6 Simple Steps to Help your Church become more Generous

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Generosity is not something that Jesus wants from you. It’s something He wants for you. Generous churches and church leaders who understand the generous nature of the God that we serve help the people in their churches become more generous.

1. Never use Guilt as a Motivator

People feel bad enough about themselves; they don’t need churches to make it worse. Attach giving to celebration, joy and obedience.

2. Say it Over, and Over, and Over Again

Clear is always better than clever or cute. Churches that consistently teach and say the same thing about money do a better job with this.

3. Stay Away from a Prosperity Gospel

Giving is not a tactic to manipulate or get something from God but rather give something to God.

4. Identity

Connect generosity to your identity. For example, “We are a serving/giving community.” “We are a multiplying/outreach church.” “We are here because the generation before us gave.”

5. Simple Clear Method

Make it easy for people to participate through online giving, text giving, and reoccurring automatic withdrawal.

6. Celebrate Life-Change

Lead with the mission and put life-change on display. This reminds people that it’s all about people meeting Jesus and their lives changing…not money.

Photo Credit: jDevaun via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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5 Articles that will Help You Make Vision Real

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Thank you for making March an incredible month here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s great staying connected with you through social media and hear about how helpful these articles have been. So, thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top 5 Posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

#1 When to Add Another Worship Service at Your Church

Many churches are stuck in attendance simply because they haven’t maximized their current facilities and campus. Thinking about adding another worship service at your church? Here are five strategic concepts to consider before you do. Not sure if multiple worship services are right for your church? Check out this blog on Overcoming the Fear of Moving to Multiple Worship Services.

#2 4 Reasons Why People Don’t Change

People always want to change their circumstances, but they never want to change their lives. But everything gets better when we get better. Families get better when fathers and mothers get better. Students get better when educators get better. Organizations get better when leaders get better. And churches get better when church leaders get better. But change is painful. Don’t let anyone tell you any different. It’s always easier and more comfortable to stay where you are than to change and move forward. But if you want to grow at some point you’ve got to stop doing what’s easy and start doing what’s right. Here are 4 traps that people fall into that prevent them from changing.

#3 Multisite Campus Constants

At Sun Valley we are one church family that meets in many different locations. As any church or organization grows there comes a point in time where oral tradition only goes so far. At some point, you’ve got to write things down. This helps provide clarity to everyone as to how to make decisions and what direction to go. After all lack of clarity is the greatest barrier to growth and speed in any organization. To that end we’ve adopted the following “Campus Constants” that every existing and future Sun Valley Campus will adopt. If you’re in a multisite church or thinking about going multisite I hope this serves as a resource to you and your church!

#4 5 Characteristics of Generous Churches

Generosity stands in direct opposition to our sin nature. After all most of us don’t wake up thinking about someone else’s day. But what we have to get done today sure has a tendency to consume our thoughts. Fortunately for us we have a generous God. After all “For God so loved the world that he GAVE His only Son,” Jesus gave His life, as a ransom for many, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives spiritual gifts. And God expects his church to reflect his personality and characteristics through becoming generous. To that end, here are 5 characteristics that all generous churches have in common:

#5 Breaking Through Your Leadership Lid

If you lead long enough, eventually you’re going to hit a leadership lid. It happens when you reach your capacity in a particular area, and the good news is there may be a solution. But what you do next has the potential to make or break your leadership future. Ignore it, deny it, make excuses about it, or refuse to acknowledge and deal with it and you’ll undermine your impact. Face reality and you’ll create a window of opportunity to grow.

Posted in Leadership

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5 Characteristics of Generous Churches

Monday, March 3, 2014

Generosity stands in direct opposition to our sin nature. After all most of us don’t wake up thinking about someone else’s day. But what we have to get done today sure has a tendency to consume our thoughts. Fortunately for us we have a generous God. After all “For God so loved the world that he GAVE His only Son,” Jesus gave His life, as a ransom for many, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives spiritual gifts. And God expects his church to reflect his personality and characteristics through becoming generous. To that end, here are 5 characteristics that all generous churches have in common:

Trusted Leadership

People don’t just give to churches that they believe in, they give to churches that they trust. Unfortunately trust is easy for church leaders to break. The 3 most common culprits are ingratitude, the appearance of waste, and duplicity (follow this link to learn more about these).

Teach a Proper Concept

Churches that are generous are consistently taught a proper biblical perspective of generosity. It’s not just mentioned in the occasional sermon or teaching series but it is consistently dripped in week after week.

A Compelling Story

If the story of your church doesn’t compel you and those closest to the core to be generous, it’s not going to compel anyone else to be generous either.

An Engaged Audience

Generous churches meet people where they are and lead people to join in, take personal ownership, and ask the question “What’s my role.”

A Spirit of Faith Not Fear

A spirit of faith drives generous churches. What are you trusting God for that you haven’t trusted Him for before?

Want to know more about building a culture of generosity in your church? Check out this 2-part blog post on “Engaging the Givers in Your Church.”

Posted in Leadership

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3 Reasons People don’t Give to your Church

Sunday, March 17, 2013

A few months back I did a series of posts on 6 big ideas about “Engaging the Givers in your Church.” And just like there are real actionable steps that churches can take to engage givers, there are also things that churches do to repel givers. More often than not they’re doing these things and they don’t even know it. So below are three guaranteed generosity killers that are running rampant in churches today.

1. Ingratitude

You’d be surprised how infrequently churches take the time to say thank you to people who financially support the ministry. And you’d probably also be as equally surprised how far a simple thank you will go. Here are a few suggestions you can put into action this week to change that: 1) Make sure every time a person gives for the first time to the ministry of your church that they get a letter to acknowledge their gift and say thank you. 2) Each week send a handwritten personal note to each person who gives a generous gift to the ministry. 3) Say thank you from the stage and celebrate the generosity of your church when they’re generous. When you don’t say thank you what you’re saying is you don’t care.

2. Waste, or the Perception of Waste

When people feel that their financial gift and sacrifice is being used in a wasteful manner they will pull their funding in a heartbeat. What I’m not saying is that everything should be value engineered, that isn’t the highest goal. But when funds aren’t used in a strategic manner that clearly advances the mission, that’s wasteful. No doubt having the right tool for the job is important. But don’t confuse the fact that extravagance is not the same thing as excellence.

3. Duplicity

When you say you are going to use a particular offering for one need and then turn around and use it for something else you break trust. And trust is the foundation for leadership. Simply put, people don’t give to ministries that don’t have a high level of trust in.

What else have you seen churches do that discourage giving? What would you add to the list? Leave a comment!

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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Engaging the Givers in your Church Part-2

Monday, January 14, 2013

Yesterday I posted the first three ideas and principles in this list to help you engage the givers at your church more effectively. Below are the next three as well as some recommended resources to help you along the way!

4. Personal Touch

Please hear me clearly; this conversation isn’t about wanting something from people. This is about wanting something for them. This is about investing yourself in people, and that doesn’t happen from a distance, but rather up close and personal. For a giver to trust a church with their money is a sacred thing. And people trust people before they trust an organization or a church. This is why you need to intentionally spend time with givers. Trust is built up close and over time. Simply put people trust someone they can touch more than someone they sit in a big room and listen to.

5. Give them Specific Projects to give to

People who have the ability to give significant financial gifts to advance the ministry of your church are looking for a return on their investment, and rightfully so. In every other area of their professional lives they are making wise and strategic decisions about where to invest their resources. Rarely do they blindly give money hoping for a good return without investigating how it is going to be used or what it is going to be spent on. Give them the opportunity to give to specific and strategic projects that advance the mission of the church where they will see the result and return on their investment. People don’t give to general pleas, but specific projects.

6. Remember Giving is a Gift

In the church we often have plans to develop and help place people in an area where they can use their gifting to advance the ministry of building the Kingdom. An obvious example would be utilizing someone who has a teaching gift in a teaching role. The Scriptures teach us that giving is actually a gift. In Romans 12:6-8 the Apostle Paul writes the following:

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

This means that there are some people who have this gift in your church, and some who don’t. I’m not saying every believer shouldn’t be generous. For example: just because your gift isn’t evangelism doesn’t mean as a believer you shouldn’t share your faith. The point is how are you identifying, developing, and putting people with this gift in your church in a position to use and be successful advancing the mission of the church with their gift of giving?

Looking for resources to help you engage givers more effectively at your church? Here are two great organizations that partner with churches to help build a culture of generosity and two great books that every church leader should read about generosity.

Generis Generis is a team of experienced guides who walk with churches and ministries of all shapes, sizes and personalities to develop generosity – a generosity that permeates the culture. They have been guides for churches and Kingdom focused non-profits in matters of stewardship, generosity and fundraising since 1989 (which means they have some success and experience behind them).

Giving Rocket Giving Rocket helps churches have more money for ministry by increasing church giving. They help you fund your vision, not with guilt built into the worship service, campaigns that take over the calendar or fundraisers that act like Band-Aids. They are all about increasing regular church offering – the kind of giving that makes ministry happen every week. Check out their site for great resources, consulting, and coaching opportunities.

And now the Amazon links (what would we do without Amazon?) for the two books I mentioned: Funded and Free and Contagious Generosity

Posted in Leadership