An Annual Report to Support Your Stewardship Campaign
The number one reason people give to their congregation, or any other charity, is because they believe that organization makes a difference. A colorful annual…
Browsing: Funding
Articles
50 Ways to Encourage Faithful Giving
Helping people experience the joy of giving is more than a way of funding the church’s ministry. These 50 Ways of encouraging faithful giving will…
Connecting Generosity to Faith
Several of my family members have worked as restaurant servers. They give me a hard time about church people being terrible tippers. It seems that…
Quarterly Financial Statements Enhance Giving
Every year churches are required to send out an end-of-year giving statement for IRS purposes. Instead of doing it only once a year, consider doing…
Online Giving Connects Ministry and Mission
Nearly three years ago our church began offering online giving through our website. We added a PayPal button and were curious to see how church…
Electronic Giving: A Matter of Vision, Not Just Convenience
In 2011, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church was experiencing a financial crunch. In addition to the turbulence associated with the national economic recession, our discomfort was…
Keys to Effective Financial Ministry
Not surprisingly, church consultant Clif Christopher’s new book, Rich Church, Poor Church: Keys to Effective Financial Ministry (Abingdon Press, 2012), makes many of the same points…
Focus Can Help Christmas Mission Giving
Many churches confront a question of missional focus, especially as the holiday season approaches. One group proposes an angel tree project. Another wants to do…
Expanding Small Group Involvement in Your Commitment Campaign
Small groups are an important setting for conversation around the theme of a church’s annual commitment campaign. In churches with a consistent, coordinated small groups…
Reclaiming the Lost Art of Story Telling
How can we gather and tell the stories of our congregation? Born in an oral culture when stories and traditions were as important as written…
Preaching and Money
How can the issue of money be addressed honestly and effectively from the pulpit? Two new books guide preachers in defining a homiletic posture that…
Teaching Children to Tithe
Teaching children to tithe is an important part of their faith education that we often overlook. Giving to God is a core value of our…
Remaining Fruitful in the Midst of a Financial Reset
I think the American Church is undergoing a reset. America is getting older; and the Church is even older. For a generation, expenditures have increased…
Christmas is Not Your Birthday
There was a time when churches were reluctant to take an offering at their Christmas Eve services. The reasoning was that many people at those…
Being a Stewardship Leader Requires Clarity
What do you think about financial stewardship? While there are a host of resources for churches on developing giving, it’s important to clarify your own…
Mature Disciples Supporting New Givers
My mother became a Christian when I was four. From that day forward, we were in church every Sunday … almost. Stewardship Sunday was the…
From Fundraising to Stewardship
One of the simple realities of congregational life is that most churches are financially dependent on voluntary giving. Most pastors do not relish the annual…
Three New Financial Stewardship Books
Three established authors on the subject of congregational finances have new books to help congregations develop joyful and generous givers. Each author has important contributions…
Denominations Face Major Reset
Most congregations know the financial squeeze of recent years from the economic recession. What is more striking is that the financial downturn for denominations is…
Do Endowments Help or Hurt?
Some churches have endowments in which the principal is invested, with the earnings made available to support the work of the congregation. One pastor said…
Paperless Giving
More than ten years ago, I was introduced to “paperless giving” as a way to receive the offering in worship. A specified amount of money…
Faith and the Use of Church Money
I have heard many stories of pastors telling their congregations they need to go into debt or stretch themselves financially as “a matter of faith.”…
Your Money Autobiography
There is a disaster in your community, and opportunities for giving donations abound. What is your response? You receive a cash gift for your birthday.…
Reasons Why People Give
In our U.S. Congregational Life Survey, worshipers rated the extent to which ten factors influence their decision to give to their congregation. The most important…
New Ways of Viewing Faith and Money
Many Christians tend to oversimplify the essence of scripture’s teaching with regard to money in such statements as “Christians must tithe” or “the faithful will…
Yours for the Asking
Recently I talked with a pastor about how to fund a $6,000 need beyond the resources of the church budget. I felt he had an…
Is Your Church the Best Place to Give?
The other day I was visiting with a key donor of a church along with the pastor. The pastor was asking the donor if she…
Saving Money without Sacrificing Ministry
In light of the current economic environment, how are churches reining in their budgets without reducing the quality of ministry? Last month, the Lewis Center…
Giving Up to Our Potential
The oft-repeated claim that churchgoers are the most generous of Americans was always a reassurance to me as I labored in the vineyard of stewardship…
Put Your Money Where You Want Your Heart to Be
If you want your heart to be with God, here’s a suggestion I’ve found to be very powerful in my own life. Put your money…
