Platform Helps Christian Ministries Fundraise
Every Christian ministry has ongoing needs. They need prayer, resources, workers, and finances. They might have a lot to offer but many times it’s an uphill battle just to get the resources needed to operate. A startup ministry called Crowds for Christ is hoping to change that. They’re building a network that will allow ministries, churches, small groups, and individuals to post needs (prayer, material, financial, and personnel) and share resources.
The network will offer a free online space for the various church entities to connect and collaborate. They’ll have their own pages to operate from where they can post needs, fundraise, and be found by those who want to help. “Essentially, we’re a ministry that will serve other ministries. It’s not just crowd funding but crowd resource sharing,” said Kenneth Brown, founder of Crowds for Christ. Before that can happen though Crowds for Christ is hoping to obtain some crowd funding of its own. It needs to raise $45,000 to build and test its platform. It’s seeking this financing through a crowd funding process on its own website, CrowdsforChrist.com, and is offering its donors a devotional book as a gift.
So how exactly will it function? Here are two hypothetical examples that Brown gave us:
CASE #1
Ministry: A street evangelism team of three people serving in Chicago.
Problem: They have prayer requests and need the following: another individual to share the Gospel with them, $2,000 for equipment needs, a truck, and they have two recent converts who need to be discipled.
Solution: They join CFC and share their needs. Users of the network see their needs and here’s how they respond: a brother from Green Bay feels called to street witnessing and moves to Chicago to join them, fifty different individuals collectively donate the $2,000, a nearby church donates a truck, and this team of evangelists is able to search the CFC network and find good Bible teaching churches and Bible studies located near these two individuals that they can refer them to.
CASE #2
Individual: Bob is a Christian just trying to serve the Lord.
Problems: Bob has several problems: 1) It’s hard to stay up-to-date with the various small groups and ministries that he’s active and interested in. 2) He doesn’t really know what other churches and ministries are doing in his area. 3) Bob has graphic design skills and is fluent in Japanese but He hasn’t found a way to honor God with these abilities.
Solution: He joins CFC under his church’s umbrella. When he logs into his account he’s able to see on his personalized dashboard all of the latest prayer requests, announcements, activities, events, and needs for the groups and ministries that he’s involved in both inside and outside of his church. Additionally, he’s able to search ministry needs. He finds that on the west coast there is a church that needs bulletins and tracts translated into Japanese. With his skills he’s able to help them.
In order to keep a Christ centered and like minded network Crowds for Christ will not be open to just any ministry, church, or individual. Brown added, “Would be users will have to agree to a Statement of Faith and enroll through an application process. Once they’re approved churches, ministries, and individuals will have access to a wide array of privacy options allowing them to control their footprint within the network.”
(Source: Christian Newswire)
