Tying Your Project to Mission

This past weekend, Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church unveiled the next step in their campus development – and it has access to parking as its primary focus – building a bridge for $5,000,000. Now that’s exciting isn’t it?

I’ve led a couple of clients through initiatives to raise money for parking and access related issues. This can be a tough project to fund…UNLESS you successfully tie it to your mission.

One of my clients did it by taking video footage of campus traffic on several Sunday mornings. More than once, they captured on film something that moved the hearts of their people. A car would pull onto the lot, drive around the campus and eventually leave the lot. At no time did the car stop, a door open and someone exit the vehicle.

With that image seared into the mind, they communicated the urgency of their capital initiative. How could they continue to effectively reach out to a lost community when there was no place for folks to park their car? The project was tied to their mission.

Here’s how Andy Stanley communicates the urgency of North Point’s project in a letter to the congregation:

“Is it worth it? It all depends. If our mission is to be a church thatʼs perfectly designed for the people who already attend, then we donʼt need a bridge. But if we want to continue to be a church unchurched people love to attend, then yes, itʼs worth it. From my perspective, this is not a “nice to have” option. Honestly, I donʼt want to raise money for, or give money to, something thatʼs not mission critical. I believe creating a second access point allows us to stay on mission. That is why weʼve been working on this for nine years.”