When a financial investor is researching where to place his or her money, one of the primary things looked for is the return on investment or ROI. And, one of the top questions is: what return I’m I going to receive on my money? The formula to find ROI is: your gain from investment minus (-) the cost of investment divided (÷) by the cost of investment. I know this is elementary for you, but I wanted to remind you of this simple, yet helpful investment tool before you continue to read this post.

I am sure you are wondering why I am blogging about ROI on a non-profit missions website. Well, to be honest, I am trying to get you to understand our ministry and how we think and operate. We coach individual local churches to have a more focused, engaging, and strategic vision to engage those outside the current reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in doing this, we come alongside the leadership of a local church to transform the church from a supportive role in world missions to an active role in going to all nations.

I just heard a testimony from a man on the missions council, who also teaches a Sunday school class in a church we coached a few years ago. I wanted to share this with you, and it has to do with ROI. His Sunday school class would take up an offering once a month for different missions projects or individual missionaries. This class would struggle to raise $100 per offering. The plate would be passed and it would come back with $50, and whoever was expressing the need would match the $50. They struggled and pleaded for a total of $1200 per year.

Now a few years later, after the church went from a supportive role in world missions to an active role, things are much different in this Sunday school class and throughout the entire congregation. A few important items to get you up to speed: 1) this church’s missions vision was to respond to a plethora of requests for money; 2) no one in the church had a clue who or what was supported and where the work was taking place; 3) each Sunday school class was, in effect, their own missions department; 4) after the coaching process, the church strategically focused their foreign missions efforts on two key areas of the world, and for security reasons I will keep them anonymous.

Ok, now with a little background, you are ready for the rest of the story. This one Sunday school class (I am told this church has over 50 Sunday school classes) has received over $37,000 in 24 months. The reason for this huge increase is simple: a focused, engaging, and strategic vision to reach two counties that live outside the reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember, this is just one Sunday school class out of 50 and doesn’t include the monies from the general fund and any monies raised by the youth department.

ROI: $37,000 (gain from investment) – $12,000 (estimated cost to coach a church – cost of investment) = $25,000. Divide (÷) the $25,000 by $12,000 = 2.0833 or a 208.3% return of investment. This is ROI from one Sunday school class.

Now this is good news and is worthy of great praise to God! This blog post is focused on the financial component of church missions coaching; something we can capture on paper and track. But imagine for a moment the lives that are being changed with this money. Hungry, abandoned, and naked children are being fed, clothed, and loved. Clean water is now flowing when just a few months before there was only polluted and disease-infested water to drink. And most importantly, the life-changing message of Jesus Christ is being spread to those in spiritual darkness.

Sixteen: Fifteen believes in the power of Jesus Christ flowing through His church; therefore, we exist to assist local churches by moving them from a supportive role in world missions to an active role in spreading the hope found in the good news of Jesus Christ. Please consider investing in our ministry by praying for us, and also by standing with us financially. We cannot promise you an earthly return of investment, but we can encourage you to consider your eternal return on investment: