Last week we looked at first things to consider when you create a church plant budget. Here’s a few more:
Startup vs. Recurring Expenses
For a lot of expense categories, it makes sense to think of the budget on an regular monthly basis: if your worship department budget is $2,400 for the year, you have $200/month to work with. But as you start the new church, there will be many startup expenses that don’t come around again (at least not in the first several years of the church):
- Audio-visual-lighting (AVL)
- Hospitality equipment (coffee brewers & airpots, etc.)
- Children’s ministry equipment
- etc.
Ask around or do a little research and figure out what those things are going to cost. Then drop them in to the matching expense line in the month you’ll need to spend the money.
Beware the Vampires
There are certain costs to ‘doing business’ here in the States. And there are so many great online tools & services that cost $10 here and $20 there. It’s easy for all of those little things to catch you by surprise and collectively suck you dry:
- domain name registration & website hosting
- property & liability insurance
- church management software
- online donation processing fees (this is usually this biggest shocker)
- worship service planning software
- copyright licensing
- PO Box/mailing address
- accounting software
- annual reports to the State
- other cloud-based software subscriptions
- etc.
Don’t forget these as you create a church plant budget! Or if you’re thinking about signing up for another service after you’ve already made your budget, stop & consider whether it fits into that budget.
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