You really don’t have to have all the money before you begin to build, but you should have enough so that the project can continue at a fairly steady pace.

There are a few churches in our area that have built debt free buildings.  I have observed that they waited until they had a significant percentage of the needed money before they began.  There were some periods of time where it looked as if their partially completed building was just sitting there with nothing happening, but their patience paid off by hundreds of thousands of dollars being freed up for ministry needs instead of interest payments.

It seems reasonable that a church would be wise to have 60-70% of the needed money before beginning to build.

As churches grow, decisions have to be made.  There is the option of doing nothing, but that would remove a church from under the umbrella of God’s blessing.  Doing nothing is not an option for those who wish to live in obedience to their Lord.  There are the options of increasing the space, or even beginning a new ministry at a second location.  Either of these two options require financial resources.

How does a church avoid debt when a big building project is in their future?  It is not by cake walks, raffle drawings, and quilt sales.  It is not by setting up a roadblock at the red light, or a table in front of Walmart, asking people to finance the Lord’s work.  It is the obedient, free-will giving of God’s people.  It is by God’s people making “the payment” into a savings account for a planned building project.  Granted, there are some people who will not give until they see a building going up, but God is able to raise up enough people who will to get the job done.

Our flesh doesn’t like to wait for anything, which is one reason so many churches are so deep in debt.  It doesn’t take a financial genius to see that interest paid on a huge church building project could be used for the Lord’s work in many other ways, and many more God-honoring ways.  While financial resources are building, churches need to continue growing, but to do so requires some innovative usage of the present space.  A small building can accommodate a large number of people by using multiple worship services and Sunday Schools.  Everybody really doesn’t have to be there at the same time.  What’s important is that we reach people for Christ and disciple them to reach others.

It is quite common for churches to enter massive building programs, accompanied with massive debt.  Many quickly say that it is a step of faith.  Most say that it would impossible to build what they need without encountering the debt.

Faith can never be over emphasized in the Christian life.  Without faith, it is impossible to please God; however, the kind of faith that God honors is faith based on His word.  It is possible to place strong faith in thin ice and get extremely wet!  On the other hand, no one ever goes wrong placing his faith in God’s promise.  In Deuteronomy 28, God tells His people that as they live under His blessing, that He will set His blessing upon their storehouses and all that they set their hands to do.  He will open His good treasure to them, and they would lend, but they would not borrow.   In John 8, Jesus said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you sahll be free indeed.”  Is an individual or church “free indeed” if they are under a mountain of debt?

Is it really impossible to have your needs of the Lord’s work met without going to the institutions of the world for a loan?  Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall meet all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  Second Corinthians 9:6-8 tells us the way to bountiful reaping is bountiful sowing.  This is talking about money.  In verse 8, we are told that if we are bountiful sowers, we will “…always have all sufficiency in all things, so that we may abound to every good work.”  Luke 1:37 says, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

Second Peter 3:18 says, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

 The word grace is used in two ways in the Bible.  There is, first, the purest form of grace, the amazing grace by which we have been saved, the grace of God’s kindness, His unmerited favor to us.  We can not do anything to bring this grace upon us, nor can we increase it in any way.  The grace in the above mentioned verse is referencing the grace that God puts in us, which is to be distributed in our own actions of faith and kindness.  It is this grace that Paul has in mind in 2 Corinthians 8:7, as he is talking about giving, and he says, “…see that you abound in this grace also.”