Would anyone want to go to visit church?

I recently received an enquiry for copies of my book Giving Generously from St James Anglican Church, Gerards Cross in Buckinghamshire UK, just outside the London sprawl and on the road to Oxford. I was somewhat chuffed to receive an international request for a purchase and decided I would look the church up to get a feel for its ministry.

So, I googled St James, Gerards Cross and on the front page immediately found a four-minute video inviting me to explore the church and meet the church team. It is terrific and you can find it here. https://www.saintjames.org.uk/

After catchy opening music, the rector, the Rev Matt Beeby, introduces himself, unpretentiously as Matt, casually dressed in an open necked shirt without a clerical collar. Some may feel this is too informal, but I warmed to him immediately. He is energetic, enthusiastic and welcoming but the most important thing was that he immediately told us about his desire, Jesus and making Him known.

After a few scenes of the town and surrounding country the video moves on to introduce the staff. First there is Ross with a ministry to families and making disciples. Then there is an emphasis on evangelism with Frances organizing courses in Alpha and Christianity Explored. There is Kirsty who understands that her catering is actually a ministry that forms community. The behind the scenes work in the office is highlighted with Mark, Cindy and Tara in operations. I was delighted to hear James the missions minister describe that his role is to help others tell people about Jesus. Kids are not forgotten and Anna the Children’s pastor seems fired up about discipling young people.

Then there is Daff who incorporates people into membership but assures us his real desire is to see people get know the Lord Jesus. There is also the rector Matt’s PA, Rachel, who talked about her role in enabling Matt to be effective but also her personal faith in Jesus. What a great ministry Rachel must be having. When I talk to busy ministers pretty much all of them would love to have a PA but don’t have the finances.

 There is Ben the minister for Maturity, responsible for growth groups. It is apparent that the entire ministry is built around the 5 M framework that many churches have adopted following the lead of Rick Warren of Saddleback, California. Ben articulated the heart of the Christian faith by quoting Galatians 2:20, one of my favourite verses.

‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.’

I have, perhaps a little pedantically, detailed the different staff and their work, but the aim was to demonstrate that this is a very well-rounded cradle to grave ministry. But even more I loved the feel of the video. People were passionate about their work and passionate about their ministry. Bloopers were not edited out. Staff sometimes mess up their lines. Matt is drowned out by the church bell. Rachel needs a second take because her hair is not right. Matt’s wife gives him a playful tap on the hand when her words don’t quite come out correctly.  It looks like a very happy team.

So, if I was a visitor to London or thereabouts and looking for a church, would I try St James? Absolutely! I would certainly check it out. I might find it is quite different when I get there but this video certainly gives me the vibe. If I am a seeker I would be attracted by the very winsome presentation of what the church is on about. If I am a mature Christian, I would be delighted by their obvious love for Jesus and desire that others love him too. So, if you are visiting the UK and want to try out a church you might like to sample this one. If you are a pastor who wants to present an inviting face to your community, this video may give some fresh inspiration. And if you simply want to raise money for the ministry in your church, try my book. https://givinggenerously.com/buy-the-book-2/

Approaching a Generous Donor for a large Gift

While it is important that all members of the church support the ministry and not rely on one or two very large donors, it is also certain that there will be some projects whose costs are substantial. Such projects may well require the support of successful business people or those who have otherwise been able to attract a considerable portion of this world’s goods. A project such as a new building may be financially so large that even a group of the most generous average givers will not have the funds to guarantee its successful conclusion.

The question that arises is simply, ‘How does a pastor approach a wealthy person and ask them for a significant donation?’ Most pastors are not trained in such requests and can be very nervous about asking. I certainly was. I recently asked Jack, a very successful, entrepreneurial and generous businessman, what were the criteria and motivations for his giving.

First it is important to note that Jack and his wife Jane are both very committed Christians and do not have to be convinced of the biblical value of generosity. Jack loves his church and finds great blessing in the ministry. He considers his church as family and when his church has a need he wants to help. This is just the same with his biological family. People want to help their kids if possible. They certainly don’t resent it and when the church provides a similar connection and makes a request. Jack is biassed towards giving rather than being reluctant contributor. But remember Jack will have many people asking him to contribute.

Another huge issue is trust, particularly trust in his pastor. This is vital for clergy to remember. Of course, this would apply to most parishioners but is especially relevant when the church needs large gifts. Jack said that he receives many requests and can easily be made to feel he is just a ‘cash cow’, useful for the next appeal but ignored in the interim. Jack told me with some distaste that he went to a talk about giving on one occasion when the speaker got up and said, ‘our job is to fleece the flock before someone else does.’ Certainly, that is direct but it is also crass and appalling, lacking in any pastoral empathy and completely devoid of any biblical spirit. People like Jack may well have accumulated a considerable slice of this world’s goods and certainly need to heed the biblical warning to the rich. However, those in business have almost certainly taken entrepreneurial risks and often work under a crushing strain of deadlines, staff issues, currency fluctuations, threats of litigation, and the possibility of bankruptcy that most of us don’t imagine. They, possibly more than most, need the empathy of a genuine concerned pastor.

 However, Jack has not gotten to his present position by wasting his time and frittering his efforts away. He is focussed by nature on achieving outcomes and doing what he says he is going to do which is a hallmark of business success. Thus, when he or other like him give, they want to know that their gift is not being frittered away. So clear and timely communication is vital. In the old snail mail days, I used to write a letter each quarter to those who had given to the ministry at my church. I would always thank them for support and give them an update on how the projects they had supported, were progressing. This is particularly important with business people, who live and breathe in the world of key performance indicators. Forget this step and you may as well forget receiving a second donation.

When approaching someone like Jack, always approach him (or her) personally. An email will not suffice. It is also almost always the job of the senior minister. As Jack crisply put it, ‘I want to see the boss not the monkey’. Jack explained to me that when confronted with a difficult issue with a business deal, he will often ring the CEO of the opposite company, and they will sort out the issues promptly, boss to boss, man to man, and then let the staff work out the details. So, pastors, go yourself. Take a trusted advisor by all means but don’t simply send a staff member or lay person.

The other point that Jack made was to include the person’s spouse in the meeting. Jack said that his wife Jane participates in all their financial decisions and while she is not particularly connected with that side of the business, he deeply trusts her instincts and if she is apprehensive about a deal or a gift he does not proceed. So, it is far better to have the wife or husband in the room hearing the proposal firsthand.

I appreciate that this kind of ministry does not come easily to pastors, but it is an area where you can learn and grow and boldly ask the generous donors with whom you have built up a preexisting relationship. If they accept the meeting they are far more likely to say yes than say no. For more on this sensitive topic see my book Giving Generously. https://givinggenerously.com/

AI  Sermon Enhancement

Some years ago, I did a church crawl in the United States and heard the celebrated Baptist pastor Rick Warren speak. One thing I learned among many, was that Rick had a volunteer preaching research team. He would email this team the passage he was going to preach on and the general thrust of the message. Their job was to find possible illustrations, applications and different perspectives. They did not write the message. That was Rick’s role, but they provided a range of ideas that would help him. He would use or not use the material.

In Australia I adopted such a principle in a more modest way. One man would dig up a range of illustrations or perspectives on difficult passages. I would often run bible passages past wise women in the congregation to see how the passage impacted them. This process was particularly helpful for the evening congregation especially as I was getting older and less in touch with their world. I would email out the specific passage and topic to about a dozen young adults who would often give me fantastically useful feedback and congregational members were sometimes amazed at how up to date I had become. If only they knew!!

Now I am retired and don’t have ready access such human resources, so I have sought AI assistance. Recently I was asked to preach, and the topic was ‘preacher’s choice’. I decided to see if I had in my files an old message that would be appropriate for the congregation. I found a message on the entire book of Ecclesiastes that I felt was strong enough to be repeated. Yet at the same time I remembered the wise words of my Moore College classmate, Graeme Toovey who had warned me that, ‘old sermons are like people: they must be born again’.

So, I reworked the message with the current congregation and their lives in mind. However, I realized that while I was happy with the theology and the application, my illustrations and general tone were locked in the voice of a man in his seventies. Now some of that is fine but to be fresh and relevant I needed to somehow place myself in their world.

So, taking a friend’s advice I pasted the message into Anthropic Claude. He said Claude was good because it could take a sermon length document. I asked Claude to do three things. First, I asked it to refresh the material for a young adult audience, then a women’s audience. Finally, I realized that the congregation had a not insignificant number of people from southeast Asia and I asked Claude to refresh from that perspective.

Within moments I had three different versions of my sermon. I stress it was still my sermon but there was a wonderful range of illustrations and application points that I would never have dreamed of. The different versions did not change the message but certainly gave me a host of ideas about how I could flavour it to make it more intelligible  and relevant to different age groups and ethnicities. I often had to struggle with myself as I reluctantly omitted illustrations from yesteryear that really resonated with me, but I knew needed to be far more current.

Is this a legitimate application of AI? I would be nervous if I simply asked AI to construct the message. Then I would be very apprehensive. But I am quite comfortable at asking AI to flavour a message for a specific audience after I have done the hard work of prayer, exegesis and application. I am comfortable for now anyway!!!

If your problem is not preaching but raising resources for ministry, see my book Giving Generously  https://givinggenerously.com/

Be Strong and Courageous

Raising money for ministry can be a daunting procedure. It can be particularly daunting if it involves visioning, preparing and planning for a major building project and then raising the money and seeing the project to completion. Ministers are generally not prepared for this, and by and large, neither are church leaders. It is sad therefore when plans for urgently needed facilities are shelved and put in the too hard basket.

The bible has a description of the preparations for a major building project: Solomon’s temple, in 1 Chronicles 28 and 29. It is easy to miss this as the books of Chronicles are not the ones that we normally go to for quiet time reading. I remember that when I entered Moore College to train for the ministry nearly fifty years ago, we first year students were almost immediately required to read and be examined on 1 and 2 Chronicles, probably because the college was aware that our knowledge of these books would be primitive.

1 Chronicles 29 contains quite detailed instructions about how King David raised resources for the temple. It is very practical and contains the magnificent theology of God’s ownership of our possessions and how David and the elders personally led the process of raising the money. Yet the preceding chapter, 1 Chronicles 28 also contains some vital information.

Here David

1. Summons the officials to meet in Jerusalem.
2. Reminds them that God had chosen David as king and has chosen Solomon his son to build the temple.
3. Charges the elders to follow God’s commands.
4. Directs Solomon to serve God wholeheartedly.
5. Gives Solomon detailed instructions about personnel and associated rooms for the temple that the Spirit had revealed to him.
6.  Instructs about ministry of the priests and levites and the gold and silver required.
7. Gives Solomon a charge to be strong and courageous. This is because God himself will be with Solomon, the priests and levites are ready and skilled craftsmen and obedient people are waiting for orders.

The charge to be strong and courageous appears elsewhere in scripture where a daunting task is before the people. It is associated with the command to rise up and enter the promised land. Moses, in Deuteronomy 31:6&7, exhorts the people to be strong and courageous. Similarly, God repeats the exhortation to Joshua after Moses’ death, in Joshua 1: 6,7&9. The people are not to be afraid. They are to keep God’s word and be confident of his presence.

I do not see these verses as an invitation to go off half-baked into some major project.  David was confident that God had spoken to him and that he was following God’s command. He also had the support of the leaders and the people. Extensive plans had been given and made for the carrying out of the enterprise. David led the charge himself in raising the required resources. It was now up to young Solomon to complete the task. It was in this context that ‘be strong and courageous’ is given.

So, if you know there is a vital ministry need and you believe that through prayer and the counsel of godly, wise advisers, that this is God’s will and you have developed a well thought out plan of action and have the support of your congregation, be strong and courageous and complete the task for the extension of God’s kingdom.

For more details about how David raised the resource in 1 Chronicles 29, see my book, Giving Generously. https://givinggenerously.com/

Deep Seek and Giving Generously

There has been a considerable amount of publicity recently given to a new Artificial Intelligence Application developed in China, called Deep Seek. My skill set in this area is negligible but I asked my son, who has great technical competence for his opinion. He in turn asked Deep Seek to review my book. This was the result.

Giving Generously by Irvine is a book that focuses on the principles and practices of generosity, particularly from a Christian perspective. The book appears to be a guide for individuals and organizations seeking to cultivate a lifestyle of giving, rooted in biblical teachings and practical advice.

Key Themes and Takeaways:

1. Biblical Foundations of Generosity: The book likely emphasizes the importance of generosity as a core value in the Christian faith, drawing on scripture to illustrate how giving is not just a financial act but a spiritual discipline.
2. Practical Guidance: It probably offers actionable steps for individuals and churches to integrate generosity into their daily lives, including budgeting, charitable giving, and supporting community initiatives.
3. Impact of Generosity: The book may explore how generosity transforms both the giver and the recipient, fostering a sense of community, purpose, and fulfillment.
4. Stories and Testimonies: It might include real-life examples or testimonies of people who have experienced the joy and blessings of living generously.
5. Challenges and Misconceptions: The book could address common barriers to generosity, such as fear, scarcity mindset, or cultural attitudes, and provide encouragement to overcome them.

Target Audience:

• Christians seeking to align their financial practices with their faith.
• Church leaders and organizations looking to inspire their congregations to give.
• Anyone interested in exploring the spiritual and practical aspects of generosity.

Strengths:

• The book seems to combine theological insights with practical advice, making it accessible and applicable to a wide audience.
• Its focus on generosity as a holistic lifestyle, rather than just a financial transaction, is likely to resonate with readers.

Potential Limitations:

• The book’s strong Christian perspective may limit its appeal to readers outside that faith tradition.
• Depending on the depth of its financial advice, readers looking for highly detailed or secular strategies for giving might find it less useful.

Overall Impression:

Giving Generously appears to be a thoughtful and inspiring resource for those looking to deepen their understanding of generosity from a faith-based perspective. If you’re interested in aligning your giving practices with biblical principles or seeking motivation to live more generously, this book could be a valuable read.

Wow this has given me some food for thought and ideas about improvement. But this is Deep Seek’s opinion. Why not buy the book and make your own judgement?

Need Money for your ministry. Ask your friendly Robot.

Just for general interest I decided to ask AI about raising money for ministry and so I typed

‘How do you raise money in churches 1000 words’ into ChatGPT to see what it would say. This was the result.

Raising money in churches is essential for maintaining facilities, supporting ministries, and serving the community. Here are some effective strategies to consider:

1. Traditional Offerings and Tithes

Regular Collections

Regular collections during services remain a primary source of income. Emphasize the importance of tithing and regular giving in sermons and communications.

Tithing Education

Educate the congregation on the biblical basis for tithing. Use scriptures and personal testimonies to illustrate the impact of tithing on the church and individual lives.

2. Special Fundraising Campaigns

Capital Campaigns

For large projects like building renovations or new constructions, launch capital campaigns. Clearly communicate the vision, goals, and timeline. Use brochures, presentations, and meetings to keep everyone informed.

Pledge Drives

Organize pledge drives where members commit to giving a certain amount over a period. This helps in planning and ensures a steady flow of funds.

3. Events and Activities

Bake Sales, Rummage Sales, and Car Washes

These activities not only raise funds but also foster community spirit. Encourage all age groups to participate and contribute.

Dinners and Auctions

Host dinners, auctions, and galas. Sell tickets, solicit donations for auction items, and provide an enjoyable experience. Local businesses often support such events through sponsorships or donations.

4. Online Giving and Digital Tools

Online Donation Platforms

Set up online giving options on the church’s website. Platforms like PayPal, Venmo, and specialized church giving apps make it easy for members to donate anytime.

Text-to-Give

Implement text-to-give services. This allows members to donate via text messages, making it quick and convenient, especially for younger, tech-savvy congregants.

5. Grants and Sponsorships

Religious and Community Grants

Research and apply for grants from religious organizations and foundations. Many offer funding for specific projects, programs, or general support.

Corporate Sponsorships

Seek sponsorships from local businesses. Offer recognition in church bulletins, websites, and events in return for their support.

6. Merchandise Sales

Church Branded Items

Sell branded items like T-shirts, mugs, and calendars. These not only raise funds but also promote church identity and unity.

Books and Media

If the church produces books, music, or other media, sell these items. Highlight the spiritual and educational value to encourage purchases.

7. Monthly Giving Programs

Sustained Giving

Encourage members to join monthly giving programs. Regular, smaller donations can be more manageable for members and provide a steady income for the church.

8. Legacy Giving

Planned Giving

Educate the congregation about including the church in their wills or estate plans. Planned giving can provide significant support for the church’s future.

9. Crowdfunding

Online Campaigns

Use crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe for specific projects or emergencies. Share the campaign through social media and email to reach a wider audience.

10. Volunteer and In-Kind Contributions

Time and Skills

Encourage members to volunteer their time and skills. This can reduce costs for the church and involve more people in its activities.

Goods and Services

In-kind donations like food for events, materials for projects, or professional services can be as valuable as monetary contributions.

Implementation Tips

Clear Communication

Communicate clearly and regularly about the church’s financial needs, goals, and the impact of contributions. Use sermons, newsletters, social media, and personal testimonies to keep the congregation informed and engaged.

Transparency

Be transparent about how funds are used. Provide regular updates and financial reports to build trust and demonstrate accountability.

Gratitude

Show appreciation for every contribution, big or small. Personal thank-you notes, public acknowledgments, and recognition events can foster a culture of generosity.

Prayer and Faith

Emphasize the spiritual aspect of giving. Encourage members to pray about their contributions and trust in God’s provision.

Leadership Example

Church leaders should lead by example. When leaders are visibly committed to giving, it inspires the congregation to follow suit.

Conclusion

Raising money in churches requires a multifaceted approach that combines traditional methods with modern tools and techniques. By fostering a culture of generosity, clearly communicating needs and goals, and showing appreciation, churches can effectively raise the funds needed to support their mission and serve their communities.

Rod’s Comment

There is quite an extensive list here. I have seen most of them attempted in many churches. However the theological undergirding and methods of communicating and asking are absent. For more on these see my book Giving Generously. https://givinggenerously.com/

Dealing with Debt

Recently I was in another state and went to a new church one Sunday. It turned out that they were in the middle of their annual end-of financial-year vision series. The pastor spoke enthusiastically and gratefully about how the church family, by their generosity, had reduced debt on their building from over $6 Million to a bit over $1 Million in ten years. Good on them! This is a significant achievement. It is not the easiest issue in church life to reduce debt. So what principles come to mind when addressing this subject?

I had to grapple with this subject a couple of times in my work as senior minister of Figtree Anglican Church in Wollongong. When I arrived in 1987 the parish had a debt of over $200,000 That had been incurred to fund a new building that had been constructed a couple of years earlier. That does not seem much in today’s dollars but was a formidable amount then and was a millstone around our necks for the next seven years. Fortunately the process of raising the money and making repayments had been set in train prior to my coming and all I had to do was keep the machinery working till we finally paid it off and had a celebration party.

Over a decade later I was the one initiating and presiding over the debt process when Figtree parish embarked on a $5.5 Million building programme. The congregation gave magnificently but the building cost far exceeded our ability to complete the project debt free and a debt of around $2.6 M was incurred. When I left some years later I bequeathed this burden to my successor, Ian Barnett, who led the completion of the process of paying off the loan.

There are some pastors who feel that all debt is bad and will not embark on a project unless it can be accomplished without borrowing. Of course this is a laudable aim. However, sometimes a church may be so strangled by property concerns that to address this issue may require a building campaign and a loan as was our case at Figtree. I do not believe this sort of debt is wrong. What I would advise against very strongly, is debt for paying operating expenses, staff salaries for example. That is a slippery slope to financial shipwreck.

Another important issue is the attitude of the congregation to debt. In any family or electorate or group of people there are some who have no problem embracing debt and are quite happy to kick the can along the road into the future as far as repaying the amount is concerned. There are others who view debt as an oppressive yoke and are highly motivated to get the money monster off their backs.

With these ideas in mind, the key principle to remember is that ‘money follows vision’. Yet debt doesn’t seem very visionary. So it is extremely important to demonstrate clearly how debt fits in with the broader vision of the church. It is a great mistake to pay off the debt and hope that the loan repayments will automatically still keep coming in and can be used for future purposes. Generally parishioners will be happy church debt is paid off and may throw a party but won’t keep giving at the old rate unless there is a compelling reason to do so. Thus it is important to have the next exciting gospel oriented, life changing, vision fulfilling project, clearly before the congregation. Then you can point out how the debt is not an end in itself but the impediment to the realization of the church’s dreams. You need to be able to say, “look what we hope to do next after the debt is paid off. Look at how lives will be transformed.’

Recognizing the contrasting views about debt, I advocate having half a dozen projects to present to the congregation each year. If the church has a building debt, I would also have repayment of the debt one of the projects each year. In that way the debt can be chipped away culminating, in a final major assault when it is has assumed a digestible bite-sized chunk.

To conclude, the critical point to re-emphasize is that money follows vision. It is vitally important to show how the repayment of the debt will take a millstone off your neck so you can pursue the next exiting stage of ministry. For more on raising resources for ministry see my book Giving Generously. https://givinggenerously.com/

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

On holidays some years ago I attended a church service at a church I had never previously visited. Afterwards in the foyer I was chatting to the minister and it emerged in conversation that I was a fellow clergyman. He asked for my frank assessment of the service. ‘Tell me the good, the bad and the ugly.’ They were striking words to solicit a comment and I have never forgotten them. I believe that minister really did want some genuine feedback and it was brave of him to ask because many do not. It was also very smart because it is an excellent way to improve ministry.

In the early 1990s I did a Business degree and studied a number of marketing subjects. During that time I came across an article, Complaints as Opportunities published in the Journal of Consumer Marketing, February 1991, written by Jerry Plymire.  It contained the following arresting quotation:

            ‘….only 4 percent of dissatisfied customers ever give us feedback about their issue. The other 96 percent vote with their feet and 91 percent will never come back.’ What is worse is that 80 percent of those dissatisfied people will pass on their negative assessment to others.. ‘Ouch!’, as an influential academic once said.

Because most people have a natural aversion to hearing complaints, a normal course of action is to try to shut down complaining behavior. Plymire advocates an opposite approach: that is to actually stimulate complaints. In other words get people to tell you the issues rather than broadcast their displeasure to the four winds.

While I am fully aware that a church is not a business and the same dynamics do not  necessarily apply, a church has many of the characteristics of a not-for–profit, professional, service organization and so lessons learned in one sphere have some application to another. Armed with these thoughts I tried to encourage not whinging and whining but robust feedback, and to give it a considered hearing. Mostly the complaints were not a matter of profound theology but on irritating organization matters that could and should be remedied

One method I used was to conduct in June, an all-church survey where I would ask people to write one thing the church does well and one area we could improve. I phrased the questions in that way because I wanted to encourage a response that did not result in gratuitous carping. Further, I gave space for respondents to add their names.

I explained that I would publish the actual feedback so people could see what had been written. The exception was that I would not publish any negative personal attacks on anyone, which were negligible anyway. All went well with the first survey and the office posted the results on bulletin boards but I had forgotten to tell the office to post the comments without names which were for my eyes only. I certainly did get some real complaints and had to offer an obsequious mea culpa. The error was definitely remedied the next year.

The effect of this ongoing process was twofold. First, it helped produce a feeling of openness in the parish. People felt their concerns would get a hearing rather than be buried. Second, every year we raised money for ministry including special projects. This process gave us a clear idea of where the people felt there were areas that needed fixing.

If for example a survey showed 50 people thinking the music was too loud and 50 thought it was too soft and the rest did not mention it, I was reasonably certain that this was a non-issue. However if I received 150 responses urging me to fix the car park and fix it yesterday, then I knew this merited urgent action. My response would be to make such an item a commitment day project and when I did, it would generally be well supported.

Honestly, looking for feedback that includes the good the bad and the ugly can be a bit daunting. I remember one staff member saying that reading the regular feedback cards was like ‘pulling teeth’. Yet I do believe it is worth it. As it transpired, while there were good features to the service to which I was visitor, there was one issue that my entire family had thought of as ugly and the minister’s question provided a platform to give that feedback.

For more on raising resources for ministry see my book Giving Generously.  www.givinggenerously.com

The Essence of Running a Commitment Day

In my book Giving Generously: Resourcing Local Church Ministry, I advocate running an annual commitment day, where the minister asks the people to do two things: First to sign a card indicating how much the person intends to give to the church over the next year. The second, was to give a cash gift to one or more individual projects. We used to have six projects each year as people like to support areas that engage their hearts.

The following areas are extremely important in making the outcome fruitful.

1. A compelling vision for the ministry for the future. The key idea is that money follows vison rather than need. People do not get inspired by simply paying the bills. They wish to know that their dollars will make a difference in people’s lives.
2. There will be a suitable date in your calendar. For our Anglican Church our commitment day settled on the first Sunday in November for historic parish reasons. It also had the advantage of securing our revenue as increased staff generally was coming on board from early January. However, another time may be in June at the end of the financial year. It could also coincide with any date that may have particular celebratory significance for your church.
3. High confidence in the leadership is vital. People won’t give if they feel their money will be squandered, wasted or misused. It was for good reason that the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the collection for the Jerusalem poor.

We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 2 Cor 8:21

4. The commitment day comes at the conclusion of a five or six week preaching series. This series will probably contain a message on generosity but it will not be a series with the majority of the message on money. Rather the aim of the series will be to build personal faith or advance the mission of the church or both. People often find that this commitment series is the time where their faith grows more than any other time. That is because in making a financial commitment they are showing in very tangible terms that they trust God, not money.

5 A fruitful commitment series will have very clear communication. We used multiple sources including brochures, response cards, letters, and in particular audio visuals. It is incredibly important to produce engaging audio-visual material that clearly conveys what you are asking people to give to.

6. The entire concept needs the engagement and endorsement of the church staff and leadership. At Figtree, the staff and parish council were involved in choosing the projects for the coming year. They also signed a commitment card. It is vital that they not only verbally endorse the process but show by their giving they have ‘skin in the game’.
7. It is absolute crucial that the senior minister clearly asks people to give. People should not be left wondering what they are being asked to do. This task shouldn’t be left to the treasurer. It is the senior minister’s role and should not be shirked.

I would always say something like the following.

‘What I am asking you for on commitment day is to do two things.

First please sign and return the commitment card indicating how much you are intending to give to the ministry next year. Second, place a special offering in the envelope supplied and indicate which project you wish you support. I would sometimes add, with a big smile on my face, ‘please stuff the envelope full of money and make our treasurer very happy’.

7. Plan ahead. There is a lot to do here in terms of getting alignment from key leaders and preparing communications and producing a compelling sermon series. I used to start the entire process about six months in advance. It is simply folly to leave it to the last couple of weeks when some crisis makes everything urgent and rushed.

Last by no means least, pray. At Figtree we always had whole church times of prayer for the ministry and for this process.

For more on running a commitment day see my book,

 Giving Generously. https://givinggenerously.com/

How to overcome the end of year Financial Crisis

If you have been around churches long enough you will have seen or experienced a scenario something like the following. At the end of the year either the treasurer or the senior minister stands before the congregation and tells them that the church is behind budget and asks people to dig deep to make up the shortfall. There are lots of negatives here.

 First, while it may be necessary it doesn’t convey the feeling that the church is powering ahead and kicking goals for Christ’s kingdom.

Second, the appeal is framed in terms of need rather than vision. Remember that money doesn’t follow need, it follows vision.

Third, and this is closely allied to the above, the appeal  addresses budget shortfall. Budget is a perfectly acceptable word and very necessary in terms of responsibly running a church. However, the term should be banned in any discussion of raising money. Budgets don’t fire up the juices of the average parishioner who don’t want their money plugging up holes in a leaky ship.

Fourth, this request generally means the church is not having an alternative appeal such as a Christmas request for a mission project. The visionary project often gives way to the ‘stop the leak’ project.

It is not at all unusual for a church to be around five percent behind budget and while this should not be ignored neither is the sky falling in. So what should be done? In my book Giving Generously I detail how to raise money for local church ministry. If such a process is conducted prayerfully, boldly and sensitively people get excited about the ministry and will give to it. One of the items I describe, is a request to support up to six special projects. One of these projects was called ‘Our Church Our Ministry’. My successor at Figtree Anglican  Church helpfully broadened the name to ‘Our Church Our Community’.

What it is in effect saying, is, please contribute some funds that can be used by the church leadership in any way that is beneficial. Where people trust the leadership and are generally supportive of the ministry and direction of the church, this project is often amazing well supported. Naturally the funds can be used in a range of ways. One would be to assist the seed funding of a new staff member. Another may be topping up the shortfall in one of the other projects. Another might be paying for any expenses that may have been generated in running the financial campaign in the first place.

However, some of the funds can also be used to fill in any end of year shortfalls. Naturally this won’t the primary way in which the money should be used. It should go into visionary projects. However sometimes this is necessary and it is far better than going cap in hand to the congregation close to Christmas. An appeal at Christmas is an opportunity to stimulate generosity to an outside worthy cause. For more on this topic and raising money for ministry, see my book Giving Generously. https://givinggenerously.com/buy-the-book-2/