What is your goal in stewardship? 83% of pastors in one poll agreed with the statement, “In most congregations, the goal of stewardship is defined as meeting the budget.”1. If this statistic is true, and I don’t doubt it, then no wonder we are having difficulty reversing the decline in...
Do you know the state of generosity at your church? In my last edition, I gave you the findings of a new Barna study, The Giving Landscape: Who Drives Generosity and Why. I ended by saying, “Knowing national giving trends is helpful. It gives you insight into what possible barriers...
“Leaders must ask themselves: How can generosity be taught?”1. That is a quote from Barna’s new study on the state of giving, entitled The Giving Landscape: Who Drives Generosity – And Why. I will review their findings in this edition of the Coach, entitled The Coach’s Review of the Latest...
“We hope to increase our budget from 800K to $1 million.” That was what a person told me their pastor stated a few years ago at a congregational meeting. Hope? The saying, “hope is not a strategy,” first came to my mind. When churches use the word hope it is...
It’s time to play your trump card to recession-proof your offerings. And no, I don’t mean Donald Trump. Those who have played Spades understand what a trump card is and how it can be a game changer. The Free Dictionary defines a trump card as: A designated card in some card...
How will the current economic climate impact your budget for 2023? That is the question I will explore in this edition of the Coach, entitled Recession Proofing Your Offerings. I appropriated the title from my first book seen here on the left. Let’s start by asking, are we headed towards a...
Are you too late? Waiting too late is perhaps the biggest mistake pastors, and church leaders make when it comes to giving. By the time a pastor gets around to emailing or calling me, they are typically experiencing a huge giving-to-budget gap. At that point, they are being reactionary rather...
Imagine you are a football coach whose team is behind at halftime. When you are behind in a game, do you put in the second or third team to pull ahead? Of course not. You put in your go-to players, your first team, and you give them a pep talk...
It’s July, halfway through the year, and it is time to ask, “how is giving going?” Very few pastors will respond by saying great! Most are feeling the summer slump in giving by now, with many struggling. Some churches are living offering to offering at a time when most of...
We’ve always done it that way before. Those are the seven deadliest words in church life. They are also the words that I often hear from those in my industry and from many church leaders when it comes to raising capital. I have a Brooks mantra that applies to this...
