Today’s post is written by Jim Sheppard. Jim is CEO & Principal of Generis, a consulting firm passionate about helping churches accelerate generosity towards their God-inspired vision.

By Jim Sheppard

Money and the church. It’s an awkward relationship. Have you noticed that?

If I had to guess, I would say that there is no topic that is more on the minds of senior pastors on Monday mornings and less on their minds as they plan sermons. This is not a critique, just an observation.

The conversation about money and giving in the church has become taboo. We don’t talk about it; and yet, all of the church leaders I know want to see giving increase. They want their people to become more generous with their finances, loosen their grip on money, and give back to the One who has provided it all in the first place.

To add to the tension, a lot of pastors fear playing into the stereotype that the church is all about money. So they never talk about money or wait until they need it. That’s a mistake.

The reason you need to talk about money is more about what you want for people than what you want from them. People argue about money every day, and you can help them win with it.

In addition, without casting an authentic vision about money, many will never release the gift of generosity in their life. Giving is a discipleship issue that too many church leaders ignore.

If you truly want to see church members embrace biblical generosity, you have to talk about it openly. You need to normalize the giving conversation and take the awkward out of it.

It starts with the acknowledgement that giving is first and foremost a spiritual issue, not financial. Our giving back to God for the work He wants to do in this world is a reflection of who He is in our lives. It shows our worship and reverence.

Giving is first and foremost a spiritual issue, not financial. – Jim SheppardClick To Tweet

That is why we give to God. It’s not to fund the church budget or advance projects. Those are merely secondary effects of what happens when we give to God’s work in and through the church.

This is where we often get it wrong and add to the awkwardness. We communicate that the main reason we want the people in our church to give is so that our church finances will flourish. That’s not it. That is not the primary reason we want our people to give. We want our people to give so that they can experience what it does for them when they give to God’s work. Our giving to God is meant to transform us!

When we treat the spiritual discipline of generosity as an exercise in fundraising – we end up nominalizing what God intended as a means to grow us.

Teaching about giving is an integral part of making disciples.

All of the church leaders I know want to make more disciples. Therefore, we have to teach and equip our people on giving if we are really serious about making disciples.

Most of the people in our churches have no idea of the spiritual implication of managing (or not managing) well the money and possessions that have been entrusted to them. For us to take the awkwardness out of it, our focus must be on growing givers’ hearts.

A couple of leading voices in the American church have spoken to this and it bears mentioning here.

In the second message of the series Money Talks that Andy Stanley preached in February 2019, he says it this way. “Until Jesus is first in your finances, Jesus isn’t first. You’re not a follower. You’re a user. And Judas tried that.”

That sounds direct but it is hard to argue. If we have put Jesus first in other areas of our lives but we have not done so with our money and possessions, we have missed it. We have not fully put Jesus first.

The issue gets compounded because we are not good at self-assessing. We think we are more generous than we really are.

Tim Keller, in a talk he gave at a Generous Giving gathering some years ago, says it well in this excerpt. “…Nobody thinks they’re greedy. Nobody. In all my years as a minister, I have heard almost every kind of confession. Nobody has ever come to me and said, ‘I spend too much money on myself.’ Nobody has ever done that. But here is what I want you to consider. If Jesus talks about greed and materialism 10 or 20 times more than he talks about other sins, and he says that nobody ever thinks they’re doing it. Then we should start with a working hypothesis that it is probably a problem for me.”

Giving is a spiritual issue. If we want to develop cultures of generosity in our churches, we have to own this. We can’t just hope it will change. We have to do something if we want to see it change.

Until Jesus is first in your finances, Jesus isn’t first. You’re not a follower. You’re a user. And Judas tried that. – @AndyStanleyClick To Tweet

Five Areas To Address When Taking The Awkward out of the Giving Conversation

So, where do we start? There are five areas where I would recommend we start:

1. Regularly Teach Biblical Generosity

The senior leader must teach on generosity and stewardship on a regular basis. A series every now and then is helpful, but also consider other means. When generosity comes up in the text of a passage you are using to make another point, take time to cover the generosity point in the text.

Perhaps the single best way to teach regularly is through the offering moment. The few minutes before you receive the offering in service each week is a key time to teach on the importance of what is happening.

If you want a step-by-step plan to accelerate generosity in your church, you can download one for free here.

The few minutes before you receive the offering in service each week is a key time to teach on the importance of what is happening. – Jim SheppardClick To Tweet

2. Model Generosity – In Your Own Life and In Others

Share examples of people who have seen transformation in their own lives when it comes to giving. For people who are not faithful givers, they don’t know what it looks like. They need examples and encouragement. Seeing the journey of someone else accomplishes both.

One thing I hear often when I bring this up is the idea that this is not a topic we are supposed to share about in public. They say, “don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.” Without going into a long explanation of the text, that is not a prohibition against sharing one’s giving story. If it were, Jesus would not have talked about letting your light shine before men that they might see your good works.

The key here is to be careful about the motive in sharing. Give credit to God for the increase in your heart’s capacity to give. That’s the real story here!

3. Celebrate Mission Advancement

Encourage your church by calling attention to victories in mission advancement due to giving. This is probably the most overlooked element of encouraging generosity.

Think of a time when you made a significant appeal to the people of your church and they rose up and met it. Did you celebrate it? I don’t mean patting yourselves on the back and congratulating each other, I mean giving thanks to God for the move of His Spirit among your people, and the response of obedience in His people.

If you haven’t been doing it, make sure you do it next time you ask and your people respond.

4. Make Generosity a Priority, a Mark of Discipleship

Specifically identify giving and generosity as one of the marks of discipleship in your church.

Churches prioritize that which they have identified as important. Values get prioritized. Many times, the values a church establishes are connected to marks of discipleship. Prayer, service, leading, and Bible study are frequently on the list of things a church considers the marks of discipleship.

Did you notice which one is not in the list? Giving and generosity. Maybe church leaders just assume if you do the other things, you will be a generous giver. This is not a good strategy.

I have been around hundreds of churches as a consultant and I’ll just say that’s not my experience. It doesn’t just happen. It has to be specifically addressed. Making generosity one of the church’s marks of discipleship is a way to ensure that it happens.

5. Have a Generosity Champion at the table with your lead team

This is a voice to make sure generosity and giving are prioritized. This is probably the biggest single idea of the five mentioned here, and likely the one most leaders have not considered.

It is easy for giving and generosity to take a back seat to other priorities church leaders are addressing at any given time. This is understandable when something really pressing comes along, but it should be the exception, not the norm.

Generosity should be like a thread that is woven into the fabric of the church. Not siloed, but owned by every leader on the team.

A Generosity Champion, whether a staff member or a key lay person, will keep it on the table at all times.

Generosity should be like a thread that is woven into the fabric of the church. Not siloed, but owned by every leader on the team. – Jim SheppardClick To Tweet

Where do we go from here?

We have to solve this. The stakes are high on two fronts.

1. The people in our churches are spiritually malnourished when it comes to money and possessions.

When we talk about making disciples, we have to be committed to addressing all the areas of discipleship. Teaching in the area of money and possessions is the most neglected one. In a culture that is as materialistic as America, our understanding of money and possessions and how it fits into our faith perspective is critical.

Jesus was concerned about it two thousand years ago. He knew that money had the potential to be another god to us.

In Luke 16, he clearly pointed out that money has the potential to cause us to worship at that altar instead of the altar of Almighty God.

This is a powerful teaching and we tend to blow past it. It speaks to the need to provide spiritual nourishment in the area of money and possessions.

2. Our churches are being limited in the pursuit of their God-given mission and mandate by the lack of sufficient financial resources.

In a country as affluent as America, there is no reason for our churches to have to limit their ministry because of financial resources. Yes, there are churches that are in economically challenged areas. But that is not the norm.

The best research we have indicates giving among believers is somewhere in the range of 2.5% of their income. Think about that. If believers in America gave just half a tithe (10% of their income), it would double the level of giving to churches. The impact of the ministry of the American church would be significantly expanded.

Only by growing givers’ hearts and loosening the grip on what God has provided will we make meaningful progress.

There’s too much at stake.

Let’s commit ourselves to removing the awkwardness and normalizing the giving conversation. For our people and for our churches.

What if you could take the weirdness out of the giving conversation at your church?

The Generis team has been helping churches do this for years.

We’d love to offer you a totally free conversation about how you can build a culture that embraces generosity like never before.

Normalize the giving conversation in your church and accelerate greater generosity towards your God-inspired vision starting today!

You can schedule a complimentary discovery session with a Generosity Strategist here: https://resources.generis.com/carey

How do you currently talk about giving? 

I’d love to know what strategies you’re trying.

Leave a comment below and let us know!

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By: Brandon A. Cox

Source: In Conflict, Check Your Motives

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Source: How Do You Plan to Make Disciples?

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Source: The Church Jesus Started is a Generosity Movement

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by NewChurches.com: In Episode 428 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss how planning for the future requires prayer and more.

“The future and how God will provide needed future leaders and funds keeps me up at night.”

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

Why prayer is important in future planning
What needs to happen after prayer

Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“You need to be saturating your ministry in prayer and praying for impact on your city, but it can’t stop there.” – @danielsangi
“Pray like it all depends on God and act like it depends on you.” – @toddadkins
“Prayer is not an excuse not to plan and prayer is not an excuse not to produce.” – @toddadkins
“Our church is incredibly generous, but that is to sustain the ministry for today. If we want to multiply, we need more leaders and we need more funds.” – @danielsangi
“We are focusing on developing a culture of equipping.” – @danielsangi
“You need constructs to develop leaders that not only lead themselves but know how to lead others.” – @danielsangi
“Don’t just wait until you need a lot of money and do a capital campaign.” – @danielsangi
“Create a culture of generosity in your church.” – @danielsangi

Additional Resources:

Read Designed to Lead by Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck
Listen to the Ask Me Anything podcast

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

This Episode’s Sponsor: Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, LifeWay, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

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by NewChurches.com: In Episode 426 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Ed, along with Neil Power and John James, discuss collaborative church planting and reaching your city.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

How a generosity of Spirit helps you overcome tribal boundaries
Why there is a great need for partnership

Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“That kind of generosity of spirit really does flow out of a greater and deeper grasp of the gospel itself.”
“It is as we place our faith in Him that we will see the desperate need, the urgency of the task we have.”
“We should have a generosity of spirit toward others who are outside our traditional tribal boundaries and yet are doing great gospel work down the road.”
“Be thankful for and celebrate what God is doing elsewhere. We are co-laborers in God’s field.”
“Churches are being planted to move Christians around.”
“If someone is willing to move to our city and plant a church we see that as a blessing.”
“Post-Christendom has brought about a sense of a greater need for partnership and collaboration than we’ve needed historically.”

Additional Resources:

Watch the Q&A Webinar on Collaborative Church Planting and Citywide Movements
Read Together For the City by Neil Powell and John James
Watch Collaboration and the Surge Network [Behind-the-Scenes]
Listen to the Ask Me Anything podcast

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

This Episode’s Sponsor: You’ve probably heard about the movie OVERCOMER. But you may not know there are a few books and Bible studies inspired by the film. One is called Defined by Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick, which is a book and Bible study based on insights from the Book of Ephesians. You can find these books and Bible studies at LifeWay.com/Overcomer.

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by Carey Nieuwhof: So let me guess, every time you need to talk about money in church, you wince. And so does everybody else.

I know, because I’ve been there.

If you’re going to be effective in ministry, you have to become comfortable talking about money.

Yet few church leaders I know are.

Here’s why.

When you talk about money, it’s like you’re setting yourself up to be shot at. You almost always take bullets when you talk about money, even when you speak about it as earnestly, biblically and honestly as you know how.

As a result, many pastors avoid the subject and only talk about it if there’s a financial crisis looming for the church.

That’s the biggest mistake you can make. Only talking about money when you need money is the best way to set everyone up to lose.

Nobody wins in that scenario: not the church, not your people, and not you as a leader.

But you have to talk about it. Why? Because there’s so much at stake if you don’t.

Pastors who refuse to talk about money can ultimately leave both their churches and their people broke.

The message we continually hear from the culture around us leads people to overextension on things that matter little in the end and can also result in dissolving families (see below).

Only talking about money when you need money is the best way to set everyone up to lose.Click To Tweet

It’s Not Hopeless…Really

I know what it’s like to lead with very meager resources as well as what it’s like to lead with more.

When I began in ministry, three small churches called me to be their pastor.

The annual budget for one of the churches was $4,000. No, I’m not kidding. No, there are no missing zeros. Added together, the budget of all three churches was less than $50,000 for the year. The doors were almost closing.

But seeing resources freed up for ministry has made a big difference. More than 3,500 people now call our church home, and we see over 1,300 of them every weekend. Today our church is vibrant, healthy and alive (and I’m so thankful for that).

What’s even better, though,  is how we’ve seen people who attend our church become financially healthy in their personal life. Far too many people were driving car payments, not cars, buying so much house there was no money left for anything else and no one seemed to be interested in casting a different vision. It’s been a joy to cast vision and help people live with margin and live on mission. And they’re so grateful for having margin in their life.

So how do you get over your innate fear of talking about money?

Here are 7 ways to get the funk out of talking about money at church.

1. Realize people talk about money every single day

Think about it. Do you know a person who doesn’t talk about money in some way every day?

There’s not a family in your church or community that doesn’t have some kind of daily dialogue about money.

People talk about it, argue about it, and try to make their plans around it.

Almost everyone in your church and community thinks about money daily and talks about it daily. They may even struggle with it daily. It’s just that few people step up to help them with it.

And because most church leaders are afraid to talk about, or only ever talk about giving, people talk about money in a theological vacuum because few church leaders will talk about it.

So start talking about it. And when it comes to money, don’t just talk about giving, talk about living. Normalize the conversation by talking about normal things.

When it comes to money, don’t just talk about giving, talk about living. Normalize the conversation by talking about normal things.Click To Tweet

2. View talking about money as pastoral care

Could it be that your reluctance to talk about money is costing people their marriages?

Reports continue to show that money issues are a top reason families break up.

In a culture of plenty burdened by massive personal debt and a lack of fulfillment around money, families are looking for hope and help.

If the church won’t help people figure out how to handle their personal finances, who will?

The scripture is packed with practical advice and missional claim on personal finances that can literally change people’s lives.

Why hold out on people? Who will bring them help or hope if you don’t?

If the church won’t help people figure out how to handle their personal finances, who will?Click To Tweet

3. Help people plan their financial future, not just yours

Addressing money in your church shouldn’t just be about your needs in ministry.

Too many leaders only think about their church’s need when it comes to money. Wise leaders think about their congregation’s needs when it comes to money.

If you help people plan their personal financial future, you’ll have a better future as a church.

The tagline we came up with a few years ago is that we want people to live with margin and live on mission.

I started telling people I wanted them to pay cash for their next vacation, to save for their children’s education, to save for retirement, to create an emergency fund and to live generously.

I think people were shocked that a preacher a) wanted them to take a vacation, b) wanted them to pay cash for it,  c) offered a program to help them realize their financial goals and d) didn’t expect all their money to go to the church.

One of the best things we’ve done in the last 5 years has been taking hundreds of adults and students through the Financial Learning Experience. It’s a two-hour forum designed to help people master the basics of financial planning and realize their dreams. There are follow-up small groups and individual coaching you can also offer.

My joy as a leader is to see hundreds of people paying cash for their vacations, saving for their kids’ education, saving for retirement AND giving generously to the Kingdom.

But that only happens if you want something FOR people, not just something FROM them. So help people plan their financial future, not just yours or your church’s.

Church leaders, help people plan THEIR financial future, not just yours or your church’s.Click To Tweet

4. Understand you’re slaying a giant idol

If the world (and church) have an idol, money is a prime candidate.

So know up front you’re going to get push back when you address it. But if you help people with their finances as a ministry and steward the money that’s received appropriately, you will help break the power of an idol in our culture and church.

When you attack an idol, prepare for a counter-attack.

It’s easier not to fall victim to the criticism or internal battles that the attack brings when you realize the attack is coming.

But before you go too far down that road, remember the enemy is not just outside you, it’s within you. The idol you’re trying to get your congregation to slay might also be yours. Really question your motives when you talk about money.

Be honest about how you struggle with money and the love of it. If you don’t struggle with money, you’re probably not human.

Preachers, remember that the idol you’re trying to get your congregation to slay might also be yours.Click To Tweet

5. Tap into the desire most people have to be generous

It’s easy to think most people are stingy. I’m not sure that’s true.

Most people want to be generous. They just don’t know how.

When you can’t make your minimum credit card payments, even a $20 donation to the food bank seems out of reach.

When you help people get their finances in order, generosity can be unleashed. And more people want to be generous than you think. They just need help getting there.

Most people want to be generous. They just need help getting there.Click To Tweet

6. Your vision and stewardship must be worth the sacrifice people make

When people give, you receive a measure of trust from both people and from God.

You need to steward and manage the money well. Things like a third party independent annual audit (which is expensive, but worth it) should be the norm.

And your vision and mission should be compelling, up to the challenge and have life-changing results.

People may give once or twice, but over time, most people don’t give generously to uninspiring or poorly stewarded visions.

People don’t give generously to uninspiring or poorly stewarded visions. Click To Tweet

7. Unchurched people are more open to conversations about money than you realize

I saved the best for last. Of all the concerns I’ve heard about talking about money at our church over the years, the #1 objection is that unchurched people don’t like the church to talk about money.

And guess what? Most of our growth comes from unchurched people, so it’s a live tension.

Sure, sometimes, that’s true. But most of it’s not. Surprisingly, unchurched people love to talk about money when they realize you’re ready to help them.

If you doubt that people love to talk about money, just ask Dave Ramsey how, for a quarter-century, he’s helped millions of people (churches and unchurched) win with their money.

Ready for a truth bomb? In my experience, the people who object the most about talking about money are the people who give the least.

I can’t prove that statistically, but it resonates with my experience and intuition.

Don’t let the people who never give ruin your ministry to people who love to give and want to give.

The people who object the most to talking about money are the people who give the least.Click To Tweet

Want More?

WANT MORE?

Money is one thing, but it’s not the only topic when it comes to communication and preaching.

Ever wish someone could come alongside you to walk you through the finer points of the art of better preaching?

That’s exactly what my good friend Mark Clark and I do in our course, The Art of Better Preaching. We’ve even got a full unit on how to leave your notes behind the next time you give a talk.

Every week, Mark and I preach to thousands of churched and unchurched people, Mark at Village Church in Vancouver BC, and me at Connexus Church north of Toronto. We have very different styles, which means this course is not a preach-just-like-me approach to preaching.

You can customize it to help you preach better messages, and it draws from the rich tradition of different approaches that actually connect with unchurched people. Plus, we share our best secrets on how to craft the best messages we know how to create.

In the course, Mark and I cover:

The Why and How of Preaching
How to Preach to the Unchurched
How to Give a Talk Without Using Notes
How to Craft a Killer Bottom Line So People Remember Your Talk Years Later
How to Stay Fresh over the Long Haul

And much more.

We’re so excited to help you become the best communicator you can be.

Sunday’s coming. Boost your ability to connect! 

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Source: 7 Ways To To Get Past the Funk Of Talking About Money At Church

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by Leadership Network: If I were to ask you for an example of the most generous person you’ve ever encountered, no doubt somebody immediately comes to mind who has modeled for you generosity and stewardship and giving in a very compelling and even contagious or magnetic way.

For me, when I’m thinking about who in my life has modeled generosity for me, it’s somebody that my wife Susan and I met many, many years ago when we were raising money to join the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. We met a man, his name is Mr. Johnson, who was a rose grower. He had a huge rose-growing outfit. In fact, he would always give Susan a couple of dozen roses whenever we would meet him (which is a little bit weird when someone gives your wife roses, but he was 85. So I thought if it came to that, I could probably handle myself with him).

Having a conversation with Mr. Johnson was very memorable for me because I asked him why it was that he was so generous. His answer was compelling. Mr. Johnson sort of sat back and said, “It seems to me that the Lord has been very good to my family and me.” Then he said, “The more I give, the more the Lord blesses me.” It wasn’t like he had made some sort of quid pro quo prosperity gospel deal with God. It was more a genuine, sincere recognition that God is a generous God and that he has been blessed to be a blessing to others. It was really a cool moment for me.

For the past 10-plus years, I’ve worked with leaders to try to help them understand what it takes to create a culture of generosity and stewardship and giving in their churches. Through this series of blog posts, I want to share a few of the things that I’ve learned from working with hundreds of churches over those years. I’ve framed these as six questions that you’ll want to ask yourself or ask your team as you are working to cultivate generosity and stewardship in your church.

Also, at the end of each post, I’ll recommend resources and experiences that could benefit you as you lead your church along this journey of generosity.

Question #1: What do we believe about giving?

One of the things we need to get straight is that generosity and stewardship are not exactly the same thing. Have you noticed that the word “generosity” has become kind of the flavor of the month? Everybody’s using the word generosity but no one is using the word “stewardship.” I believe this is really unfortunate because, frankly, they don’t mean the same thing. They’re not synonyms for one another.

Gunnar Johnson, who was formerly on staff at Gateway Church, was the first person who taught me this. He sort of describes generosity and stewardship as two sides of the same coin, which I think is a nice little pun frankly. You can’t have generosity without stewardship, right? You can’t be truly generous unless you’re a good steward or else you’ll run out of money. You can only be truly generous once, then you’ll be out of money because you’re a bad steward, right? To be a steward without generosity is to be a hoarder of sorts, to be selfish, to be greedy. God wants us to manage our money and then be generous with it to balance both generosity and stewardship with one another.

Once you have defined those two ideas for your church, the question I’m asking you to consider at your church is this: What do you all believe about giving? You ask a typical pastor, “Hey, what is your model for teaching the Bible to your congregation?” Normally, they have an answer. “Pastor, what’s your model for discipleship or for local and global ministry or outreach?” Normally they can explain to you, “This is how we do it, this is our strategy, this is our plan.” Ask them “What is your model for teaching what the Bible says about generosity and stewardship?” and a typical pastor might say “Well, we take an offering” which frankly just isn’t enough, right? One of the key things that I want to encourage you to think about is to sincerely ask what do we believe about giving in our church, and not only what we believe but what do we teach, what are we preaching, and what are we modeling—what are we showing to the congregation about what we believe about generosity and stewardship.

One of my friends, Chad Moore from Sun Valley Community Church in Gilbert, Arizona, has done a stunning job of answering the question with his team: “What do we believe about giving here at Sun Valley?” It’s so compelling that if you ask a typical member of their church, not just a staff member, “What do you believe? What does Sun Valley believe about giving?” my guess is they would answer it for you. Because just about every week while they’re doing the offering, Chad or someone will say something like this: “We are going to receive an offering this morning because here’s what the Bible teaches about money, where to give first, save second, and live on the rest. Did you catch that? Where to give first, save second, and live on the rest.”

Then Chad or one of his team members will say something like this: “God gave first so we’re a give first church. Giving first honors God. Saving second builds wealth. Living on the rest teaches contentment.” Now that simple statement that takes less than 30 seconds to say is so ingrained in the life of the church at Sun Valley that people there know the answer to the question “What do we believe about giving?” “Well, here’s what we believe. We believe that we’re to give first, save second, live on the rest. Why? Because giving first honors God, saving second builds wealth, and learning to live on the rest teaches contentment.” I think it’s a stunning way of answering that question.

Go back and think about this with your team. What do you believe about giving? What do you teach about giving? What do you teach about tithing? What do you teach about the priority of giving? What do you teach about giving to your church? It is important that you nail that down and establish your answers clearly. That’s the first big question that you want to ask.

Question #2: What data are you tracking and sharing with your congregation?

It is so important that as a ministry leader in your church, you are keeping track of data that will help you to see how well you’re doing in this area of generosity and stewardship. I don’t have a seminary degree, but I did get an MBA. It’s sort of iconic, this idea of somebody in business school saying you can’t manage what you don’t understand and you don’t understand what you don’t measure. But I did actually hear that when I was in business school and I believe it to be true and experienced it as a truth even in ministry when I was the executive pastor at Discovery Church in Orlando.

Think about this: if it is critical for leaders to understand data, why is it so common for many leaders in the church to ignore giving data or to not look at giving data or to be nervous or afraid of giving data?

I think it’s important for pastors to have giving data because giving data reveals something very important. I like to put it this way: Every change in giving is a pastoral issue and you won’t be able to identify a change in giving if you’re not looking at giving data.

Did you catch that? Every change in giving is a pastoral issue.

We’re not looking at giving data just so we can be better fundraisers. We’re looking at giving data so that we can be more effective pastors. It is so true that often when someone’s giving craters, it’s because there’s something happening in their life spiritually, something happening personally. The statistics will indicate the people’s dollars tend to leave the church before they do, so getting a hold of this data can be very, very helpful.

A number of years ago, one of my friends called an individual in his congregation who’s giving had really cratered to find out what was going on. The question was simply “How are you?” It wasn’t “Hey, I’ve been looking at the giving data and you guys are behind. What’s the story?” No, it was just “How are you?” What he heard was “Well, we recently had to put on our 27-year-old son into drug rehab. When you put a kid in rehab who has no insurance and no job, we had to write a $40,000.00 check. So it’s been really, really difficult for us as a family.” The pastor’s response wasn’t “No wonder you’re not giving.” No. He basically said, “Okay, let’s get some people around you, let’s get some people praying for you and supporting you.” It was the change in giving that revealed this pastoral issue. That’s why it is really important that we keep track of that and pay attention to that idea.

Good data is also important so that you can keep an eye out for first-time gifts and larger than usual gifts. Many churches I work with have some sort of a standard response for any gift above $X. For some it’s $5,000.00. For others maybe it’s $10,000. Who knows what it might be. The problem with that model is that if a person faithfully gives $100.00 a month and then writes a $1,500.00 check, they probably wouldn’t trigger your large gift special letter. But for them, that is a huge special gift and it would be great if somebody could follow them up and say something like: “You need to know that we’re not staring at giving data all day long, but we do get alerted when someone gives a very, very generous gift. I want to ask you something: What is God doing in your life that caused you to give that gift?”

Wouldn’t you love to ask that question to someone who’s just given a large gift in your church so that you can encourage them and just say, “Listen, I just want you to know as one of the leaders here in our church, we’re really, really grateful and proud of you, and we’re thankful for your partnership in this ministry.” Very seldom will you have somebody be upset about congratulating them or thanking them for that kind of thing.

What data are you tracking but also what data are you sharing with your congregation? I hope you aren’t doing this, but many churches are still reporting giving data in printed weekly bulletins. “Last week’s expected giving was X but what was given actually was Y.” What’s really kind of crazy about that is in many churches, what gets reported as last week’s budgeted giving is really just 1/52 of the total annual budget. But I have news for you, as someone who has done this for a long time. I have never worked with a church that got its entire budget in 52 equal installments. It doesn’t work that way. So when you communicate “Our budget was this but we got that,” your budget really wasn’t that. You didn’t actually expect to get that much money that week. You had some other number that you expected to get based on several factors: what month it was, what week it was, whether it’s the first week of the month, whether it’s the third week of the month, etc. As a team, you have a better way of tracking that number, but what you’re reporting to your congregation is actually not very helpful.

So it’s not only important that you track giving information, but it’s equally important what are you reporting about giving information. Are you providing quarterly updates to the people in your congregation? Do you do an annual report that shows “This is everything that we did as a church last year. This is where all the money went. We’re so grateful for everybody’s partnership with us in this effort.” It is really important that you both track and share good giving data with your congregation.

These first two questions alone will generate a great amount of healthy dialogue within your leadership team and can provide you with months of action steps as you choose to implement new ideas. I will give you a few days to chew on these before I bring you the next two questions. I’d love to get your feedback and questions as you work through the first two. Feel free to leave a comment or email me at chris.willard@leadnet.org.

Recommended Resources

If you are looking for an opportunity to significantly accelerate generosity and stewardship in your church, our Accelerating Generosity and Stewardship Online Masterclass is a great fit for any church, regardless of size or budget. For only $249, you and your team can watch the 7 weekly sessions, engage in thought-provoking dialogue using the team discussion guides, and participate in exercises to stretch your thinking and broaden your perspective on giving. The masterclass experience also includes:

Exclusive interviews with top ministry leaders
Bonus resources and podcasts on generosity
Two live Q&A sessions with me and other masterclass participants
And more!

The Accelerating Generosity and Stewardship Online Masterclass begins Tuesday, August 20. For a limited time, you can get access to a FREE preview of the first session. So click or tap on the button below to access the preview!

The post Accelerating Giving in Your Church Through a Culture of Radical Generosity | Part 1 appeared first on Leadership Network.

Source: Accelerating Giving in Your Church Through a Culture of Radical Generosity | Part 1

The post Accelerating Giving in Your Church Through a Culture of Radical Generosity | Part 1 appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: Welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today Pastor Mark Zweifel of True North Church in Fairbanks, Alaska is joining us.

True North is an 80 year old church and when Mark first came to the church, he was the fourth pastor in four years and there were fewer than 100 people attending. Almost five years later the attendance grew to over 1600 on Sundays.

Mark is with us today to talk about the journey that led him to apply for pastoring at True North and what were some of the early steps Mark took serving at the church.

Focus on the congregation to grow. // One of the first things Mark did when coming on board was to shift part of the church’s focus to the kids and youth. After his first month, he hired a dynamic kids’ pastor to champion this area of the church. Fairbanks also is home to one of the major universities in Alaska and drew a number of college students to the church as the school year started. Having young people back in the church sparked life in the community. Additionally, there are two military bases in the area and a continual flow of new families looking for a place to worship brought an influx of people the first few months Mark came on board. Developing a Gospel Road System. // If a church looks nothing like its community, it’s dead. The average age of the church when Mark started as pastor was 55, but the average age of the community they were in was 29. So the church updated its facilities and targeted that younger age group, especially remodeling the kids’ facility in order to better serve families. As Mark describes it, the church was invisible in the community, so they had to build bridges and roads from an invisible church to a culture and community that was disconnected from the church. Teach the people to share. // The first thing Mark did in order to develop the culture of the church was to share the gospel message every Sunday in the exact same way. His goal in this teaching is to model sharing the gospel in a way that the people of the church can learn to share it with their friends. Mark tells his people that he loves them and God loves them and there is nothing they can do it change that. He continually encourages them that if they think the things they are learning in church would benefit a friend, to please invite them.Get out of the building. // True North also tries to partner with their community whenever they can. Whether it’s sponsoring the coffee and doughnut break at their local school districts or partnering with non-profits in the city around Christmastime. At Easter they ride a couple of pink mopeds they own and leave Easter bunnies with notes around town inviting everyone to the church. The goal is to get out into the community, share God’s love, and raise awareness of the church. Reach out to guests. // When new guests come to the church, they fill out a guest card and then receive a text from the church within an hour thanking them for coming. The next night they receive a phone call, a letter a few days later, and then also a postcard. True North uses a Grow Track method for spiritual growth by teaching guests about the church and how they can take next steps in their relationship with Jesus.Resources for your church. // Mark created the website TheGospelRoadSystem.com to give help to church leaders. It offers downloads on marketing, prayer, and communication strategies. He also created a new website, Churchpacity.com, to help those in rural settings maximize their community and attendance.

You can learn more about the church and Mark at the church’s website TrueNorthAK.org.

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Source: Inside a Church Growing from Less than 100 to Almost 2,000 in 5 Years with Mark Zweifel

The post Inside a Church Growing from Less than 100 to Almost 2,000 in 5 Years with Mark Zweifel appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by unSeminary: As a church leader, are you wondering how you’re going to make this year’s budget?

Have you looked at your donations and felt concerned they’re running behind?

It seems like every time I talk to church leaders the topic of increasing revenue comes up. It’s understandable because oftentimes funding is the only thing standing between our vision and its execution. Donations can definitely enable more ministry opportunities; however, I’d like to challenge you to stop thinking about ways to increase revenue if you don’t already have a robust system in place to thank your current donors.

It’s our opportunity and our responsibility as a church to thank the people who have chosen to invest in our ministry. Those who give to your church are actively choosing to give to your ministry. Whatever your philosophy on giving, the reality is that the donors who fund your ministry also encounter a number of other giving opportunities on a regular basis. The fact that they’ve opted to support your ministry is pretty amazing. Rather than outlining another way to increase revenue, we need talk about how to show our appreciation for those who already give.

You see, people often repeat what gets rewarded. We all know this from what happens when we motivate our team members, whether they be staff or volunteers. However, the same is true for our donors. If people feel acknowledged and appreciated, they are more likely to give to your ministry in the future.

Now, I’m not talking about putting little brass plates on every object at your church saying, “Generously donated by Mr. Han Solo and Ms. Leia Organa.” An elegant process built around thanking people who give to you church can both acknowledge and show appreciation to them at the same time.

First-time Donors

While Scripture is clear that Christians have a responsibility to give back and help push the ministry forward, many of those who attend our churches on a regular basis don’t contribute financially. The internal life change going on within a person who chooses to give up a portion of their income and invest it in your ministry is nothing short of profound. And so, we want to go out of our way to make a big deal about people who have chosen to give for the very first time.

Here are a few ways you could acknowledge and show appreciation to this amazing group of people:

Take the time to write a handwritten card. This would be a terrific opportunity for the pastor to say thanks and express that the church is honored the donor has chosen to give to its ministry.Send a letter of appreciation. It sounds simple, but it’s the best place to start. Have someone in leadership thank the donor, explain the vision of the church, and give the donor an opportunity to reach out with any questions about how their donations are being used.Give a thoughtful token of thanks. Many churches will give a small gift to help reinforce the idea that we don’t just want something from our donors—we actually want to give them something in return that can help them continue to manage their resources well. Books such as Randy Alcorn’s The Treasure Principle or Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover are practical and useful examples of this kind of gift.

Initial Recurring Donors

At some point, people will choose to go from giving occasionally to giving regularly. You might notice this in a monthly report that lists regular gifts that match the month before; it may show up when those who give online choose a recurring option rather than a one-time option. However, these regular contributors can sometimes feel neglected as our systems don’t have a way to acknowledge their donations every few months.

Take notice of the donors who choose to give on a regular basis, and let them know you notice their generosity and are so thankful that they’re choosing to give in this way. Some churches will not only send a note or a letter of appreciation when someone sets up recurring giving, but they’ll also have their system track various levels of gifts or the number of months that people give recurrently. For instance, at three months of giving a phone call from someone within the financial services department might be appropriate. After a full year, the pastor might send a handwritten note saying, “Thank you so much for giving monthly over this past year; it’s made a dramatic difference.” Whatever approach you use, establish the good practice of finding regular milestones to connect with recurring donors.

People Who Give to Special Appeals

Can we have a bit of an honest moment? I know that we occasionally find ourselves making a special appeal to those who give to our ministries. Maybe we have a special project we need to fund or we are running behind in a certain area. We build a small campaign where we reach out to our community and invite them to participate in a short-term opportunity that usually goes towards a specific need. Oftentimes, I’ve seen churches invest a lot of time, effort, energy, and even financial resources on the front end of these campaigns with little leftover for showing appreciation to funders afterwards.

I want to challenge you to spend as much time, effort, and energy on acknowledging donors who give to special campaigns as you do on the front end. If you have five or six dessert nights where you call people together to ask them to give to a special opportunity, you can certainly turn around and have a gratitude barbecue to thank those who contributed to your campaign.

Stock Donation Donors

There will be a segment of your community that may give various negotiable assets (including stocks and bonds) to your church. This is an important group of donors to acknowledge; these individuals are literally giving a piece of their future to the church. Unlike income that’s replenishable every month, when people choose to give you a stock today, they’re giving you future earning potential. People could choose to hold onto these assets as revenue-makers for their own personal futures, but they’re choosing to give it to your ministry instead.

This is an important, tactical area to thank, because a large percentage of all wealth is actually contained within equity like this rather than within income. Develop the habit of acknowledging and thanking people who choose to give equity to your church. This best practice can go a long way. I would suggest making a personal phone call (or adding some kind of personal touch) as these individuals are giving at a deeply generous level when they decide to give from their future potential earnings. We want to make sure that we match the emotional intensity of that gift in our appreciation.

Other Organizations

From time to time, other nonprofits or businesses in town will make donations to your church. These gifts are important because they represent a group of people within a business supporting the work of your church.

Sometimes gifts like this are a risk for the organization or business because there are many other opportunities for them to give to within the locality. Other nonprofits—like hospitals and food banks—do an incredible job of publicly acknowledging these gifts. With that in mind, take the time to reach out to the leadership of the organization and ask them how you can publicly speak about this gift. Let them decide the best way to make any form of public acknowledgement.

Core Donors

There are a group of donors who give a disproportionate percentage of your budget. This small group funds a sizable portion of what makes your ministry happen. These individuals need a regular connection with the leadership of your church to help them continue to invest in your ministry. It’s not a matter of giving this group special treatment; rather, it’s about encouraging them in the amazing gift they have. The Bible is pretty clear that some people have the gift of giving, and our job as leaders is to help everyone develop their spiritual gifts. If you don’t acknowledge or work with someone who has the gift of giving, it would be as if someone had the gift of teaching and you denied them opportunities to use and grow those gifts or failed to provide feedback on the difference their teaching is making.

I’ve found that coordinating regular meals with the top 20 to 50 donors at your church is a best practice in this area. You don’t need to overdo this, but if every one of those donors had a meal with a core leader (if not the lead pastor of your church) on an annual basis, the relationship that develops through that interaction will help the church continue to thrive. The conversation around the meal isn’t all about finances or the fact that someone’s given. In fact, I think 95% of the time together is simply about getting to know them, understanding what’s happening in their world, finding out how you can pray for them, and understanding their business.

Then in the last 5% of your time together, let the donor know how thankful you are for their investment in the ministry and ask them if they any questions about the church and its areas of growth. This will give them an opportunity to ask questions that they may feel a little bit sheepish about asking in other forums. Again, you’re not giving these people special treatment or special influence over the church. You are acknowledging that their gifts are making a profound difference, and you want to make sure they have access to the information they need to continue to feel comfortable investing in the church.

A bonus tip for this group: After you’ve had lunch with one of these donors, why not ask to come and see their place of work? You’d be amazed what happens when church leaders ask to visit a donor’s workplace. They’re always coming to your place of work, and it’s a great blessing for them if you return the favor. A lot of people love to show off their work environments and introduce you to the various people they work with. It also gives you more insight into how they lead and what’s happening in their world.

Which type of donor do you need to thank today?

Taking time to thank donors is critically important for the future of your church. We want to acknowledge the amazing work that God’s doing in people’s hearts as they choose to invest in our ministries, and you want your people to know how thankful you are for their gifts.

Which area do you need to invest more time, effort, and energy into? How can you develop a more robust strategy to thank donors? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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Source: 6 Types of Donors Your Church Should Regularly Thank

The post 6 Types of Donors Your Church Should Regularly Thank appeared first on Passion for Planting.