{"id":2045,"date":"2010-02-13T13:22:16","date_gmt":"2010-02-13T18:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"\/news_blogs\/john\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2023-12-21T16:50:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T21:50:02","slug":"a-new-agency-or-a-new-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/john\/2010\/02\/13\/a-new-agency-or-a-new-program\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Agency or a New Program?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“We had been around for seven years and had reached our capacity organizationally. We either had to stop, cancel half our programs, compromise in some way, or hire fundraising staff so we could raise more money so we could hire more staff. Or, we could look for someone bigger who could do all that and let me play to my strengths.” Darian Kovacs, founder of CampusFire, speaking at the 2008 CCCC Conference<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Darian is a high energy, ministry entrepreneur. He built his organization from scratch to one that had its programs in over 1,200 schools across Canada – all with 3 staff. He faced the question that every entrepreneur faces at some point: Do I stay independent<\/strong> or should I find an organization that will take my idea to the next level?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Darian realized that his only\u00a0viable option to grow and further fulfill his mission was to join somebody bigger. The solution ended up being to connect with an organization, City in Focus, that can do all the administration, and bring in a new leader, Jason Ballard,\u00a0to take the ministry to the next level. Darian is now with a software company developing tools for charities to use. With the proper infrastructure, Jason can concentrate on what God has called him to do, instead of having to look after all the organizational needs.<\/p>\n

Darian’s story provides a good illustration of why you might want to associate with a larger ministry. And sometimes, to fit in with a larger organization you first have to go it alone and prove the viability of the ministry.<\/p>\n

How to Decide<\/h2>\n

So when you have an idea for a new ministry,<\/strong> what\u00a0factors might influence your choice about going it alone or joining another ministry right at the start?<\/p>\n

One factor is theological and another is discerning your call. I’ve written about discerning your call<\/a>, so here we’ll just consider the theological factor. (I’ve also written about how a church or agency can decide whether to create its own new program or work through someone else<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

A fundamental characteristic of the people of God is\u00a0our life in community. Missiologist George W. Peters once said that \u201cChristianity is basically a religion of relationships.” The theological priority is to be in community with other believers. It seems reasonable therefore that we should first ask, “Who can I do this ministry with?” The bias would be towards working with a ministry that already exists rather than starting a new one.<\/p>\n

The importance of being in community was made clear in an attitude survey I conducted for my doctoral thesis on church-agency relations (which is now a book<\/a>). Almost 400 pastors completed an attitude survey about parachurch ministries and they revealed a strong undercurrent of suspicion about why people start their own ministries. One pastor captured the feelings of this group with a very simple judgment about agencies: \u201cMost of them are scamps!\u201d Pastors claimed that:<\/p>\n