How To Start A legal Church Ministry Or Christian Fellowship
Pro 11:25 - 31- Be generous, and you will be prosperous. Help others, and you will be helped. Those who are good are rewarded here on earth, so you can be sure that wicked and sinful people will be punished.
Over the years many people have come to us and ask how they can start their own church or ministry. I hope we can shed a little light on this subject. It is not as hard as you might think. The first thing you have to do is become an ordained minister or chaplain. Then you must decide what you are going to call your church or ministry. We do not recommend that anyone incorporate their church or become a 501 (c) 3, the IRS will tell you that a church is automatically tax exempt and does not have to apply for tax exemption.
There are guidelines that they use to define what they consider a church to be, so you will need to check to make sure the law has not changed, as the law right now is changing almost on a daily basis. I would also suggest that you check with the State you live in as to what they consider a church to be. This will vary state by state.
Some of our chaplains have started out by renting a store front or a space where a store has gone out of business. Some have rented houses and remodel them to their needs. Then there are others who have rented funeral home chapels, which is a win - win situation for both the chaplain and minister who is looking to start a church, and the owner of the funeral home. There are a few who have rented community centers in their areas. Then some have approached churches in their area and worked out a church sharing program, which is getting to be a big thing.
There are a lot of chaplains who have started home churches and expanded from there as the Lord provides. The first thing you will need to do once you have decided to start a church, and you have found a place to hold services, is open a church bank account and start a building fund. This is important as you do not want to be renting any longer than you have to. If the Lord has called you into His service for His people, He will bless you with the funds to build a house of worship.
The only limits you have in starting a church or a ministry are those you place on yourself. Again I want you to understand, if the Lord has called you into service, He will provide a way for you to get started and a means for you to expand. No! He will not do it for you, but He will show you the way if the desires of your heart are where they should be.
Ministries and associations are another story. If you start a small ministry and just want to do nursing home ministry, shut in ministry or a hospital visitation ministry and are not seeking funds from the public to support your ministry there is no problem.
We provide this information as a public service and as a means to help those who have a desire to start a church or ministry. It is our hope and prayer that all those who are starting churches and ministries will do it the right way so they will not get themselves into trouble. There are a lot of people serving time in prison and many others who have lost everything and had their lives destroyed because they did not know what they were doing.
We are members of Guidestar, a national database of U.S. charitable organizations which gathers and distributes data on more than 850,000 IRS-recognized non-profits. We provide this information for the protection of our members, visitors and partners who help support Chaplain Fellowship Ministries for the Glory of the Kingdom of God.
How To Start A legal Church Ministry Or Christian Fellowship
Disclaimer: Chief Chaplain Donald Gibson and Chaplain Fellowship Ministries International inc, along with all associated ministries and churches expressly disclaims all responsibility and legal liability arising out of or from the reliance of information, conversations with members or subject matter contained on or at this website. We are not an Internet based minstry. COPYRIGHT © 1Chaplain Fellowship Ministries International-All rights reserved
