A Shortcut is the Quickest Way to Failure

Historically, the main reason that people get lost in the woods is because they have tried to use a shortcut to get somewhere faster. Shortcuts often appeal to an organization or person interested in expediency or reducing the amount of work required to get results. Unfortunately, when it comes to capital campaigns and churches, shortcutting the process of raising capital is usually met with the same poor results. Churches get sidetracked or lost.

Failure in capital campaigns comes at a very high cost to a ministry. If a church gets disappointing results from its capital campaign it can usually be traced to one or more of these attempts at shortcuts: 1) Shortcutting the process due to lack of knowledge, 2) not following a structured process, or 3) not involving enough volunteers to support the process.

Low results or failure with a capital campaign initiative can slow or even kill a ministry initiative. If a church fails with a capital campaign by taking shortcuts, their ministry’s vision cannot be fulfilled and they must wait three or more years to attempt another capital campaign to support the ministry growth. This often leads to deaths of vision and ministry.

Capital campaigns have been conducted since the Old Testament (example) There is a definite process that must be employed to achieve successful results when it comes to raising money. The temptation to cut corners to save time and money produces results no one wants to experience. Shortcuts are the fastest way to failure when it comes to capital campaigns.