Dave Ramsey asks a great question, "What could the
people of God do for the Kingdom of God if they were debt
free?" A lot of churches are doing great things with
Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and of course the
Crown Ministry courses are well known and widely used. These
are great tools for the congregation, but they are also
great tools for community outreache to reach a hurting
world.
Personal Stewardship Resources
What is good idea for our members is good for the church.
Today, more than ever, churches need to look at the expense
side of their ledger. It is amazing, the vast majority of
churches which did not purposefully reduce their budgets for
2009, even though giving (for many) was off in 2008, and
over half reported being behind budget in Q1 of 2009. (See
Pastors Between a Rock and Hard Place" for details and
link to survey data.)
Most churches operate on a zero sum budget,
$600,000 in the door, $600,000 out the door. Like a
goldfish growing to the size of its bowl, churches continue
to grow their expenses on par with predicted incomes
from tithes and offerings. Over the years, things
creep into the budget that never seem to creep back out
again, causing expense bloat. It is a hard thing to
cut back, but in tough times, a little preemptive action can
help avoid major, and sudden cuts, at a later time.
If church leaders are uncertain about how to trim and
what to trim, an outside church consultant can not only
provide impartial input, but can also become the lightening
rod for unpopular decisions that need to be made.
Church Financial Stewardship Resources
Recent Lilly Endowment Studies reports 85% of pastors feel
uncomfortable and/or unequipped to preach on giving. Being
unwilling to preach and teach on money is not a new
problem. Malachi begins in chapter 1 by rebuking the
priests for failing to properly oversee worship
(particularly the offerings), and failing to properly
instruct the nation in God's Law.
The typical church receives an average of only $20
per person per week. There is not enough teaching on
stewardship and much of the teaching consists of tossing
it out there and hoping something sticks. Its not enough to
teach the principles, church leaders have to give people practical
application and challenge them to apply it in their lives.
The solution is to clearly and unashamedly preach and
teach on biblical stewardship and not be afraid to
challenge the people to respond. In 1 Chronicles 29:5,
King David, after proclaiming his financial support for
the building of the temple then clearly challenges the
people to give by boldly asking, "Who then is willing to
consecrate himself this day to the LORD?" David clearly
threw the gauntlet down and the people responded.
Church leaders need to become equipped to lead
and challenge their churches in biblical
giving. Pastor testimonials indicate that when they do this,
their churches see 10-30% increases in
regular giving, in as few as 5 weeks, and continuing
increases every year thereafter when they go through this
process.
"What would your church do with 10-30% more
money?" Pastors and church leaders who
wish to become equipped to lead their church in biblical
stewardship, should consider these tools:
Separate from general, annual stewardship, a capital
stewardship campaign raises money for large capital
projects, such as building program. A capital
stewardship campaign will typically raise between 1 and
3 times the church's current income in tithes and
offerings. Properly done, it will not have a negative
impact on regular giving, in fact, it often causes an
increase to the general fund giving as well. There are
a number of larger and well known capital campaign firms,
large and small. However, while
arguably giving a good ROI, larger capital campaign firms
with their larger overheads have always
been on the more expensive side, and several are struggling in
this economy. Shop around and compare programs, costs, and
results. At the end of the day, the capital
campaign consultant you select needs to be a good
spiritual and cultural fit with your church. A new
offering by an experienced campaign consulting firm is
the Abundant Giving campaign. This program offers
options and pricing that fit churches from 70 to 700.
Capital Stewardship Campaign Resources
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