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The Five Most Common Capital Campaign Mistakes

Orginally published on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 3:51 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Is your church thinking have a building project or a capital campaign on the horizon? If so, Doug Turner, the president of RSI Church Stewardship has some great advice for you on the five biggest mistakes churches make during capital campaigns. Doug writes...

1. Lack of a clear need and vision.
A successful campaign always begins with a clear and compelling vision. Proverbs 28:18 states that where there is no vision, the people perish. A compelling vision is at the heart of every successful effort. Another word commonly used to describe the heart and soul of the church and its purpose is mission.

While the vision for ministry is the reason to do a campaign, the specific needs of the church are the change agents funded by the campaign. Before beginning a campaign, the pastors and lay leaders must agree on a vision and clearly state the needs to turning that vision into a reality.

2. Too little buy-in.
A vision for ministry might be exciting and compelling, but for it to move from thought to reality, there must be widespread buy-in from laity. The congregation and its members, visitors, and regular attendees must share the vision for ministry. During a capital stewardship campaign, careful attention should be given to the process of building laity ownership.

3. Inadequate communication.
If the time of commitment approaches and people are asking, “What’s this campaign about?” then the communication hasn’t been effective. The key to a successful communication strategy is to use a variety of methods to ensure each person who comes in contact with your church is made aware of the campaign vision and is invited to participate at some level.

4. Not enough time.
Succumbing to fears or a desire to “just get it over with,” churches sometimes rush into a campaign. From time to time, an immediate need—such as the opportunity to purchase real estate—precedes the campaign. In those cases, the campaign begins with a heightened sense of urgency. However, most of the time, allowing plenty of time to prepare and conduct a capital stewardship campaign is the best approach.

5. Going it alone.
Many churches look at the vast needs of the church and wonder if hiring counsel is the best use of resources. There are several reasons to consider partnering with professional stewardship counsel. The first is that your pastoral staff is fully occupied right now, without a capital campaign. Counsel will help you to match the gifts and talents of your staff to campaign activities, maximizing their efforts. An experienced consultant is likely to identify pitfalls before they occur, guiding you around them with suggestions. Therefore, counsel reduces the risk of error and failure, in addition to taking the workload off of the pastor.

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.