Aug 2021 – How I started an Independent Totally Self Supporting Church in One Month
It is now about the middle of July and the decision to start a Church has been made. The traditions of men teaches that you need to quit your job, make a video, and wear out a 20 thousand dollar car driving all over the nation for 2 or 3 years begging for support. After years of that, what exactly has been accomplished? You wore out a 20 thousand dollar car, tortured your family making them watch the same video hundreds of times. Some of the first people who took you on for support have already dropped you. You family is worn out and then you finally start and still do not have the money to support the work, so you go to church planter conferences asking for and maybe getting a little money to help. I watched that happen for years and always thought that there had to be a better way. I had been asking questions, and I was open to any answer the Lord gave me and studying church history. I decided to not listen to the traditions of men and simply ask the Lord what would thou have me to do.
The answer was clear. Start a new house Church. Small house churches were the norm and the main way God’s work was done for over 1,600 years. It worked well for centuries and during many periods of incredible persecution and poverty. (On a side note, it does appear that persecution is rising rapidly and it appears that much of the prosperity of this nation is disappearing)
We had our tithe money and I already had the calling, the training, experience, and the Lord with me so I had all I needed to get busy.
- Ordered 10 Hymnals – That was Easy
- Buy wood and build a lightweight moveable pulpit – I already had some of the supplies. Thru the years I had built 13 of them. This was number 14. It went together faster than any of the others. – That was easy
- Start bank account. Setup as a house account with no monthly fees as long as you have a min balance of 500 dollars and you have two months to get to the min balance. That was easy.
- Lookup the IRS rules. Read it three times. By default new churches are considered tax exempt, but they require that you be organized with the state and a few other simple rules. Finding that info was easy.
- Get organized in Arizona.
- Search for a Name that is not already used in Arizona. That was easy.
- Rocket Lawyer will make the paperwork easy for a small fee. They helped with the minutes and the form to the state and you have to have an EIN number from the Federal Government. Got all of that started. It was easy.
- Found out that you do not have to have trusties. One of the falsehoods and traditions of men that they tell you. All you need is a chairman and a secretary. It was easy.
- You have to have bylaws. Rocket lawyer also helped with that. Easy
- You also have to have a constitution. This took half a day.
- I already have a laptop and a monitor but I needed a stand so I can display powerpoints and other things. Ordered thru CDW. That was easy
- Needed speakers to connect to the laptop. That was easy. Attaching them to the display stand, not easy.
- Went to Home Depot and purchased chairs. That was easy.
- Needed mp3 simple piano music to play on the speakers. Downloaded for free. Took some time because the name online did not always match the name in the Hymnal. Ended up with 79 songs. That is a good start.
- To be obedient to the Lord I needed to find a way to be involved in World Wide Missions. I also needed a way to obey doing good to all men and especially those of the household of faith, and I needed to have a plan to help the poor and it is a good idea to help the fatherless. That was all easy to find and setup.
- Needed some John and Romans so I can put out more than just tracts. That was easy.
- Needed clear door hangers, got those from Sword of the Lord. That was easy.
- Needed to do some house repairs. Not so easy.
- Needed to build what was called a giving box.
- I work a full time job, so a plan had to be made for my schedule.
How hard is it to start a church? I found that if the Lord is with you that it is not hard at all. One month from the time the decision was made we had our first Sunday service. A fully organized and legal nonprofit. Actually doing the Work of the Lord. Involved in getting the gospel out locally and around the world. Involved in helping orphans and the poor. With a teaching time, singing time, preaching time and prayer time every Sunday and a teaching, devotion, and prayer time on Wednesday. Also, starting to work on a big push project for Christmas and another one for Thanksgiving. And with a fully functioning website (Which was done ahead of time) and daily devotionals on GETTR.
Wow! All of that in one month. Fully functioning and all setup expenses paid in full thru the giving of our small starting group.
You might be wondering, how much does it cost to setup a small house church in America? Glad you asked.
Hymnals 151.85
Pulpit 51.28
Monitor stand 170.20
Chairs 182.30
John & Romans 244.10
Hanger Bags 25.07
Legal Fees 209.98
Total Spent 1034.78
It could have been more, but I already had a laptop, 1000 chick tracts, speakers, monitor, and part of the wood for the Pulpit. If I had to purchase what I already had, add about 1200 dollars.
And our little house church has the resources to accomplish things for the Lord. Now that our startup expenses are already paid, 100 percent can go straight to the work. We have no overhead!
If you are being led by the Lord to start a church, consider doing it this way. Get a good job in the area the Lord wants you, start saving your tithe money, start preparing lessons and sermons, and start acquiring what you need. Then organize and get going. Your new church plant will be able to hit the ground running with zero debt and no overhead. And you will be free from the traditions of men and the non-biblical horizontal influence and authority structure that most preachers are involved in. You truly will be free to ask the Lord every day what will thou have me to do, and the freedom to go out and do it. If the Lord blesses you with numbers, then it would be an easy step to rent a conference room or a store front. All you really need is the Lord, and your family, and most important a close, sincere, walk with the Lord.