Services for Churches - Stewardship

Tips

We’re pleased to be able to share the following stewardship tips to help you grow faithful givers:

Create a Climate Ripe for Giving

In the delightful movie Sister Act, Whoopie Goldberg plays a character who organizes a nun’s choir performance to raise money for an inner-city convent. She emphatically says, “We gotta get some [people] in these seats!” Ironically, ministers and lay leaders often believe increasing attendance brings in more dollars.

Research studies indicate, however, that this is not true. People increase their giving when they are encouraged and guided in growing as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, as noted by Donald Joiner in his book Creating a Climate for Giving. It’s wise when planning your annual campaign to be suspicious of guarantees to increase giving without offering a challenge for spiritual growth.

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Plan, Plan, Plan for Stewardship Campaigns

Hastily contrived annual stewardship campaigns tend to produce limited or disappointing results. To be successful, a campaign requires foresight and planning, and is developed simultaneously on many fronts so that the congregation is informed, primed, and ready to make their commitments.

The weeks leading up to the campaign should be filled with prayerful congregational, familial, and personal preparation. To do this right, a campaign typically requires 3 to 4 months of lead-time to successfully engage a congregation.

If you’re planning an upcoming campaign get started now with the following steps:

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Hold Up the Offering as a Worship Experience

For many of us, making a single monthly pledge is more convenient than writing a check each week. By eliminating weekly gifts, however, we only participate in the act of worship granted through the offering once a month. We miss an opportunity as Christian stewards to return blessings to the Lord in a gesture of thanksgiving.

Some churches encourage the entire congregation to participate in worship of their gifts with an offertory invitation: “For those who give to the church monthly, quarterly, or by mail, will you consider a gift of ‘extra dollars’ when the offering plate reaches you? Your participation in this act of worship shows your love for God and our church, and serves as an example of faithful giving to our children, youth and visitors.”

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Take the Dollar Challenge

In an age where tithes and regular giving are often accomplished by electronic means, why not challenge members of your congregation to put an extra dollar in the collection plate each Sunday? Seeing adults give thanks to God by literally filling the offering plate teaches children about stewardship in a way they can easily understand. And if every member contributes an extra dollar a week, the sum can quickly add up to help support additional ministry. Not a bad notion.

Interestingly, this idea stemmed from a poignant story Foundation Stewardship Consultant Dick Young told in a back page Methodist Money & Ministry newsletter feature. He wrote of how his young son loudly asked him during a Sunday morning church service, “Why don’t you ever pay the church anything?” A Northwest Texas Conference pastor heard about this unexpected lesson on giving during one of Young’s stewardship presentations, and issued The Dollar Challenge it to her church members in response. The Dollar Challenge continued to spread as Northwest Texas Conference Treasurer Mark Pittman encouraged other pastors to challenge their members in the same generous way.

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Teaching a Biblical Alternative to Materialism

Noted consultant Lyle Schallar asks the question, “Why should we ask people to give to God’s work to and through the church?” The simple answer: we should talk to people about things Jesus thought were important.

Prayer and love were mentioned frequently, yet money, possessions and stewardship were taught even more. In fact, 2,172 verses involving our relationship with money have been counted in the Bible. If Jesus thought it was important enough the spend so much of his message discussing the issue, certainly in this age of rampant materialism we should boldly teach and preach the same message.

The Texas Methodist Foundation’s stewardship services consultants provide resources for teaching and preaching this important message, and they would be pleased to share them with you.

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Teaching Personal Money Management Makes “Good Sense”

Fewer than five percent of United Methodists included tithing in their stewardship plan for 2005. Unfortunately, average giving bottomed out at a mere 1.85 percent. Why? Many church members are saddled with debt that prevents them from experiencing the joy found through generous giving. One way to help church members overcome this obstacle is by teaching personal money management. In fact, a personal money management program can be one step in an effort to teach stewardship not only of money, but of all the resources entrusted to God’s people.

Good $ense, a popular personal money management course recommended by the Texas Methodist Foundation, teaches how God talks about financial stewardship through a strong biblical perspective. It also offers solid advice not only on how to get out of debt, but how to stay out of debt. Ed Engleking, senior executive consultant for the Foundation, has assisted many United Methodist churches in conducting this effective program. To learn more about the this vital ministry and the informative Good Sense Solutions Seminar being held in various locations around Texas, visit www.goodsenseministry.com.

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