When we Partner in ministry—standing with each other, believing for each other and supporting each other—miracles become commonplace. Our anointings combine and open doors that allow us each to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think. Your ministry, no matter how great or small, becomes part of our ministry…and vice versa…so there's nothing the enemy can do to stop us!
– Partnership with Kenneth Copeland Ministries
KCM partner or KFC franchise?
Kenneth Copeland Ministries (KCM) calls its affiliated churches "partners," but the business model would be familiar to any motorcycle dealership or fast food franchise.
Although they don't put it this way, KCM and similar megaministries sell church operators a chance to make more money and grow their business. Just join the fellowship and follow the prosperity gospel system.
Some "franchises" do spectacularly well. Creflo Dollar, one of the Big Six evangelists being investigated by Sen. Grassley's committee, was a Kenneth Copeland protege. So is Mac Hammond. At the other extreme are small-time partners like Family of Faith Church in Red Deer, Alberta, where the Copeland touch is invisible.
Partner franchises may benefit from their affiliation with a known international brand. They may receive services including seminars, marketing and management advice, and even pastoral credentials. They become part of a worldwide network of franchisees. International Convention of Faith Ministries, led by Copeland friend and Hammond board member Dennis Burke, is another example of these "ministerial fellowships."
Like car dealers bringing in professional athletes for showroom sales events, a large partner church can call on a star preacher to headline a local revival; others have to settle for lower-tier visiting pastors paid with love offerings from conference attendees.
Unlike traditional franchise contracts, which charge a royalty on sales and assess fees for services, the partnership system leaves the amount of payment of to the Lord — more or less.
KCM doesn't solicit donations, it says. It just asks its partners to "believe for" something good to happen for their ministry.
Yet, with all that, you still have a lot to believe for. You need to believe for the money to double your television ministry. You need to release your faith for your Internet ministry that blessed a half million people last year, to bless a million this year. You need several million dollars to build an airplane hangar and buy helicopters, airplanes, food and supplies for Angel Flight 44, your international aviation outreach that helps the needy in times of disaster.
“What? I don’t have a television ministry!” you may say. “I don’t have an Internet ministry or an aviation outreach to the needy!”
Yes, you do. Those aren’t just outreaches of Kenneth Copeland Ministries. If you’re a Partner, they’re your outreaches too.
Franchisees send money back to headquarters through partnership tithes, sale of the parent brand's educational tracts, videos and bible study courses, speaker gifts and honoraria, and participation in special appeals. For example, KCM's partner ministers presented a $2 million gift to help the Copelands celebrate KCM's 40th anniversary. Others lent a hand in raising the money for KCM's $20-million corporate jet. Now, HDTV is the next special appeal that enlists ministers across the country to help raise the money.
Because most megaministries don't disclose their finances, it's difficult to estimate how much these pastoral relationships may be worth.
One of the Big Six being investigated by the Senate Finance Committee, Joyce Meyer Ministries, does break out its sources of revenue [.pdf]. Her operation, which is more focused on presumably less lucrative foreign missions, received about 2.4% of its $124 million in 2006 revenues from foreign affiliates and 5.6% from speaker fees, conference donations and registrations. Another 8% comes from sale of Christian materials.
It's safe to assume that the Col. Sanders of prosperity gospel stores, Kenneth Copeland, does at least as well from its extensive U.S. and international ministry partner relations.
Also impossible to measure is how much the parishoners of the local churches might send directly to the international televangelists. You may need a local church for weddings, hospital visits and funerals, but if you really want to see a prosperous return on your investment, cut out the middleman.
