Lastly, we felt it was a decision of good stewardship. Studies show that churches that use outside consultants almost always raise more money than churches that choose to go it alone. We will not hesitate to hire an engineering firm to survey and study a piece of property. We will not hesitate to hire an architect to draft the appropriate drawings for our building. We will not hesitate to hire a builder to build it. Churches are seldom hesitant to hire the necessary experts for many endeavors they undertake. Why do we hesitate to get expert help on conducting capital stewardship campaigns?

Church leaders have limited time, energy, and resources. We must be wise and discerning, doing the best we can with what we have. For the churches that decide to take the journey from leased worship space to owned facilities, there certainly are many different paths that can be taken. For us, we felt a capital campaign using an outside consultant was the wisest decision we could make. All things considered, so far our decision has been a very good one for us.