New Church-Centric Process

The idea for the revised Iowa Ministry Fund was to put churches at the center of the IMF process. In previous years, the input of churches and pastors to the IMF process was largely irrelevant. This really stood out as an issue because BCI exists to serve churches. This year, we put churches at the center by providing matching funds to ministries that BCI churches are investing their finances and volunteer hours into. For 2021/2022, IMF will provide matching funds with maximums of $5k per church and $5k per ministry. Through the Evangelism Projects Fund, NAMB provided funds for this process and additional funds for IMF ministries will come from the Iowa Missions Offering which will be tallied mid-October.

2021 IMF Quick Stats

• 28 applications were received
• 18 churches submitted applications
• 18 ministries were represented
• $145,660 committed to be given by churches
• $57,500 allocated through IMF matching funds

Allocation & Evaluation Criteria

Based on the IMF criteria, the Foundation Committee developed a plan for allocation of $57,500 through the Iowa Ministry Fund. The applications were divided into three categories: Approved, Contingency (if funds are available), and Declined. The declined ministries were disqualified due to not being gospel-centered ministries with ample evangelism opportunities.

2021 IMF Matching Fund Allocation

The BCI Foundation Committee has decided to award IMF matching fund allocations to the following ministries: 

• Alpha Women’s Center
• Child Evangelism Fellowship
• Friendship Center
• God’s Love House of Hope
• Home For Awhile
• Lives of Legacy
• Obria
• Polk County Jail Ministry
• Single Parent Provision
• Together For Good
• Whatsoever You Do, Inc.
• Wings of Refuge
• Youth for Christ

How to Improve IMF for Moving Forward?

1) Involve more churches to participate! We will most likely have significant funds available after the Iowa Missions Offering giving is tallied. We invite any churches that have not applied already to apply for ministries that they support. We have also decided that the application will remain open year-round and we will continue to review applications periodically.

2) Re-evaluate the $5k maximums for churches and ministries. The established maximums between churches and ministries created some unexpected results and we are considering ways to adjust the maximums for future years to make the process as effective as possible for the largest number of churches and gospel-centered ministries.

A Successful Start

Overall, the new process had a successful start. Two of the most exciting aspects were participation from a wide range and variety of churches, and the many applications for brand new church/ministry partnerships. We were close to our target participation of 20 churches and we still have the opportunity to involve other churches before the end of the year. (It’s not too late to apply for a ministry that your church supports. Apply now!) The new process achieved the goal of putting churches at the center of the process and promoting more outreach and evangelism through local churches.