Money for church planters

What is the right amount of money to give to a new church plant? What level of support causes the church plant to flourish or become dependent? Stephen Gray in his book, “Planting Fast-growing Churches” offers some points that his research has proven about funding for church plants.

“A majority of full-time planters leading fast-growing church plants received salary support for two years or less. Nearly 80 percent of the planters involved in struggling church plants received salary support for three to five years. This data seems to imply that an extended period of support is not good for a new church. It may be that the security offered by this extension causes a window of procrastination that is detrimental to the development of the church plant.”

“While a higher percentage of fast-growing, dynamic church plants received additional funding, most received $50,000 or less within a one-year time frame. A significant number of struggling church plants received over $50,000 in a four or five year period. Again, too much money given to a new start may be just as detrimental as too little.”