This week, my wife, Karen, has been hard at work getting things ready for our church yard sale. I have done my fair share of yard sales for youth fundraisers. Some have done quite well and some…haven’t. There was one where I had to sit on a block of ice for 15 minutes because people put more money in my jar than the other pastor’s(this was of course rigged). I don’t think there’s anything wrong with youth fundraisers as long as it doesn’t take away from the ministry. If you’re doing a youth car wash every weekend then…you may want to re-think that.
In the last year, I’ve heard of 2 churches(both Wesleyan) having monthly yard/hot dog sales to pay the mortgage on their new buildings. Before I go off on a rant let me say that both of these buildings were built in better economic times. I’m sure the church leaders never foresaw having to use valuable church space to store yard sale stuff year round because they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the payments.
Now, church yard sales can a be a good thing because they get people on your campus in a non-churchy environment. It’s a great way to meet new people and for people to check out your church. On the other hand, having one so often may send mixed signals to your community. Think about the man hours your people are spending trying to make a few extra bucks every month. Is the investment of time worth it? Sooner or later, aren’t those who are heavily involved going to get burned out and start asking themselves,”why am I doing this every month?” If you had to compare hours spent on the yard sale and hours spend on outreach monthly how would that look? Would it be sad? Would it be embarrassing?
All the money from our yard sale is going towards our missions program, The One World Challenge. We’ve pledged $10,000 towards local, national, and foreign missions. The yard sale and other events will help us reach our goal of $14,000. When we’re done Saturday, everything left over will go to a local family who is hosting a benefit for a sick relative. It’s just another way we are hoping to give back through this event.
For the record, my wife volunteered to lead this yard sale. She’s passionate about missions(and yard sales). I’m proud of the job she’s done getting things organized. I’ll be even prouder when 100% of the proceeds goes to people spreading the gospel in Las Vegas, China, Bosnia, Fort Lauderdale, Azerbaijan, Uganda, Haiti, and missionary training at Southern Wesleyan. Not to mention our local pregnancy center, soup kitchen, and elementary school.
I’m praying for our sister churches who are struggling to make ends meet and whose faithful volunteers show up each month to cook a breakfast, fix some BBQ, and sort through old clothes. My prayer is that their efforts would reap financial fruit and that people would meet Jesus in the buildings they are paying for.
What do you think? Am I totally off base here? Should we be having yard sales for any reason?
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Our church is fairly new and we recently had a yard sale to help pay off our land. We had the sale on the property and it was great to see people in our community and hear their imput about our mission in the rural area we serve. We didn’t raise a lot, but at this point every little bit helps. And now some of the people in our neighborhood see us as more than an empty lot with a sign saying “Future Home of Lifeline Baptist Church.”
Terry Reed
Small Church Tools
Terry, that is a great story. To me, that’s what it’s all about. You were raising awareness in your community about the gospel and your church. I pray there is a great harvest for you guys and many lives are transformed on that property! Thanks for the comment!