Strategies may vary, but I personally don't like spending money on the church unless I have lots of money to spare.
You should focus on getting stronger instead of doing damage control. Try crafting equipments, buying the backpack, potions or maps(which is an investment on exp and gold)
An easy starter strategy is to pick the Alchemist trait and drink every potion you see, since they're basically free stats this way.
Let me know if this works out for you