STUCK! No way out, nowhere to go…or is there? What can you do when you’re “stuck”?

1. PAUSE: Take a moment to think about what happened and why–it may prevent the same thing from happening again. How about that small group opportunity to cultivate generosity or teach about Christian stewardship…why didn’t people respond and take part? Did you extend personal invitations…yes, in person! Did you enlist champions to speak positively about the opportunity? Was it addressed and affirmed from the pulpit (or by leadership)? Try again…

2. PURSUE: So you’re “stuck” taking the conventional route…look off the beaten path. Try an intergenerational approach to stewardship and your annual giving campaign. Have life-seasoned pilgrims share stories of working through everything from the challenges of being married (and staying married!) to making the tough financial decisions in order to give generously to others. Ask a sweet child to talk about what it means to bring an offering to church…you’ll be surprised how faithful they are and how much wisdom they can impart. Develop the concept of a family small group experience leading up to commitment time that gives real life challenges that stimulate and nurture generosity–I’m thinking a board game or scavenger hunt??

3. PERSIST: Don’t give up! Getting on the “generosity highway” takes time. It’s a culture change that resembles turning a ship around–it’s awkward, slow, and takes preparation, but it is liberating when you’re headed in a new direction! Enlist a Generosity Team to keep focused on how to live daily as stewards for God. Let those around you know you are supporting this team and encouraging their input.

4. PRAY: And keep praying! Pray over generosity Scriptures, such as: Deuteronomy 15:10; 2 Chronicles 31:5; Psalm 112:4-5 (You get the idea! Or go to www.biblegateway.com and search generous.) Proverbs 11:25 says, “…whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” Pray about who you and your church can “refresh” with generosity…God will answer!

Let me know if you’re “stuck,” or let me know what you did to take action. Let’s get on the generosity highway together!

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The teaching about money as a sermon topic or series is without question one of the most controversial church topics around.  In some churches, even the thought or mention of the word stirs up strong emotions, past experiences that were damaging, and an enormous fear of what might happen.  This is particularly true in churches where there has been an intentional effort made not to talk about “that kind of stuff.”

Sadly, in our work with churches many members tell us that they do not believe their church is doing a very good job in discipling their people in this area.  Sometimes those who mention that an attempt has been made feel like they have been deceived, manipulated, or talked down to.

In our opinion, the best way to approach this topic is to have honest, regular, straightforward  conversations.  Normalizing the conversation creates a culture of education, understanding, and trust—allowing for discipleship and growth.  One of our clients is teaching on this subject right now, and is doing a great job at giving straight talk to their church.  Here is a brief outline of their series:

1. We are to be responsible, generous stewards.
2. We should give our first and best, not leftovers.
3. We should give by faith, not just arithmetic.
4. Examine your heart now.  Where your heart is, there you will find your treasure.
5. Give from a cheerful heart, not obligation.
6. Give all of you: all your faith, all your stuff—God wants our whole heart.

During their recent teaching series, this church experienced the largest and most consistent offerings in their history.  A number of public professions of faith were made.  And even though there has been no public “ask,” members have already given additional cash, savings, a car, and a 401k.  This outcome suggests that church people appreciate and need straight talk when it comes dealing with this topic.  It also suggests that hearts of generosity are being discovered and discipled at this church, which is our heartbeat!

A key principal for you to remember when dealing with this topic is this—make sure your people realize that this is something you want FOR them, not FROM them.  You desire for your people to become financially free, radically generous, wholly devoted followers of Christ.  When this happens, your church’s culture will be completely transformed.

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I have been working in this ministry for over 12 years.  I felt called into this work as a ministry and I still feel that way, but lately I have been wondering if I am providing the spiritual leadership that God expects of me.  It is very difficult to get that type of confirmation because you can’t go up to people and ask, “Hey, is this campaign having a spiritual impact on your life?”  So, I doubt myself sometimes.  The past few weeks have been one of those seasons where I have begun to doubt myself and my work—especially in the area of spiritual leadership.

I am working with a church in the Atlanta area, and I was with them this past Sunday for our final Steering Team meeting.  Every team has its own personality, and this team’s personality has been difficult for me to read and measure the progress we are making.  They have been doing things well and I anticipate a financial victory for them on Commitment Sunday.  However, I have really been wondering if we would have the same type of spiritual victory on Commitment Sunday.

As I typically do in Steering Team meetings, I asked them on Sunday, “What has the conversation been like in your house regarding your family’s financial commitment to the campaign?”  Early on in the campaign process the answers (if any) are usually pretty brief and superficial because the people have not really had a lot of discussion about the commitment.  The question is designed to get them thinking as leaders of the campaign.  As time progresses and we get closer to Commitment Sunday, the answers can oftentimes be motivating to others in the room and to me.  This is what I was hoping for in this particular meeting.  Selfishly I really needed some confirmation that the Holy Spirit was working in the lives of these leaders.  I got what I was hoping for.

Laura (as we will call her) has been working on the print communication side of things, and as a graphic designer who works at a print shop, she has been able to save the church thousands of dollars during the campaign.  Pretty cool stuff.  Laura began to answer my question, and it became apparent that God has been moving in her house.

Laura’s husband doesn’t go to church.  He has also been a little frustrated/jealous due to the amount of time Laura has been giving to the print portion of the campaign.  He recently asked her about her commitment to the campaign.  She told him that it looked like her time and gifts of service would be her only commitment since she did not have any extra money at the end of the month to give on top of what she gives in her tithes and offerings.

Laura and her husband divide up the bills and pay them with each of their incomes (this is more common than I ever knew).  She admitted to us in the meeting that he is a better money manager than she is so all of her paycheck is tied up in bills because if she has any excess money to spend, she will do just that.  They have worked it out between them to try and manage the money they have the best way they can.

Later in their conversation Laura’s husband said, “Why don’t I take on a couple of the bills you normally pay so some money will be freed up if you want to give it to the campaign.”  Hello?

There was the affirmation I so desperately needed to hear!  A husband’s heart was softened by the Holy Spirit through his wife’s involvement in a capital campaign.  It will be exciting to see how God will continue to move in Laura’s husband’s heart as the days go by.

If Laura’s story is any indicator of what is going on in the hearts and minds of the other families at this church then there will be a spiritual revival on Commitment Sunday.  Hallelujah!

Thank You, God, for answering my prayers so clearly.

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You’ve done it, right? Checked sport scores and movie times. Cleared Facebook and Twitter notifications. Browsed Craigslist. Played solitaire. Searched for directions. Checked email. Googled some random question about something or other.  Maybe even caught up on the latest episode of your favorite sitcom.

In short, activities that were once possible only on our clunky desktop PC—and then our laptop—are now available at any moment in any place. As a recent Forbes article put it, “There is no screen more personal or engaging, and no screen that provides a more stunning canvas than the mobile screen. Be it a smartphone, a gaming device or tablet, from tweens to boomers, we are all engaging in mobile.”

Interestingly enough, mobile usage isn’t just…well…mobile. In fact, according to that same Forbes article, nearly half of mobile usage happens inside the home. In short, our mobile devices have become our “first screens.” In fact, by 2016, mobile will be the most popular way to be online. This is a big deal…a big deal that churches seem to be either passively ignoring or even actively avoiding.

Years ago, I was encouraging churches to develop websites. Two years ago, I was urging churches to update those websites. (For the sake of all that’s good and holy, enough with the comic sans and animated GIFs already!) And now I’m encouraging churches to go mobile. In short, if your participants and potential guests don’t have mobile access to your church, you’re missing a huge—and rapidly growing—point of connection.

I suspect many of you are now thinking, “Yeah, right. Mobile Apps are great for churches with big budgets and huge communication teams. No way can we do this.”

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I am not a golfer, but I have many friends for whom golf is their vice of choice.  Therefore, I have learned what a mulligan is.  A mulligan is when a player gets a second chance to perform a certain move or action.  A horrible putt drops the ball into a gopher hole.  His kind friends allow a mulligan.  He gets a “do over” on the putt.

Having been a senior pastor, if I had it to do all over again, I’d ask for some mulligans.  I’m sure I could think of some in every area of ministry.  Today I’m thinking of the area of discipleship, and specifically stewardship.

Here are the five mulligans I’d take related to stewardship ministry:

1.  Create a generosity lead team instead of a stewardship committee.

I can’t tell you how many times I tried to resurrect a stewardship committee.  Resurrect is the right term, because the committee always seemed to find a way of dying.  And the only approach they knew how to take was to read a pretty stale book on stewardship and try to figure out what they were supposed to do as a committee.

If I could get a mulligan, I’d create a generosity lead team whose task would be to develop effective generosity strategies that would infiltrate every area of the church’s ministry.  The mindset of most stewardship committees is to merely oversee some kind of once-a-year stewardship emphasis that typically fell flat, didn’t excite anyone, and usually ended with the death of the committee.  Hence the need to annually resurrect it.

The generosity lead team’s primary function would be to develop a climate where contagious generosity would break out throughout the church.  Stewardship is often taught, but not caught.  Generosity—systemic generosity—captures the hearts and minds of people because it focuses on giving from and not giving to.  When a giver’s heart is convicted by the generosity of God, they want to look deep within themselves to see the source from which they can be generous too.

A generosity lead team would be the first mulligan in my plan.

2.  Normalize conversations about money in church.

I’m not totally sure why it is, but it’s sure difficult to talk about money in church.  Perhaps it’s because we are so afraid of hearing the dreaded statement, “All they every talk about here is money!”  So to avoid falling into the trap, we avoid the subject all together.  And in doing so, we make it nearly impossible to accelerate generosity among our people.

Generosity only becomes contagious when conversations about money can be had without fear of rolling eyes or turned up noses.  I’m not saying talk about where the church is regarding meeting their budget for the year and what the shortfalls are—far from it.  I’m suggesting that we regularly connect the dots between how the funds coming in impact ministries going out.  I never realized the impact of regularly connecting those dots.

Connecting the dots and normalizing the conversation is more than just talk.  Remember the adage, a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well, a video is worth 10,000 words.  And a video with a music background is worth 15,000 words.  Videos used to be expensive to produce in church.  I remember in the 1990s it was typical that a video produced by an outside vendor would run about $1,000 dollars per finished production minute.

How times have changed.  Almost everyone carries an HD video camera with them today.  Now there’s no excuse not to use video.  Take time to create videos that connect the dots and show the congregation how they are a part of the finished picture, and you’re well on the way to normalizing that money conversation.

If I could take a mulligan on that, I would regularly connect the dots, talk about and show the impact that our church’s resources have in our community and in our world.

The post Generosity Mulligans: Five Things I Would Do Over as a Senior Pastor (Part 1) appeared first on Generis.

I see a lot of church bulletins, or as some churches call them, worship guides.  Some aspects of a bulletin are common to most every church, and then there are some portions that are more specific to a church’s culture and history. It is always interesting for me to talk with the church staff to find out how their bulletin is actually put together—who makes the decisions as to what is and is not included?  Not surprisingly, in many cases various ministry departments want to get their information included.  Everyone wants their voice to be heard!

If we take a moment to step back and think about the purpose of the bulletin, it should help bring some clarity around some of our thoughts and decision making.  First, the bulletin is almost always used as a guide for the worship experience.  This might include listing the order of worship along with an outline of the sermon, or a white space for taking notes.

What else typically gets the most print in the bulletin?  Information!  Everything from church events to announcements to prayer requests to programming information, not to mention staff contact information.  In some cases, the information section is the largest section of the bulletin.  Ever wonder why some people are reading the bulletin and not listening to the sermon?  I’ve seen some bulletins that look and read like an infomercial.

Many bulletins only contain a guide to worship and information.  The communication experience is one-sided, only from the church to the receiver.  What about making the bulletin interactive?  What about including a tear-out section for the receiver to respond back to the church?  Wouldn’t it make sense to give the receiver a very simple way to communicate back using the same vehicle the church gave them?  Give the receiver the opportunity to respond by allowing them to share a prayer request, allowing them to express an interest in getting involved in serving or a small group, or perhaps having someone contact them.

So, where does generosity intersect with the bulletin?  Givers are looking for reasons to give to their church, and they are evaluating their giving decisions at least in part by the impact they believe their giving makes.  Oftentimes this evaluation process comes down to the giver regularly hearing and seeing stories of life change that touch their heart and move them to want to give (more).  The bulletin is a great place (though not the only place) where a story of life change can be shared on a regular basis.  Wouldn’t it be great if the receiver became so excited about reading stories of life change that this area of the bulletin became a highlight for them?  And they made it a priority to always read that area of the bulletin?  Many churches are experiencing great stories of life change—they simply don’t communicate them well or often.  Using your worship communication vehicle is an easy way to share stories and connect givers looking for reasons to give.  Sharing and celebrating stories of life change is key to helping develop a culture of generosity in your church.

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I can’t take credit for the idea—it was Amy’s.  She was always challenging all of us to take a closer look at the reasons behind why we do things and why we spend so much time worrying about our own lives instead of looking up and looking out to help someone else.  It originally came about one Saturday night when I was particularly upset.  A big disappointment had occurred in my seemingly important college life, and I would not stop obsessing over it.  Finally she grabbed our coats, grabbed my arm, and said, ”Come on, you’re coming with me.”  It was that night when she showed me the back of the Jewel and told me what we were going to do.  It was no heroic act or anything.  In fact, I’m pretty sure the Jewel employees rarely knew we were even there—because the trash seemed to pile up so frequently, and they’d just have to do it the next night anyway.  But we did it for ourselves.  It was so we could stop focusing on the things we think are the end of the world in our lives and the disappointments we thinkare going to matter forever, and humble ourselves for just a moment to gain a little perspective of why we were put on this earth.

I’m not sure why I remember those nights so clearly.  Maybe it’s because we did it, like, a bazillion times.  But they stick out more than mission trips, more than serving at homeless shelters, more than delivering Christmas baskets to every tollbooth person in the Chicagoland area.  I think it’s because of this dichotomy I always feel in the dilemma, “Is it about us, or is it not about us?”

As Christ followers we are called to lay down our lives for the mission of Christ—to seek those who are lost and help them find their way back to Him.  Forsaking all our own wants, thoughts and feelings, we are called to put the needs of others before our own.  It’s most definitely not about us.

But then I think of the work God does in this world and how He accomplishes it.  He accomplishes it through His people.  It’s not that He can’t accomplish His mission without us, but He chooses to accomplish it with us.  Our physical, emotional, relational and spiritual health is critical to our ability to follow Him and accomplish His mission.  So yeah, it is kind of about us in some ways.  And that is OK.

For me, those Saturday nights, Tuesday nights, and some Monday nights of picking up trash in the back of the Jewel had nothing to do with a ministry project. Absolutely no one knew we were doing it except us, and it was totally and completely all about humbling ourselves and remembering that our lives are about something bigger than our situations, bigger than our feelings, bigger than our disappointments—even bigger than our triumphs.  Our lives are about humbly serving our God.

Anyone who knows me knows that I think, breathe, study, bleed and dream about generosity.  I am fascinated by it, challenged by it, inspired by it and perplexed by it.  We so often think of generosity as this noble thing we do for someone else—whether that someone else is an organization, our church or another person.  As Christ followers, we seemingly do these generous acts in the name of God to bring glory to Him from our obedience and sacrifice.  And I believe that is true—it’s definitely true.  Generosity in the name of God for the mission of God brings glory to God.  Without a doubt.

But I ponder so often about this subject of freedom.  Freedom is a word that unfortunately got stuck with the Charismatics and Pentecostals when it may have been overdramatized to mean some sort of euphoric, out-of-control state in which our human minds have no reason.  (No offense whatsoever here to my Charismatic friends.  I too was a part of that camp just six or seven short years ago, so I get it.)  But freedom—true freedom—lies in this dichotomy we speak of, the tension between whether or not it is really about us.

What does it require of us to truly turn over our lives to God? Our time? Our money? Our relationships? What does that really mean?

It means nothing is out of the question.  Nothing.  It means no matter what entitlement we think we have because of whatever situation has happened to us, nothing excuses our ability to give it all to God.  Nothing.  It means we don’t get a “pass” just because of this or that, because of some earthly scenario that has caused it to be an inconvenience for us to serve God at this particular time.  No, I am afraid not.

But why are we so inclined to feel this way?  And why are we (yes, we as pastors are sometimes the worst) so inclined to quickly make excuses for people when they are in this “perceived inconvenience” and cause them to miss out on the joy and freedom that is generosity.  I’m not speaking solely of financial generosity here—though that is obviously one of the most sensitive to discuss and thus, in my opinion, the most impactful when released—but I am speaking of whole-life generosity.  A generosity of us.

See, it is about us.  It is about us living our lives in such a way that we aren’t caught up in what we may or may not get out of life, what we may think or feel on a particular day, what accomplishments of our own we did or didn’t make.  What would it look like if we lived tomorrow like we were called to a generosity of us? I’d love to see what would happen.

For me, I surely need to abandon some things that are standing in the way of generosity myself.  But I need others around me in order to do it.

So would you join me?  Humbly take out the garbage while no one is looking and open up your eyes to what God is asking of you.  It’s not about you but it is about you…it’s about us.

The post Freedom in Generosity: A Generosity of Us appeared first on Generis.

1. Inspire: Share how the funds were used, maybe by giving an illustration of the impact the church had in the life of an individual. Testimonials of ministry inspire.
2. Say thank you: Write a personal, handwritten note (maybe on the statement itself). You will be amazed at the positive results this will bring.
3. Inform: The personal statistical information is informative, and can be enhanced by presenting it with visual impact. Use this opportunity to share the actual financial picture of the church.

Make the statements come alive with Celebration and Thanksgiving. Your culture of generosity in your church will be enhanced. Generosity is contagious. Unleash the power.

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