A church planter asked me whether I would purchase a building or rent first when i plant a church?

My answer: RENT.

WHY? Here are my top 5 reasons why:

1. It is way cheaper.

You could cut your cost to more than 50 to 100% by renting compared to owning.

2. Test the waters.

Once you plant a church – the first 6 months would be testing the waters. So by renting you are not stuck in a location that might not be effective for the people you are reaching.

3. You don’t want money to be a major issue.

Since your operational cost is cheaper through rent – money won’t be a major issue instead you are thinking of ways on how to break the code of the culture. There is more time for you to talk, minister, have coffee with the people you are reaching to instead of cranking up ways on how to raise funds to keep up with the expenses.

4. You might drain the funds of your people.

When you plant a church, the people planting with you would have to commit a certain amount of time and effort to make it happen and that would include sacrificial giving of everything. It means your first few months, people would have to give beyond the tithe to minister to people (unless your church is a wealthy church with a surplus of money). Having a building would require them to sacrifice more than the usual sacrifice of people who plants a church.

5. Start a dream fund.

When we planted the church in Greenhills, we prayed that by the 1st year we would be financially independent from the mother church so that we could bless other churches also. God provided on our 6th month we were financially independent. We are now building a dream fund so that when 2 to 3 years from now when we get a building or plant a new church we don’t have to ask from our people since we already have our dream fund where we could withdraw. Some people call it the STOREHOUSE PRINCIPLE.

Hope this blog helps.