I was recently helping a church we’re connected with in New York structure a capital campaign for a new building. They had reached out to an organization that wanted to charge them $30,000 upfront to (hopefully) raise $200,000. And I personally didn’t think that was realistic, honest, or wise for their smaller church.

So today I’m excited to share our conversation with Mike Stadelmayer, VP of Church Growth Services, an organization that helps with capital campaigns and has a 100% success rate of churches who get the “green light” to raise funds. What drew me to them is that a majority of their business is done in small churches.

Mike has such a great heart for local churches and we loved talking about his years as a bivocational pastor, the most common issues they see in capital campaigns, and some practical suggestions for churches who are considering walking through a campaign. This was a great conversation and I believe it is a great resource for churches!

Here are some key takeaways from today’s conversation:

1. 50% of plans for new buildings don’t get funded. I’ve seen this first hand. So many times the plans churches make don’t get funded due to poor planning and preparation. This hurts momentum, trust, and buy-in from the congregation.
2. Sharing vision and ministry benefits is the foundation of a successful campaign. “A lot of times we talk about building in money when we should be talking about it in terms of vision, mission, and life change.”
3. Just saying “we’ll borrow whatever we don’t raise” takes away the buy-in and urgency for the campaign. This was a great reminder. Some churches don’t walk into a capital campaign having done the research on what they can raise and what they can safely borrow if they’re considering debt. But if there’s not an actual need for your congregation to sacrifice financially, why would they?

Links to Resources Mentioned or Related

• Church Growth Services | Church Capital Campaign Specialists
• Get in touch with Mike

• VisionBox From 95Network

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