Having Fun with Ministry Shares

The just-released Ministry Shares video shows only a hand drawing simple, stick-figure images to help explain what for many people can be a confusing program for raising funds in the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

Meanwhile, a voice-over says, “Back in the early days of the CRCNA, Christian Reformed congregations were looking for a way to do ministry in any part of the world that God led them. So they decided that each church would send a certain amount to a common pot.”

Written and produced by communications specialists from various CRCNA agencies, the new, three-minute-long video then shows the hand drawing images of small churches with arrows pointing to a bigger church, which represents the denomination itself.

Again, there is the voice over, which explains that this way of funding was initially known as an assessment or a quota. “Today we call this method of fund-raising Ministry Shares,” says the voice on the screen.

“We wanted a video that was fun, entertaining and simple,” says Meghan Kraley, who works in communications for the CRC’s Office of Social Justice. “We also wanted it to be something all of the agencies could benefit from.”

The CRC funds its institutions, agencies, and ministries from a broad range of sources. These include tuition, product sales, and grants, as well as gift income. Gift income includes individual gifts and contributions, special offerings, estate giving, and ministry shares.

Of these, ministry shares is the most often-discussed and least-understood funding stream.

The new video tackles this issue by showing a medium-sized church and explaining with dollars signs and wording that every adult member of the congregation is asked to give about $6 per week.

“Already some churches have downloaded the video from our Web site and have shown it,” says Mariano Avila, who works in communications for Christian Reformed World Missions. “In this, we try to take more abstract concepts and flatten them to two-dimensions and add a little humor.”

All groups within the CRC except the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) receive ministry shares. The percentage of agency annual budgets funded via ministry shares varies from less than four percent at Calvin College, where the funds are used to supply tuition reductions for students from CRC families, to more than 90 percent for certain pastoral ministries.

Although the CRWRC doesn’t receive ministry shares, members of its communications staff also helped to create and produce the new video.

The video is the first in the “What’s That” video series that will be used to explain complex processes and concepts within the church and beyond, says Holly Bechiri, ministry partner program administrator for the CRWRC.

The second in the series is titled “Cycle of Poverty” and is being edited right now.

“We definitely want to do a lot more. Our idea is to show what makes the CRC unique and make it accessible to watch,” says Kraley.