As the Free Methodist Church in Canada we are trying to put our money where our mouth is in terms of church planting. We have a fund established, through the generosity of local churches, that helps subsidize the beginning budgets of church plants.
The reality of the current situation is that we don’t seem to have enough money to keep up with the demand. Last year, in 2006, we had $210,000 to spend on $380,000 worth of requests. Now that being said there is a big difference between not enough and nothing. We are able to help give church plants a helping hand when they need it most.
Here is basically how the funding part works….
- Churches that are eligible can make a proposal to the Church Development Subcommittee of the BOA.
- That subcommittee meets once a year (usually the first weekend of November) and creates the following year’s budget based on the proposals. We make decisions based on several factors:
- The age of the church. Newer churches tend to get more money. With exception of extreme cases, churches old than 4 years old are not eligible.
- What money we have available to spend.
- By the middle of November you will get a written and an emailed response from us letting you know what amount we can give to your project.
- You will then need to contact Administrative Services to let them know how you would like the money released to you (ie – one lump sum in January, split over quarters, monthly, etc…)
- Keep track of your spending in a spreadsheet and email us that file before the next BOA meeting (usually held in April).
