When Higher Giving May Not Be Good News
As a new year begins, there will and should be a careful review of the past year. Perhaps there will be reports made to the…
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As a new year begins, there will and should be a careful review of the past year. Perhaps there will be reports made to the…
Setting annual goals for your stewardship and generosity ministry is very important to help create focus and energy. These goals can come out of brainstorming…
Financial wellbeing is essential to the overall health and well being of those in pastoral ministry. Accordingly, the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health…
“For where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also.” (Matthew 6:21) Jesus talked a great deal about money. And in our monetized society,…
Is budget season in your church plagued with political maneuvering and game playing? Watch out for some of these common ploys that Richard J. Vargo…
I confess to a complicated relationship with wealth. When I was in college, I thought of money as the “root of all evil.” I even…
Many churches have a one-size-fits-all approach to their annual stewardship appeal. Everyone in the congregation receives the same “Dear Friend” letter inviting them to prayerfully…
How often have you opened up what looks like a form letter and read, “On behalf of blah blah blah, I want to thank you…
Do you sometimes wish for empirical evidence to back up your faith claims? In The Paradox of Generosity (Oxford University Press, 2014), sociologists Christian Smith…
I pastor a church that believes in the power of fundraisers. Over the decades, Beulah African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, a historic congregation in rural…
Every time I teach a stewardship workshop or class, this question invariably comes up: “Should a pastor have access to contribution records?” In some congregations,…
Sometimes churches have financial systems designed for the convenience of those receiving the contributions rather than for those who are giving. When you design and…
Early in my own ministry, I always found stewardship season anxiety-producing. While I got better at it, I still found the fall campaign difficult. One…
Narrative budgeting has a critical role to play in any comprehensive parish stewardship program. Basic philanthropic theory indicates that people want their money to have…
Churches use a variety of budget building models. No one model or combination of models is right for every church. What approach might best fit…
Three years ago, our church set an ambitious goal — to become a “tithing congregation” that gives ten percent of our church’s budget to outreach,…
One of the most powerful tools for growing generosity in the church is telling the story of how the church is transforming people’s lives through…
In our culture, Christmas is a season of giving when church-goers and non-church-goers alike are inclined toward generosity. I witnessed a Christmas Eve service in which…
Saying thank you promptly and regularly is one of the simplest and most effective things a congregation can do to reinforce good stewardship and enhance…
Paul, my dear church friend whom I have known since third grade, sent me an email. And he was mad. At the end of July,…
To encourage the spiritual gift of giving, this eight-minute video by Lewis Center Director Lovett H. Weems, Jr., provides an overview of the importance of…
The number one reason people give to their congregation, or any other charity, is because they believe that organization makes a difference. A colorful annual…
Helping people experience the joy of giving is more than a way of funding the church’s ministry. These 50 Ways of encouraging faithful giving will…
Several of my family members have worked as restaurant servers. They give me a hard time about church people being terrible tippers. It seems that…
Every year churches are required to send out an end-of-year giving statement for IRS purposes. Instead of doing it only once a year, consider doing…
Nearly three years ago our church began offering online giving through our website. We added a PayPal button and were curious to see how church…
In 2011, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church was experiencing a financial crunch. In addition to the turbulence associated with the national economic recession, our discomfort was…
Not surprisingly, church consultant Clif Christopher’s new book, Rich Church, Poor Church: Keys to Effective Financial Ministry (Abingdon Press, 2012), makes many of the same points…
Many churches confront a question of missional focus, especially as the holiday season approaches. One group proposes an angel tree project. Another wants to do…
Small groups are an important setting for conversation around the theme of a church’s annual commitment campaign. In churches with a consistent, coordinated small groups…
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.