#272. Paying people "the ministry rate."
As a freelance writer/consultant for churches, this is a topic that I am unfortunately very intimate with. But you might be lucky enough to have never experienced it. The ministry rate is basically when a church or religious organization asks you to donate your services for free or at a severe discount. Whether you’re a writer, a painter or an accountant, they ask you to see the job they want you to complete as a form of volunteering for the Lord. Every now and then, they’ll even lay the guilt on heavy and say something like, “We’re just praying you can bless our ministry with the talents God has given you.”
This is part of the reason nonsense like “Got God” and “Got Jesus” is still kicking around. We’re unwilling to pay for quality and then wonder why people in our community are not responding to the post card we sent to them that had a picture of a lawnmower on it and said “We sure would like to see you ‘mower.’” Get it? Instead of “more” it says, “mower.” It works on a number of levels.
But instead of complaining about the problem, which is admittedly fun, I thought I would offer a few suggestions. This is for any church that has ever said, “we just don’t have the money to do what we want to do.”
How to stretch your church design dollars:
1. Go smaller
Your first temptation, whether it’s in designing your bulletins, putting in a speaker system or building a sign out front is going to be for you to have the biggest and best available. Resist this temptation. Go small and simple. The world is flooded right now with information and if you do something small and simple, your church will actually stand out. Plan to have more than you need so that growth is possible, but don’t think your two options are “we have the best in the world” or “we have nothing at all.” Be realistic about your needs. It’s OK not to be a megachurch.
2. Go web light
Do you need a website? Yes. Does it need to have flash and downloadable sermons and a video archive and scent technology that shoots out old hymnal flavor? Maybe not. Do a five or six page website really well and then grow it as needed on an infrastructure that is flexible.
3. Go with a college student
I think we often ignore the vast amounts of talent college kids have. You don’t need an industry expert for every project. Talk with a college kid. They’ll be eager to expand their portfolio and bring a fresh voice to whatever they create for you.
4. Go smart on your logo
Logos are important, vital really, but they can also be a blackhole of time and money. Realize that your logo will help people understand your church, but despite what that designer wearing a beret and copywriter with a unibrow (that’s me) tell you, they are not a silver bullet. Jesus didn’t have a logo and He did pretty well.
This post is probably interesting to roughly 17 people, but I honestly think what one Christian author said is true, how we treat the church reflects how we feel about God. And bad work is a bad way to treat a good God.
