The Senior Pastor is my biggest challenge in helping churches build a culture of generosity. In my last post, I wrote about how I think in lanes when it comes to creating a culture of generosity based upon biblical stewardship. In this edition, I start breaking down each lane, starting...
The following is reprinted from The Top Ten Stewardship Mistakes Churches Make authored by Mark Brooks. I sometimes marvel that raising funds to fuel ministry gets so little attention from most pastors in America. In my experience, there are several reasons for this. The following list impacts many pastors, keeping them...
If you ever played football, you probably had a coach yell at you at one point or another, “Stay in your lane!” Football players are taught to guard and protect their assigned lanes from blocking schemes to kick-off coverage. The theory is that the play will succeed if everyone stays...
The following is reprinted and was originally posted at https://www.onlinegiving.org/support/systems-to-tell-your-story. “To effectively communicate your message, you’ll need to stop building your strategy exclusively around physical attendance.” Why? As my friend, Dave Anderson, says, “Church attendance is not decreasing. It’s decentralizing.” 1. In early 2019, Phil Bowdle wrote that in a book...
Are you being a good steward of your facility? One of our goals this year with the Stewardship Journal is to provide SBC pastors and church leaders with free advice on how to build, renovate, and care for church facilities. The following post is used with permission and can be...
The trump card to unlocking generosity in your church depends upon the connecting power of your vision. The Free Dictionary defines a trump card as a designated card that ranks above all others or a resource used to gain an advantage over others, often by being held and then used...
When I work with a client for a significant giving initiative, I start by asking the Pastor to write out the vision behind whatever we are raising money for. Technically, this is called a Vision Case Statement. I want a broad overview of what we are raising money for on...
One of our goals with the Stewardship Journal is to provide our readers with a depth of material from outside sources. The following post contains important thoughts about current trends that will impact giving. The post is used by permission and was originally published on LifewayResearch.com: https://research.lifeway.com/2024/01/12/10-trends-impacting-the-church-in-2024/ As church leaders...
Do you spend more time preparing for and executing your announcements each Sunday or your offering time? How you answer this question tells me whether you have a correct view of biblical stewardship. It’s not people I have to fight with about emphasizing giving more during worship services; it’s pastors...
At 500 offering talks, I stopped counting how many I had written. Suffice it to say that I know a thing or two about offering talks, as I’ve seen a few. I wrote a blog post on this topic a few years ago.1. Here is what I wrote: First, let me...
