In his book “How To Increase Giving In Your Church”, George Barna gives several key principles for effective stewardship. Our challenge is to create an enviroment and facilitate a mind-set in which people want to donate money to the church for the right reasons. The following are some guidelines toward achieving that outcome.
You are raising money for Life Transformation, not Organizational Survival. Your objective must be to advance the cause of ministry, not to perpetuate the survival of an institution. God can make great things happen in people’s lives without an organization through which such ministry happens. Focus on the essential: Seeing lives changed for the glory and purposes of God.
People give to people and causes, not to institutions or programs. If you want to inspire people to become good stewards, help them see themselves as ministers. Their giving is a means of using their resources for the very reason they exist: to know, and serve God with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. Encourage people to give to the church because it provides opportunities and means of helping people.
Repeat donors must be both inspired and persuaded. Great fund-raisers know how to identify the soft spot that inspires people to give generously. Eliciting such support is more than just finding a “hot button”; it initials penetrating both the head and the heart of the donor. Your goal should be to create a stewardship mind-set. You do not want to have to start from scratch every time you need money; you want to build on a foundation you have worked hard to develop, one that is based on trust, integrity and mutual benefit.
There is no substitute for absolute integrity. None! Honesty, transparency, accessibility – these are the characteristics on which a great stewardship campaign – and genuine, life changing ministry – are based. Integrity is not something to be fooled with. lose it and you will pay a major price for an extended period. Once the people’s trust has been violated, the relationship cannot be restored until many years have passed and the donors who were hurt by the infraction are gone. Ministries cannot outlast that era.
A visionless church is an impoverished church. Many pastors recognize that God has gifted them to teach, but they are best at communicating information and challenges rather than inspiration. That is one reason it is so important to know and repeatedly articulate God’s vision for the church to the people.
People give to winners. Tell your stories. Effective ministries are balanced ministries. In fund-raising, your church must maintain an appropriate balance between humility and pride. When God works through your church to accomplish great things, the people need to know of God’s deeds. We can take a measure of pride in the fact that we were available, we were useful and we played a role in bestowing blessings from Him upon people who needed His touch.
Fund-raising is a means to an end. Focusing on the end facilitates the means. Do not let the process overshadow the product. We raise money not for operations, institutions or tradition, but for ministry. People can get cynical, fatigued and upset when you keep sounding the call for money – unless the focus is not on the object of the request (money) but on the outcome of the response (i.e. ministry).
Don’t miss How To Increase Giving In Your Church – Part 2
Click Here for the “Where Your Treasure Is” ebook & teaching materials.
