Sponsoring church (Churches of Christ)

The sponsoring church arrangement describes a resource-pooling strategy employed by some congregations of the Churches of Christ.

Under this arrangement, one congregation (specifically, the congregation's eldership or, if it lacks elders, the men of the congregation) agree to oversee the work of an individual (such as a missionary to another country) or group (such as a children's home). Other congregations and/or individuals, desiring to support that work, would send contributions to the overseeing congregation designated for that work. The work may be performed using a separate entity for legal purposes (and, as such, contributions would be sent to that entity) but the sponsoring church's elders/congregation would still maintain control and oversight of the entity and its work (an example being the Gospel Broadcasting Network, a satellite television network featuring Church of Christ programming, which is overseen by the elders of the Southaven Church of Christ congregation in Southaven, Mississippi).