4 Ways to Save Money on Everyday Expenses
Do What Needs to Be Done
1. Offer your talents. Most churches spend a big chunk of their budgets on professional services that many congregants could donate for free. A police officer could offer free security. A web designer could serve a few hours a week creating a site for a church plant. A teacher could write and develop Sunday school lesson plans in lieu of needing a staff person to fill that role. A gadget geek could run the soundboard during an event. A CPA could pitch in and help the church’s accountant during budget time.
If you have specific skills the church could use, offer them up. And if you don’t have the skills, learn! If you see a job you think you would enjoy but don’t know how to do, ask someone to show you. You’ll get the experience you desire, and they’ll be grateful for the help.
2. Show up. Almost as much as money, ministries need hands on deck. Anyone can sort donated clothing, shelve canned food, do office work, make copies or greet guests. Just being willing to help and do some much-needed work can be a huge blessing to your church or favorite ministry project.
3. Get your kids involved. It’s important to help kids feel a sense of ownership of their church and find a place in the church family where they can help. Teens can help with younger kids on Sunday mornings. Friendly kids of any age can be greeters.
Children can also take attendance at classes, serve food at events, hand out bulletins and pens, help deliver meals to shut-ins, clean and more. Teens in our church serve food and coffee in our café, help our AV/tech department, run video cameras, serve as “runners” between events and ministries, greet guests, and much more.
As you teach your kids to tithe on their allowance and other earnings, also teach them the value of hands-on work. If your daughter volunteers 10 hours a week doing work that the church would otherwise have to pay someone $10 an hour to do, help her do the math. She’ll see that in addition to her tithes she’s “giving” an additional $400 a month in saving the church a staffing expense. As a result, the church might discover other opportunities where volunteers could help save money.
4. Grab a broom. Chances are your church pays people to clean. Grab your friends and family and help out with tasks such as picking up trash after Sunday services, cleaning bathrooms, emptying office trash cans and wiping windows. You’ll help get the cleaning crew out the door more quickly, which over time can save a lot of money.
Amie Streater is the financial stewardship pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the author of Your Money God’s Way. She and her husband, Scott, have three rowdy little boys and one crazy life, but they’re truly blessed and ridiculously happy.
