Which Wilderness Ministry Should I Start? Business, Non-Profit, Church-Based?

In our series on how to start a wilderness ministry. One of the key questions we must look at first is whether to start your ministry in a church or set up a separate non-profit. I would like to help walk you through this consideration because it is very important and there are many things to take into account. 

SHOULD I START A WILDERNESS MINISTRY AS A PROFITABLE BUSINESS?

MAYBE

Depending on your long term vision, how entrepreneurial you are, and what kind of capital you can raise to start a business, there are several pros and cons to consider:

Pros

• You can take it in just about any direction/niche you desire
• If you are highly entrepreneurial you may be able to do what you love AND grow it enough to to provide you a full time salary and potentially even more paid staff
• Your business model can either be “anyone can sign up” or “group sign ups” and probably make it work if you are good at sales

Cons

• You will need to get permits for all of your trips which is getting more challenging these days
• You’ll have to charge more for your trips to cover salaries and overhead costs
• You will likely have a reduced number of participants you can serve because of the higher cost per trip which some people cannot afford
• You’ll need to invest more in training, certifications, marketing, etc. to maintain credibility and competitive edge with your staff
• Succession may be tricky when or if you get to the point where you want to sell your business. Most people won’t be attracted to buying a business that is not growing or does not have obvious growth potential. That is essentially “buying a job.” So you will need to have a very good plan for growth and your business will have to be attractive and well-planned for its next steps if you will be able to eventually sell it.

SHOULD I START A WILDERNESS MINISTRY AS A NON-PROFIT?

MAYBE

Similar to starting a profitable business that offers transformative wilderness experiences to your clients, you may consider a non-profit model instead.

Pros

• You can take it in just about any direction/niche you desire as long as you have a donor base who supports your vision (i.e. evangelism, discipleship-oriented, counseling or adventure therapy, mission-tourism, etc.)
• If you are highly entrepreneurial you may be able to do what you love AND grow it enough to to provide you a full time salary and potentially even more paid staff
• Your business model can either be “anyone can sign up” or “group sign ups” and probably make it work if you are good at sales
• You have the option of raising capital through donations of generous supporters who are behind your vision.
• You can raise funds to offer scholarships or discounts to participants who may need help to afford your trips. This can increase both the number and the diversity of the participants you can serve compared to a for-profit business model.

Cons

• You will need to get permits for all of your trips which is getting more challenging these days. (Even though you are a non-profit organization, because you are paying salaries to employees to run your trips, you are considered a “commercial” enterprise with the Forest Service so you must get permits for your trips)
• You’ll have to charge more for your trips to cover salaries and overhead costs
• You will likely have a reduced number of participants you can serve because of the higher cost per trip which some people cannot afford
• Although you can raise money through donations to grow your ministry and cover initial costs like equipment, transportation, or even a property, unfortunately this will not lower the fee that you will have to charge participants. Yes raising money can drastically reduce the burden of raising capital but it will likely not reduce what you have to charge for trips because although you are a non-profit, to be viable you still have to charge participants a fee that covers the actual cost of your trips plus 3% or more to be sustainable.

RELATED: Dilemma: Many Outdoor Facilitators – Too Few Outdoor Ministry Builders

SHOULD I START A CHURCH-BASED WILDERNESS MINISTRY?

YES

The reason I say “yes” to starting a church-based ministry is because I am assuming that anyone who wants to start a wilderness ministry is also intimately involved in a local church. This is a no-brainer in my view. Anyone who has led expedition-style wilderness trips at a competent level has skills he or she can offer to their church to help people in their church body enjoy time in the wilderness. So I am a staunch advocate of anyone who has wilderness leadership skills to use those gifts and talents to serve your local church. Churches can and should value regular retreat, and it is people like you, who have wilderness skills, who can bless the socks off of multitudes of people in your church who would not otherwise feel comfortable or competent to experience a multi-day expedition in the wilderness. So although a church-based wilderness ministry may be small and simple, I strongly recommend that you consider helping your church get started because it is transformative, low cost, and will help your church grow future leaders like few other ministries I have seen are capable of doing.

Pros

• You can run these trips as non-commercial with the Forest Service if you do not charge any overhead costs to your participants or pay salaries to employees which means that you do not need permits for all of your trips. There are specific rules to follow with the Forest Service so make sure you are truly running your trips in a non-commercial manner.
• You have more options of places to go on your trips because you can do them without permits if you follow the non-commercial rules
• You can charge much less for your trips because your participants are not paying overhead costs and salaries in their fees
• You can grow and get a more diverse group of participants involved because of the lower costs for the trip which make it more affordable and feasible for lower income families
• You will have a whole church full of volunteers to help serve and sustain your ministry, and those who serve will be mutually blessed to be involved.
• Major, major, major Gospel impact in your church where you will see not only participants meeting Jesus and growing as disciples but you’ll see all of your volunteer guides growing exponentially in character and leadership skill to the point where many of your guide staff you will notice are likely those men and women who become key leaders or even staff in your church over the years

Cons

• You’ll need to get your church on board to help with any costs for training, etc. because you cannot pass those costs along to your participants if you are running your trips under non-commercial rules
• Working with volunteers is a blessing but it brings challenges so you’ll need to make sure you know how to recruit, train, and oversee your volunteer guides who lead trips with the same expectations for excellence and safety, although they are serving as volunteers. Wilderness Ministry Institute specializes in helping churches all over the world learn how to create an in-house wilderness ministry.
• Communication, Communication, Communication. Because churches have leadership or vision changes from time to time it will be very important that you continue to cast vision and maintain the support of the church Body and pastors to run your wilderness ministry. Involving key leaders in your ministry is helpful so that people don’t forget why you are doing wilderness ministry and why it is so valuable to the church year after year.
• Instead of being a full time wilderness director in a non-profit organization structure, you will likely need to create a hybrid role where if you would like to spend a good bit of your time doing wilderness ministry you will likely need to do that under a more common role of youth pastor, college pastor, men’s or women’s ministry director, volunteer etc. which is easier for churches to understand and support you in a staff position. It is rare to be able to serve in wilderness ministry full time in a church, but it is possible.

RELATED: 7 TIPS FOR SUCCESSFULLY STARTING A CHURCH-BASED WILDERNESS MINISTRY

Jesus intentionally used adventure to get to the hearts of his disciples. And having led youth ministries for over 30 years and trained youth workers from over 60 countries, I am more convinced than ever that there are specific and compelling reasons why churches today should double their efforts to get people out into the wilderness. I recently wrote the book, Christian Outdoor Leadership as a tool to help youth pastors and leaders see the importance and value of outdoor pursuits. Many churches are leading the way, setting up models for how local churches can get more young people encounter Jesus in a meaningful way in the wilderness.

RELATED: Faith-based Relational Therapy through Adventure is Very Effective

On the non-profit front, there are also hundreds of camps and outdoor ministry programs (click here to see our list of recommended outdoor programs) that have a long history leading groups in the wilderness safely and effectively. 

TAKE ACTION

1. If you’d like to schedule a conversation to ask questions about starting a wilderness program click here to book a time…
2. If you haven’t yet, read my book, Christian Outdoor Leadership to discover how this ancient style of wilderness journey could revolutionize your church or organization.
3. Need some motivation? Read a related post to inspire you to step out in faith: Dilemma: Many Outdoor Facilitators – Too Few Outdoor Ministry Builders