The Emerging Entrepreneurial Church

Today’s blog post of Rabbi Hayim Herring validates what 2×2 has been writing for a while.

Churches that survive into the coming decades will not rely solely on offerings for income.

The rabbi writes:

Organizations that thrive in the 21^st Century will be distinguished by two attributes: entrepreneurship and organizational foresight.

He suggests that the word innovation be replaced with the word “entrepreneurship.”

He notes these subtle but significant differences (the bullets are quotes):

• Innovation requires creativity but, unlike entrepreneurship, does not address issues like tolerance for risk, organizational agility, improvisational ability and speed.
• Innovation often comes in bursts after focusing on discrete ideas and issues, while entrepreneurship requires cultivating a certain kind of culture, defined by a set of practices and attitudes that are infused throughout an organization.
• Innovation implies the creation of something new, while entrepreneurship can mean dramatically improving what is already working with new vision and processes.

This sounds impossible. It is not. Even small churches can follow it.

The problem is that church hierarchies don’t recognize the potential. Armed with an impenetrable sense of entitlement and a tradition that supports it, they measure their congregations by ancient standards. These standards are failing almost everywhere!

The entrepreneurial church is not about making money for money’s sake, but is more about creating revenue streams with ministry projects. More lucrative ministries will provide funds for ministries that will never be self-supporting.

People today hesitate to give offerings, especially when they can’t see their offerings at work. More and more, congregations are begging for offerings just to help them survive — not to help them serve. It’s a losing proposition.

Less committed people of faith are not going to see this as a good investment of their time or tithe. They are more likely to contribute both money and energy to projects when they see them making a difference. They are not seeing this in churches that have budgets that are top-heavy in overhead.

There are many opportunities that are entirely in keeping with the mission of the Church.

One of Redeemer’s strengths is the ability to recognize opportunity.

There would be no conflict between Redeemer, East Falls, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, if Redeemer had been nurtured and granted the freedom their constitution gives them to shape and fund their ministry in less traditional ways. Are we not regularly implored to “transform”?

• Our Christian Day School, which was ready to open as a Christian School for the first time in 25 years, would be providing upwards of $6000 per month for ministry—and creating a Christian witness in a neighborhood which is losing its Christian schools.
• Our aid to immigrant families would be producing $100,000 per year. Redeemer had a plan in place that would help immigrant first-time home buyers. The expertise of our members would ease the path to home ownership and the congregation would gain some money in the real estate transaction, which would then go to help another immigrant family.
• Our website would generate another few thousand per month for ministry. The website reaches out to small churches all over the world.

More than enough resources for a neighborhood ministry.

This is no different from religious publishing houses making their living publishing books or religious social service agencies tapping into government revenue streams. And it doesn’t camouflage mission to meet government requirements.

Unfortunately, our regional body has no vision for its small churches. They are waiting for them to die.