From My Desk to Yours

Is physical church attendance essential? We will be probing that question in this edition of the Stewardship Journal. Welcome to another edition of the SBC’s go-to guide for information, practical advice, and tips for building a culture of generosity based on Biblical principles. Here is a preview of this edition:

Mark Brooks, The Stewardship Coach, leads this discussion with a post entitled How to Use Your Campus and Platform Lanes to Increase Generosity. Mark states his position on in-person worship: “The American Church made a huge mistake when it accepted the idea that physical church attendance was not essential for Christian growth.” Mark then makes the case for his position and gives us ideas on using our campus and platform to increase generosity.

Our Bonus Section is entitled How to Make Your Campus More Giving Friendly. You will find practical tips and examples of how other churches have utilized their on-campus generosity strategy to keep a positive focus on giving. Is your campus and platform enhancing generosity or detracting from generosity? The Bonus Section will help you enhance generosity!

While physical church attendance should always be our goal, we must recognize that we live in an increasingly online and virtual world. Our final post is entitled The Future of Giving is Hybrid. Here is a good summary sentence of the post that states, “In the future, we can “expect that post-pandemic giving and fundraising will likely remain hybrid, as the adaptation of digital and hybrid giving models will augment crucial human interactions.” As with all our posts, you will find practical, helpful information about how your church can successfully navigate the future of giving.

Easter is weeks away, and it’s time to plan the Easter offering! As part of the Stewardship Journal platform, church leaders in our state have access to Mark Brooks’ playbooks, such as his newly released Easter offering playbook, Say Yes to Easter Giving. Here is how to access this material:

• First, go to the Stewardship Journal site at https://stewardshipjournal.com/
• Look in the upper right corner of the site for the link that says ‘Resources’ and click on it.
• Fill out the ‘Create an Account’ information. Your Username can be your email or any other name you assign. Create your own password and be sure to write it down for the future.
• Where it asks for an invite code, use this code: SBCSJ2024!
• In the final box, select our state convention.

The Stewardship Journal is dedicated to helping you increase generosity in every season of your church. Thanks for reading and let us know your thoughts.

In Jesus’ name!

Dr. Shawn Parker