Train Your Core Group in Stewardship

My friend Ed Stetzer has conducted research on the health and survivability of church plants in the U.S. today. His research is available through the Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org). His research has revealed this:

Survivability increases by 178% when there is a proactive stewardship development plan within the church plant.

I've seen this to be true in my experience as well. I encourage every church planter to have an intentional stewardship training plan for their missional core prior to launch, and to have a plan for ongoing stewardship training after the new church is launched. Don't be afraid to teach on this topic!

One of my favorite examples of this is found at Hill Country Bible Church in Austin, TX. All of their planters (and they plant 3-5 churches each year) take their core groups through 3-4 weeks of stewardship training, they ask all their core to commit to tithe faithfully to the new church plant, and they ask for a one-time "first fruits" gift on top of that to cover start up costs. All of this happens prior to the launch of the new church. As a result, their plants are almost financially self sufficient from day one!

Train your core in stewardship. Ask for a strong financial commitment. Raise the bar higher than you've ever raised it, and see what God does!