I contend that there is one conversation that is still off-limits in evangelical churches. It is:

“Do you give financially to gospel causes?”

It is more acceptable in churches to ask deeply personal questions relating to sexual purity, than it is to ask about someone’s financial generosity.

For example, I would contend that:

• “When was the last time you viewed porn?”, or
• “Are you sleeping with your boyfriend/girlfriend?”

would be asked far more frequently (and even less awkwardly) in evangelical churches than “Do you give?”, let alone “How much do you give?”.

Do you agree? (You might think this is a good thing – however, that’s not what I’m discussing today!).

If you disagree, what do you think is?

 Loading ...

Read more posts on giving.

On the homepage for Mars Hill Church, you can donate to their current campaign to raise $6.4 million in 2 months (click images to enlarge):

There’s an opportunity to share why you want to give to the campaign:

For example:

You can read stories of God’s work in the life of his church at Mars Hill.

A great element to a fundraising campaign – helping people to think through why they want to give, and showing them what it will achieve in God’s grace.

Read more here.

I’ve been thinking through the topic of financial giving in church life, and would appreciate your ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. If you’d like to elaborate on why you think an offertory collection is a good/bad idea, please feel free to do so.

 Loading ...

Update

The results of this poll are interesting. I emailed a number of churches this week, and with 2 exceptions, the churches that I spoke with no longer had a weekly offertory. Instead, they had moved to online giving.

This morning I contacted a number of churches, and asked them how they refer to the time in the service when money is collected.

“We don’t”

was the reply of the majority of the people I asked. I was surprised, and asked ‘Why’?

“We encourage people to give electronically.”

Several churches had boxes at the back of church for cash giving, but where this box exists, it usually received no more than a one-line mention during the service. In summary, giving is rarely mentioned up front, nor giving time in the service to take place.

I find this fascinating, and a little concerning. Continue reading…

I’ve been trying to gain a better understanding on what the Bible has to say about money and generosity, in order to Biblically shape more regular and consistent messages about giving at church.

Let me recommend ‘Money – God or Gift‘ by Jamie Munson (from Mars Hill Church).

Continue reading…

Many (perhaps most?) churches struggle to reach budget.

As budgets strain and the end of the year draws to a close, congregations are urged to “be generous”. What kind of response does this generate? Perhaps the budget is reached, but is this from more people giving, or the same people giving more?

As I’ve been reading ‘Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard‘, I’ve been struck by the value of giving clear instructions:

“If you want people to change, you must provide crystal-clear direction…What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity…Clarity dissolves resistance.”

“If you want people to change, you don’t ask them to “act healthier.” You say, “Next time you’re in the dairy aisle of the grocery store, reach for a jug of 1% milk instead of whole milk.”

Could the same apply when it comes to asking people to “be generous”?

I’ve seen this in action when I go to fundraising events for Crusaders. They ask for a clear amount – “if everyone here gives $300, we can reach our goal and do X”. As long as I’ve got the money, I don’t have to think about it. They’ve made the ‘path’ (in the language of Switch) very clear. And this makes it easy for people to respond.

We hate to put a number on what it looks like to be generous, because this looks different for different people. We feel uncomfortable with calls to ‘tithe 10%’, finding it difficult to match this instruction with NT teaching.

What would it look like to direct generosity?

Could this be “we’d like you to consider giving $10 more per week – on top of whatever you are currently giving”?

Could this be “if each adult at our church gave an $300 by Christmas, we’d reach our budget and be able to do X, Y and Z”?

“To spark movement in a new direction, you need to provide crystal-clear guidance. That’s why scripting is important—you’ve got to think about the specific behavior that you’d want to see in a tough moment”

What are your thoughts on moving beyond “be generous” to a more directed approach to encouraging generosity?