“There are two times I hear from the church about my giving: asking for my stewardship pledge and letting me know if I got behind on it!”

We hear this from church members across the country too often. The reality is that today’s donors and tithers to our churches are most often donors to other causes and ministries. The harsh reality is that they’re often making their best and most sacrificial stretch gifts to those causes. 

While support of the church is a Biblical calling and obligation for most, many of today’s donors also have expectations shaped by their experience giving to other causes.  With the national decline in church membership and participation, churches have to re-evaluate how they’re inspiring donors and how they’re treating them year-round. 

Donors need relationship and ministry far more than we need their money. If we don’t see ministry to the donor as our higher calling, our donors are destined to be mere objects and the connection between them and our ministry will be sadly unsatisfying.

Donors of all sizes deserve to know the difference they are making. Henri Nouwen reminds us that fundraising is all about creating a relationship between those who have resources and those who need them, in order to advance God’s Kingdom. 

“We will find ourselves begging for money and they will find themselves merely handing us a check,” he writes. “No real connection has been created because we have not asked them to come and be with us. We have not given them an opportunity to participate in the spirit of what we are about. We may have completed a successful transaction, but we have not entered into a successful relationship.”

The Three Characteristics of the Cheerful Giver: Fundraising as Ministry outlines the key desires of donors and how churches can meet those needs.

Stewardship is a touchy subject in churches today. It’s something pastors often don’t like to preach about. But it’s inevitable. We have to at some point. 

It’s no secret that online giving is becoming more prominent in our churches today, especially because of the Covid-19 pandemic we faced in 2020 and are starting to see recycle itself again right now. If the pandemic did one thing for churches, it forced them to think about how to continue to receive tithes and offerings from its members while not physically meeting on campus each week. Do any churches actually pass an offering plate anymore?

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Cor. 9:7

AS A CHURCH LEADER, HOW ARE YOU COMMUNICATING WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR YOUR MEMBERS TO BE FAITHFUL IN THEIR STEWARDSHIP? 

Most everyone in your church knows why he or she tithes. The Bible calls us to. Furthermore, most of your members know how to give. In times past, they would write a check or drop cash in the plate as it passed during an offertory hymn. Times have changed, and now we can add swiping a credit or debit card at a kiosk in the lobby, giving online, or texting a tithe as options. As mentioned earlier, summer has now come to a close. People are returning to your church from a hectic summer, seeking relief and a sense of normalcy. So how are you, as a church leader, communicating why it’s important for your members to be faithful in their stewardship along with the various ways for your members to give faithfully?

HOW CAN YOU ENGAGE AND EDUCATE YOUR MEMBERS ON WAYS TO TITHE AND THE WHY BEHIND IT?

Many people may not put these two terms together – outreach and church growth. The reality is this; outreach should lead to church growth. 

In Matthew 28 Jesus gives his disciples the “Great Commission.” 

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”

This strategy was put in place in Acts 1:8 when Jesus tells his disciples to begin in Jerusalem, then go to Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.

WITHOUT OUTREACH, CHURCH GROWTH WILL NOT OCCUR

In established congregations, or even small ones, many pastors and church leaders may find it harder to get their congregations to focus on outreach and why it’s so vitally important to the growth of your church. Congregations become complacent and steeped in tradition. Or they like their size. Or they’re comfortable with their building. But this is not at all what God calls us to. He doesn’t call us to a life of comfort or complacency. Some of the fastest growing churches in the Bible were those who were committed to outreach and evangelism!

WHAT DOES THE GREAT COMMISSION TEACH US ABOUT OUTREACH?