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Myth and Principles of Giving
Recently I came across an interesting article on the ways in which a church asks people to give. Since it seems as though there are always more needs at Grace than the financial resources to meet them, I felt motivated to look more closely, instead of putting it on the pile of stuff that I always “intend to get back to but never do.” The article shared some of the myths about what raises offerings in a church and some of the principles that have worked in many well-financed churches. I thought it would be good to share some of the insights.
Church leaders in low-per-capita-giving congregations frequently share with one another the following inaccurate statements that they believe to be true.
Myths
Christians automatically commit themselves to generous financial stewardship.
Wrong! Strong financial giving habits, like every other aspect of Christian discipleship, happen through education, repeated decisions, and continued personal growth. Vigorous annual stewardship education is essential to accomplishing that goal.
If worship attendance is high, the money takes care of itself.
Wrong! Every church’s financial secretary knows that is inaccurate. If people give five dollars per week or give at 1980 salary levels, the money does not come in.
Our people are giving all they can.
Wrong! Among Americans who regularly attend worship, only 26 percent give 10 percent of their income. (“Churchgoers pass the plate,” USA Today, August 28, 2000) Rankings from the General Social Survey (David and Smith) indicate that not more than 15 percent of mainline church members give 10 percent of their income.
Telling people ‘Our church needs the money!’ produces generous giving
Wrong! Centering a stewardship appeal on “Let’s be loyal to our church and balance the budget!” produces much lower giving levels than asking people to give out of thankfulness for God’s blessings, love for God, obedience to Scripture, or to help hurting people. For example, most people in one prominent mainline denomination give out of a sense of loyalty and responsibility; and they contribute an average of 2.2 percent of their income to their congregation. By contrast, Assembly of God members give an average of 5.4 percent of their income the majority of them base their decisions primarily on thankfulness to God and obedience to Scripture, no on paying their congregation’s bills or on institutional loyalty.
People will increase their giving to support our increased budget needs
without us annually asking them to consider doing so.
Wrong! People tend to continue the same pattern of giving unless someone asks them to consider changing that pattern. Without an annual stewardship campaign, most people tend to remain at the same giving levels as last year, even when their incomes increase. As inflation increases church operating expenses, without an effective annual stewardship campaign, congregations find insufficient financing slowly strangling their ministries.
Our church should use methods that work well in civic organizations and philanthropic causes.
Wrong! We sometimes hear, “My club does ... and raises tons of money! Why doesn’t our church try that?” Fund raising for nonprofit organizations in the community is as different from Christian stewardship as a bicycle is from an eighteen-wheeler. Both are valid forms of transportation, but they are not interchangeable. High-per-capita-giving congregations approach any discussion of financial stewardship from a spiritual direction and use spiritual methods to accomplish it, not fund-raising methods.
Leaders in high-per-capita-giving congregations understand and base their giving-education methods on the following statements:
Principles That Work
People give to various community and philanthropic causes for a different reason than they give to churches.
The United Way supports worthy community organizations by setting a budget and asking citizens to give to that budget. The church form of that approach, asking “How much money does the church need?” produces far smaller results than when a church consistently asks, “What percentage of my income is God calling me to give?
We conduct a stewardship campaign every year.
Using only the May Day method (S.O.S. - the ship is sinking) is not Christian stewardship; it is a bill-paying, dues-paying, fund-raising mentality that (a) blocks members from significant spiritual growth and (b) keeps a church’s mission and ministry efforts in poverty.
We encourage our pastor to teach and preach the biblical principles of percentage-giving of income and tithing.
On average, people whose churches repeatedly raise the question, “What percentage of your income is God calling you to give?”, contribute 4.6 percent of their income to the Lord’s work through their church. On average, people whose churches do not ask them that question and have no annual stewardship campaign contribute 1.5 percent of their income to the Lord’s work through their church.
We base our stewardship appeals on a biblical rather than on an institutional foundation.
Rick Warren puts it this way: “We easily miss the spiritual significance of giving money. We need to give the first part of our day in meditation to God. We need to give the first part of our week in worship of God. We need to give the first part of our income to God. We need to give the first part of our social life to fellowship with other Christians.” Each of these four kinds of giving keeps our mental compass God-focused. (Discovering Spiritual Maturity by Rick Warren, audio tapes, C.L.A.S.S. 201)
I have come to realize that stewardship is a challenging area for many Christians to learn and grow. I guess it all comes down to this question: “Is my giving growing my faith?” If it isn’t, then it’s time to do something about it. Look over the four principles listed above - where do you find yourself in agreement? Where is there challenge? If there is challenge, then I urge you to pray and then do something about it!
Our church is a place where we are encouraged to grow in our love for God and the ways in which we respond. May we always strive to be the people of Grace.
In Him,
Pastor Mark