If you want new members to be actively involved in your congregation you must be prepared for them to be full participants – and financial giving is one aspect for that.
Why E-Giving Is Essential For Your Church To Reach New People Read More »
Recently, a reader asked, “What should a small church pastor do if big givers refuse to give anymore?”
My answer? Focus on three key areas where we should be focusing anyway.
Simplification, discipleship and generosity.
If Big Givers Don’t Come Back To Church Read More »
Small churches have a tendency to keep us humble, sometimes involuntarily. But that humility is something we should never outgrow, no matter how big the church or ministry becomes.
9 Small Church Leadership Traits No Pastor Should Ever Outgrow Read More »
Several years ago, I discovered a simple idea that helps our church members plan their giving better, and gives our church finances a healthy year-end bump. In the fall – usually between the end of October and the beginning of December – we send out a short letter to every regular giver with a thank
One Simple Step To Create A Year-End Giving Bump In Your Church Read More »
Several years ago, I discovered a simple idea that helps our church members plan their giving better, and gives our church finances a healthy year-end bump. In the fall – usually between the end of October and the beginning of December – we send out a short letter to every regular giver with a thank
One Simple Step To Create A Year-End Giving Bump In Your Church Read More »
The Sunday morning pass-the-plate offering has always been a reliable predictor of the commitment level of church members.
Long before they started leaving – often before many started complaining – people would express their dissatisfaction with a church by stopping or slowing down their giving. Sometimes subconsciously.
Like the canary in an old-time coal mine, a drop in giving patterns was always one of the best early warning signs that there might be something going badly that we, as church leaders, needed to be aware of.
While a drop in giving is still a concern, and can still be an early warning sign, it’s not as reliable as it used to be.
(This article is part of an ongoing series on Money and the Small Church, but it applies to churches of all sizes.)
Time, Not Money, Is The New Church Commitment Currency Read More »
In even the healthiest and strongest of churches and ministries, finances are never automatic.
Giving patterns have changed. Even people who love the church and are fully committed to its mission are not giving as much as they once did.
Giving is like any other skill. Very few people are born with an inbred desire and ability to give. Everyone needs to be taught how and why giving matters. And that’s up to us, pastors.
Thankfully, the Bible is full of great teaching about stewardship and generosity, but we must always remember that God’s Word is not as concerned with our money as with our hearts. Which is why we need to teach more about generosity than giving.
It’s possible to give without being generous, but no one can be generous without giving.
9 Ways To Reverse A Downward Giving Trend In An Otherwise Healthy Church Read More »
No church can respond to all emergencies. So every church needs a plan that helps decide which needs they’ll respond to and which ones they won’t. This isn’t easy, but it’s important.
Sometimes a church’s priorities will be based on the severity of the need, but we also should make some of those decisions based on which needs we can make the biggest difference in.
By setting those priorities, a church is less likely to run out of resources on lesser needs (or needs they have less impact on) before coming across a need where they can have a huge impact.
It’s better to prioritize our resources to maximize our ministry influence than to have those decisions made for us by running out of funds.
6 Ways To Leverage Your Church’s Limited Resources For Greater Ministry Impact Read More »
“Sit back, relax and enjoy the service” may be one of the most dangerous sentences ever uttered in church.
It sits side-by-side on the bad idea shelf with “Let’s erect a building and tell people they have to come here if they want to worship Jesus.”
I expect to hear promises of great customer service in a restaurant, on an airplane or in a movie theater. But the idea that church is a place where we pay others to do ministry as we sit passively, consuming and passing judgment on the product being offered may be the greatest single reason for the anemia of the modern, western church.
The church is not a customer-service-based business. We’re a community for life-transformation. But, like the monkey stubbornly clinging to the apple on the other side of the cage, we’ll never free ourselves to be biblically active communities for life-transformation until we let go of our passive, consumer-driven mindset.
“Sit Back, Relax and Enjoy the Service” May Be Killing Your Church Read More »
