Fundraisers/Outreach

We at one time did bake sales... well, the women did them, they didn't want the men contributing that much...

Anyways, we would set up at wal-mart and at one time wal-mart would match what you brought up to $200, as long as the cause was community based.

We haven't done this in a long time since that food poisoning incident...

 

I was just joking on that poisoning thing...

 

I know the Amish or Mennonites around here have a rule against money coming in from out of the community (although selling stuff to outsiders is permitted with them).

I was never sure where it was at in the Bible but I am willing to learn it if it is so... never really looked into it to be honest...

 

i didn't read what everyone said, so forgive me if this has been said before...

i wouldn't see a problem with having the car wash...with signs that say "youth from xyz church to hold a car wash saturday 8-noon" "donations for abc charity"

 

I posted this a while back...

We do very little fundraising at my church, but there are some occasions. Here are my student ministry's "fundraising principles:"

• We do not engage in "nothing for something" fundraising. In other words, I'm not gonna ask you to buy a teeny box of candy for $5. If that's my MO, I'm just gonna ask for $5. We try to provide something folks can use, and not be predatory in our pricing. For our Canada mission trip (about 60 high-schoolers going), we're selling camp stew. It's excellent stew, and we'll sell 1300-1500 quarts, and make about $70-90 per kid. For the same reason, I tend to stay away from pledge-based "thon's"--rock-a-thons, etc. They don't usually benefit anyone. The only time I've done these is when we did a "rake-a-thon" or "clean-a-thon" for our community or some needy folks within.
• (for kids & families) If you want to receive a fundraiser's benefits, you must fulfill all requirements spelled out. Absolutely no exceptions.
• If there are donations & scholarships for needy kids, I operate "double blind:" no kid will know who helped them, and no adult will know who they helped.
• We work through our church leadership. No fundraising is done--ever--without permission.
• We will be economical. I'm not wasting my time gathering 40 kids to each work 4 hours to collectively earn $320 at a carwash. That's $2/hour/kid. Our camp stew fundraiser requires about 4 hours of work per child, and they will earn roughly $20/hour. (we netted, after expenses, about $8,000 this past year--in basically a weekend's work!) Much better.
• I'm blessed to serve a church that believes in investing in its students. Some churches hamstring their kids by not budgeting enough for them to carry out their ministries.
• I don't fundraise for Six Flags...but rather for minsitry/missions, and for events that are spiritually focused.

 

Donna, I used to believe this way.
Until....

Some in the church I pastored (which had a rule of no fundraisers) decided to have a multi family yardsale, and donate the money to the church....
What do I do? Say, no?

On the same premise, if a group from our church, decide to donate thier time to wash cars, or bake goods for a bakesale, and then give the donations to the church, How can we say no?

Jesus taught on good stewardship...
Remember the one that hid the talent, and the lord jumped on him, and said to the effect, "you could have at least put it in the bank, and collected interest." Where would the interest come from? How many banks are owned solely by the people in your church?

Some on low income, may not have money to donate, but they can use their talents to help raise money....

Don't rob people of their blessings by refusing their time or talents.. just because what they give is not in the form of a greenback, or check...

Some may want to give some old clothes or things that could go in a yardsale.... It is still them giving it.... and using their talents wisely.

 

In the same sense, isn't the money people make, from the secular world for the most part?

So no tithing from those members who don't work in the ministry? And those in the ministry can only tithe from the money they get from the ministry, nothing else?

 

We made alot of money on a Silent Auction. It was a spaghetti feed also. You could also do a desert and silent auction to make it easier.
I headed this fundraiser at our former church. We only accepted donations from people from church, no outsiders. Most donations were in the form of services by business owners.
Here are a few examples: A massage therapist donated an hour massage, a dentist donated a free exam with x rays, Painting contractor donated painting a room (up to specified size), local theater donated movie tickets, etc..

I also like the idea of holding a large church rummage sale.

 

Jim, I think you've got it right.

I think our church is willing to donate to a fund for youth mission trips, with no strings, or even put it in the budget. Instead, though, we asked them to help prepare and serve a couple of spaghetti suppers, for which we each chipped in five or ten dollars.

We would have given the money anyway, but wanted the kids to have a stake in paying for the trip. Sort of like Paul, the tentmaker.

But we did not go outside our church to solicit money.

 

And there is nothing that forbids it.

 

What is the difference between working 40 hours a week... getting paid for it.. and donating it to the church....

and

Having a garage sale, bake sale, car wash, and donating the money to the church?...

Both instances work is involved.
Both instances money is exchanged for service/services rendered.
Both instances the money is not only from Christians.
Both instances the money is donated...

 

I am perhaps a bit off-topic, but if you need to locate a particular phrase or word in scripture, and you don't have a concordance handy, a useful web site is: http://www.biblegateway.com/ where you can search a great number of different translations.

Perhaps you can find the passage you mean that way. I hope it helps.

 

Because giving is a form of worship. It is the private expression of a person toward God. One works and then allocates their money as they determine and part of that for some people is used to worship God through giving. The other is an enterprise, a form of commerce and that is NOT the function of the church.

I am not saying, however, that means no group related to a church may not ever have a car wash to raise money for an endeavor. My detailed comments for now will be left unsaid due to time. However the occasions are far and few and most often fail the commerce principle.