Practical Church Newsletter ⛪️

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Cost-per-use is more important than overall cost.

The overall cost of something should not be the only (or even the biggest) factor in what you purchase for your church. What matters most is cost-per-use. What would be considered expensive for ministry A isn’t so for ministry B, if ministry B is going to use it a lot more than ministry A would.

Here is a personal example.

Buying a really nice fishing rod would be expensive and unnecessary to me because I never fish. Buying a nice outdoor grill cart/prep station would not be wasteful to me since I use my Blackstone griddle 4-5 times per week on average. So I bought a nice grill cart.

I also buy a nice pair of sunglasses about every 5 years (typically $200+ in value). For me, I like high-quality lenses, and I wear my sunglasses almost every day while driving. Here then is the math on a $250 pair of sunglasses:

• 52 weeks x 6 days = 312 days of use per year

• 312 days X 5 years = 1,560 days of use overall

• $250 ÷ 1560 = $0.16 cost per day

Whether I wear my sunglasses 100 times or 1,560 times, I still spent $250 of real money. However, the cost-per-use of the sunglasses makes a bigger investment worth it to me to have a high-quality pair of sunglasses.

If you have a new purchase coming up, cost-per-use is an extremely valuable metric to consider. What might be a high cost-per-use for someone else may be a low cost-per-use for you. If you are going to use something a lot or over a long period of time, you’ll almost always regret going the cheaper route.

For a church setting, money and finances are significant factors, but how often are you going to use that piece of software, device, or baptismal?

The more you are going to use something, the more open you need to be to spending a little bit more.

This means that things like a church management system (I recommend Planning Center) or presentation software (I recommend Propresenter), while more expensive than some alternatives, are still worth the cost.

Consider how important and how much of the thing you are going to use.

Cost-per-use > overall cost.

Last week on the Practical Church podcast I shared my 2025 church predictions. Not yet subscribed? Do so below so you can get the episodes sent right to you.

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When you have a good day, what is one habit that tends to be included in that day? Can you find time for that habit today?

More Resources to help you in ministry 🙌

Here are more ways you can get the help you need:

1. Join the Practical Church Facebook group. Connect with 2,300+ pastors and ministry leaders to get help and feedback from others.

2. Check out Mission Support so you can enjoy being a pastor again.

3. Shave 10 hours off your workweek and get back more time to get everything done. 

P.S. Why did Moses cross the Red Sea?

To get to the other side.

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