Congregational Stewardship
“Discipline” can be a scary word. Even when we hear it in churches, as in “spiritual disciplines,” our first instinct might be that it’s punishment or obligation. When that unconscious reaction happens, it’s hard to respond out of a place of gratitude and joy. So maybe it’s better to say “framework” or means of grace.…
What motivates affluent people to make major planned gifts to nonprofit organizations like your church? In The Seven Faces of Philanthropy: A New Approach to Cultivating Major Donors (Jossey-Bass, 1994), Russ Prince and Karen File lay out the results of a sophisticated sampling of wealthy givers across the United States. What did they learn? Plenty!…
Extravagant generosity is based upon our extravagantly generous God, the Giver of every good gift, the Source of life and love! From Robert Schnase’s book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations: A Congregation that Practices Extravagant Generosity: 1. Thrives with the joy of abundance instead of the fear of scarcity 2. Encourages members to grow in…
God loves all creation. God delights in creation and cares for the well-being of all creatures (Gen. 1). Creation reveals God’s character. Through creation itself, God’s character can be seen (Rom. 1:19-20) and all things created give praise to God (Ps. 19:1-6; Ps. 148). Wilderness places facilitate close encounters with God (Exod. 3:1-2) and provide…
One-Liners About Your Shared Mission for Your Church Bulletin, Website, or Newsletter 1 Shared Mission is our coordinated connectional ministries a way to reach out to transform lives beyond the reach of any single congregation. 2 Not a tax but real, live ministry! Through our shared mission, we sustain vital work through hundreds of channels…
A major trend among our denominational leaders these days is to look for measurable outcomes for our life together. That’s easy to do for some quantitative measures – what some people call “bodies and bucks” – but how can we measure our ministries qualitatively – for example, in our stewardship and generosity as a congregation?…
Essentials: Plan for Our Congregation: Who did or is doing this: Done/Date: 1. Vision – “God-Sized Goals” Compelling Vision Statement Notes: “Scope of Ministries” or “Narrative Budget” that focuses on changed lives Notes: 2. Ministry-Centered Budgeting Process Notes: 3. Vital Connection to Mission Notes: Opportunities for…
Building a Generosity Plan for For Our Congregation Desired Outcomes or Results: For example: 1. Growing vibrant, faithful stewards (personal growth) 2. Maturing as a vital congregation of gospel stewards (congregational growth) 3. Building a local church of generous hearts and lives 4. Strengthening the stewardship of the church’s full ministry (mutual support with…
Many church leaders think it is so difficult just dealing with the crises of the next six months, they can’t imagine planning ahead for three or more years! But the truth is it’s easier to plan when we look further out in time, for at least five reasons: 1. Taking a longer view helps us…