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Question for the Community: Ministry in a Slow Economy

by Seth Bartlette
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
All, Blog
6 comments

We’re counting on you to help us answer this question from a fellow youth-worker:

What are you all doing in ministry to accommodate for the recession? I'm feeling the need to be more conservative in my budget and I am also seeing the need for events/trips to cost less for families (even though the prices of gas and food keep increasing). Any ideas?

Time to weigh in with your thoughts, YMG Team. Help Allison by commenting below. Thanks!

Tags:Question for the Community

6 comments

1

JeremySaturday, January 19, 2013 2:59 AM
Here are a couple of thoughts that might help (since a lot of us are feeling that pressure too). Talk to other youth ministries about big events like conferences or even camping trips! Car pool, lodge together, register as early as possible, even eat together. Create great memories for your small groups for cheap or even free. Ask families with students to prepare snacks for small groups or services. More than a couple, but I hope this helps.
2
KevinWednesday, January 23, 2013 11:54 AM
Jeremy, We have moved to doing fewer events and activities. We try to do events that famalies cannot duplicate for themselves like camps, conferences, and mission trips. We do not go to the area amusement parks. This way I can tell parents that our events have a tremendous spiritual upside to them. Some camps need work done. We have negotiated service for a cheaper rate. Some camps will allow you to do your own cooking. I have my chief cook prepare a list of food items to be donated. We have had good luck with this. Fanally, I just appeal to the congregation for $$$ donations to help scholarship students.
3
D.Thursday, January 24, 2013 3:51 PM
Allison, I have been working on a very limited budget for a lot of years now, so the recession hasn't really even seemed to hit very much in my location. I have found that students love spending time together and encountering God. We have found that will a little extra blood, sweat, and tears, you can do that in-house. For example, instead of going to a camp or out of town for a retreat, we do it "lock-in" style at the church. Bunk down in sunday school rooms. This means no housing costs. Another thing we have done to stay missional is a local Mission week during the summer. We partner with other churches, share buildings, share talents (worship leading), share preaching responsibilities and still make a difference! Another area I have saved is, as part of a kid coming tell them to bring either their favorite 2-Liter Drink, or their favorite Chips or Cookies. This usually supplies the entire event's worth of snack and drinks without touching a penny in your budget.
4
SuzieTuesday, February 05, 2013 2:41 PM
When my husband and I both got hired on at the church. We were told that they didn't have money to pay us but felt God was leading them to hire us. Well they were not kidding. The whole staff missed several full or partial pay checks. So I've been dealing with not having much money since the beginning. I'm not sure I have much more to add than what others have said. Asking for families to bring food to events, donations for scholarships. We also NEVER do fundraisers and don't charge for events we do that are outreach. (which can make it difficult) Give parents notice WAY IN ADVANCE when you know pricing. I've had to flat out explain to people that we literally only have so much money. That even if we budget for something if our tithes are low for a week or two it just isn't there. When they understand that there is less complaining and usually more help. We also hit up the churches adult small groups to help sponsor students and that usually makes a big difference.
5
andy lawrensonTuesday, March 05, 2013 1:58 PM
Our youth budget has been cut each year for the past three years. I have even had to work part time at times to supplement my income. I lost some of my benefits this year. Times is tough. We have scaled back on events. We are also doing more activities during our normal youth gathering time so families don't lose another night of the week (and gas). We eat each week at youth group, mostly junk food, so every now and then we have the students bring bags of chips and cookies to stock the pantry. With what budget we have we are focusing our resources into our weekly gathering rather than big events. We feel we will get the biggest return on our investment this way.
6

mtzyouthTuesday, March 05, 2013 2:10 PM
We plan our schedule one semester at a time, and to help offset the costs of snacks, I have parents sign up at our parent info session for a date to do either snacks or drinks. This actually led to us having a nice surplus of snacks in our youth room. Which in turn means less money that we have to spend for snacks when we go on trips. We also hold a lunch once a semester and just ask for donations. This usually helps us to pay for the majority of our trips and outreach.