Games People Play During Budget Season
Is budget season in your church plagued with political maneuvering and game playing? Watch out for some of these common ploys that Richard J. Vargo…
Browsing: Stewardship
Articles
Overcoming the Fear of Talking About Money
I confess to a complicated relationship with wealth. When I was in college, I thought of money as the “root of all evil.” I even…
Crafting Better Commitment Campaign Messages
Many churches have a one-size-fits-all approach to their annual stewardship appeal. Everyone in the congregation receives the same “Dear Friend” letter inviting them to prayerfully…
Inspiring Generosity with a Thank You Letter
How often have you opened up what looks like a form letter and read, “On behalf of blah blah blah, I want to thank you…
9 Ways Generosity Leads to Healthier and More Purposeful Living
Do you sometimes wish for empirical evidence to back up your faith claims? In The Paradox of Generosity (Oxford University Press, 2014), sociologists Christian Smith…
Tying Facility Needs to Mission
Churches that have been around for many years often face numerous property challenges. With aging buildings, there are frequent unplanned property issues that arise and…
A Stewardship Intervention Counters Fundraiser Dependence
I pastor a church that believes in the power of fundraisers. Over the decades, Beulah African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, a historic congregation in rural…
Should a Pastor Know What Church Members Give?
Every time I teach a stewardship workshop or class, this question invariably comes up: “Should a pastor have access to contribution records?” In some congregations,…
Removing Obstacles to Giving
Sometimes churches have financial systems designed for the convenience of those receiving the contributions rather than for those who are giving. When you design and…
Tell Your Stewardship Story
Early in my own ministry, I always found stewardship season anxiety-producing. While I got better at it, I still found the fall campaign difficult. One…
The Importance of a Narrative Budget
Narrative budgeting has a critical role to play in any comprehensive parish stewardship program. Basic philanthropic theory indicates that people want their money to have…
Models for Budget Building
Churches use a variety of budget building models. No one model or combination of models is right for every church. What approach might best fit…
Give a Word of Witness
One of the most powerful tools for growing generosity in the church is telling the story of how the church is transforming people’s lives through…
Doing a Christmas Eve Offering Well
In our culture, Christmas is a season of giving when church-goers and non-church-goers alike are inclined toward generosity. I witnessed a Christmas Eve service in which…
Developing a Thank You System for Your Church
Saying thank you promptly and regularly is one of the simplest and most effective things a congregation can do to reinforce good stewardship and enhance…
Always Say Thank You
Paul, my dear church friend whom I have known since third grade, sent me an email. And he was mad. At the end of July,…
Why Giving Matters and Clues for Improving It
To encourage the spiritual gift of giving, this eight-minute video by Lewis Center Director Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of the importance of…
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…
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…
A Dialogue about Stewardship and Personal Finances
Too often, pastors discuss money with their parishioners in ways that suggest that stewardship is only about donating money to support the church. Faithful stewardship,…
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…
Stewarding God’s Gift of Time
God has given each of us the ability to do many things. Yet we have to make choices, to say no to some activities in…
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…
Stewards of God’s Grace
A noted British economist recently submitted to the government a review of the equity markets in England. In writing about the current situation of financial…
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…
