by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Sep 5, 2023
How do you talk about money in your church? Talking about money is not always easy. This sensitive topic often gets brushed under the rug in the church. The truth is that we need to have conversations about money if we want to keep our churches running. It’s important to be willing to talk about finances openly and honestly. But how do you do it? How do you break the silence? In this blog post, I will give you four practical ways to talk about money in your church.
Align the Giving with the Mission
People want their gifts to have an impact. That’s why being able to connect giving to your church’s mission is essential. Talk about how money will be used and how it will help fulfill your church’s vision. Share stories of the people who will benefit from generosity and show how gifts are making a difference in the lives of others. By aligning your congregation’s giving with the church’s mission, you can engage people deeper and create an environment where giving fulfills God’s purpose. This strongly resonates with individuals who prefer bold and impactful actions, as it emphasizes the significant impact of their giving.
Invite People to Be Generous
Generosity is essential to being a Christian, but it’s not always easy to talk about. One way to break the ice is to invite people into a conversation about generosity. Talk about what it looks like in their life and how they can cultivate a spirit of giving. Don’t be afraid to preach about it from the pulpit and discuss how God calls us to be generous with our resources. Promote giving as a form of worship, emphasizing the boundless grace bestowed upon us by God. Showing gratitude for all donations or gifts can encourage people to be generous. Saying thank you and expressing appreciation for monetary contributions helps create a culture of giving. Make it a daily practice to express gratitude by sending thank you notes for all donations and gifts received.
Be Transparent About Your Church’s Finances
A lack of transparency is one of the most significant barriers to discussing money. Many churches are hesitant to share financial details with their congregations, which can lead to mistrust and uncertainty. One way to break through this barrier is to be transparent about your church’s finances. Share your budget, financial reports, and any financial struggles. Being open and honest can build trust and encourage people to get involved. Transparency is particularly helpful when communicating with more analytical and detail-oriented members. It helps foster a sense of ease and openness when discussing financial matters. It’s one thing to be transparent about your church’s finances but another to ensure financial information is easily accessible and understandable. Think about how you can present financial reports in a way that people can understand and appreciate. Create clear visuals such as graphs or charts to make it easier for people to digest the information.
Stability Matters
It’s essential to make sure that your church is financially stable. This may involve making tough decisions, such as cutting expenses or implementing a fundraising campaign. It’s essential to talk about these changes openly and honestly so people understand the importance of financial stability. Apart from cutting back, many within your church may want to support the church community’s stability, legacy, and work. This could be done by setting up endowment funds that allow future generations to have financial stability. Surprisingly, this may not even be just your members, but community members who cannot imagine their society without your church. The use of planned giving programs is also a powerful way to help secure the long-term financial health of your church. These programs allow individuals to make more significant gifts, such as bequests, that can impact your church’s financial stability. Educate your congregation about these options and how they can get involved in making an even more significant difference.
Your next step about money can be difficult, but this doesn’t have to be. You can start talking about money in a meaningful way that helps engage and empower your church community. So don’t be afraid to break the silence!
While we all understand the complexities and challenges of addressing finances within the local church, it’s essential to recognize that you play a part in reducing these barriers and facilitating smoother financial operations. In my three-year award-winning leadership coaching program, Creating a Culture of Renewal®, participants are equipped with practical strategies to overcome financial hurdles and foster a culture of open dialogue and shared responsibility. Your participation has the potential to inspire impactful change within your church community. Not only that, giving goes up 2-10 times the cost of participation in Creating a Culture of Renewal®. Reach out to learn more.
Discussing financial matters is never a simple task, but I am confident that these strategies yield fruitful results.
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by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Nov 9, 2015
It’s not the person who collects the money, counts the money or deposits the money. It’s not the person who heads up the annual campaign or chooses a stewardship theme. It’s not the person who tallies or takes the spiritual gifts inventory, or who pledges their time, talents, and treasure to the church. All of this is important. But none of it is the most important stewardship job. In fact, this particular job has nothing to do with money.
Last week I met with the person who has THE job in question. He didn’t know it at the time. Neither did I. But as we plumbed the depths of his job description, it quickly came to light.
There it was in black and white: his job was to be the steward of the vision for the entire region for his denomination. He was to make sure that the vision was kept alive, interpreted, and implemented. That’s the most important stewardship job, ever. Except, of course, for the person who holds that position in your congregation.
What’s this have to do with money, you ask? The prophet is quick to remind us that without a vision the people perish. What the prophet doesn’t mention is even more dire: without a vision, hope and purpose perish, financial support dries up, and the congregation itself withers and dies. That leaves a heartbreaking vacuum in the center of your community. All that you once provided—prayer, love, compassion, acceptance, small group ministry, meeting space, communal worship, friendship, potlucks, a listening ear, help for people far and near—is now gone. People are less likely to give money to support a budget than they are to support a Kingdom-oriented vision. That makes the steward of the vision the most important stewardship job ever.
So who stewards the vision in your congregation? Who is responsible for its existence, interpretation and implementation? Who is making sure that the vision guides all that you do? These are important questions for every congregation to answer. Denominations as whole, regional bodies, and non-profits would be wise to pose this question, too.
If you can’t name a person or a team whose responsibility it is to steward the vision, then consider the following two options. Either vision so naturally arises in your congregation that it doesn’t need a specific home. Or, vision has been long forgotten.
If it’s alive and well, pause to acknowledge the visionaries among you. Then look throughout your structures, meetings, and results to make sure that the vision is actually getting implemented. If it is, celebrate! You are a gifted, focused, and results-oriented bunch. You get things done. It’s probably time for you to come up with your next vision! Keep the momentum going.
If vision has been long forgotten in your setting, it’s time to get to work. Pronto. There’s no time to lose. Likely, your congregation has shrunk, giving has shrunk, and you are more concerned with maintenance than mission, comfort than outreach, and paying the bills than making a real difference in the world. You may not know it, but you’re living on borrowed time. These are the kind of congregations most likely to flounder and close.
How do you start? Decide that it’s time to get off life-support and back into the stream of life. Then, re-establish the most important stewardship job ever. How? Prayerfully task a team with creating a vision. Keep in mind that a vision is uncomfortable. It expands whatpeople think is possible. It pushes you to accomplish something you haven’t yet done. It’s not the re-statement of ministries or activities you are already doing. That means it’s bold, forward-thinking, and probably scary. But it is worth giving your time, talents and treasure to. Be sure to give the visioning team the leadership, time, resources, respect and prayer support they’ll need to begin the process. Lastly, get on board with it. Work together to prayerfully, purposefully communicate and implement the vision. Without it, everything perishes.
Not sure what a vision is or how to establish or implement it? Contact me to discover if Creating a Culture of Renewal is the right option for you. New groups are starting in 2016.
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jul 20, 2015
At a recent clergy retreat I attended, we prayed a prayer that went something like this: “O Lord, keep us far from the riches of the world.” Each of us was sincere in our prayers.
Later it occurred to me that God is indeed answering that prayer! Many churches find that money is their limiting factor. I’m going out on a limb here. But I don’t think it’s because these churches are full of poor people. It’s because they act poor.
I don’t believe this is a theologically necessary state of affairs.
Jesus had a trade. So did his disciples. His later apostles did as well. When Jesus and his disciples were traveling, they were richly supported by a network of women who financed their material needs.
While the author of 1 Timothy 6:10 writes, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” we sometimes act as though money itself is the root of evil. The truth is money is simply a tool through which we express our values.
What if we were to pray that God direct the riches of the world to us and through us to bring about healing, reconciliation, justice and wholeness in our communities and world? I wonder what might happen then?!
We need a new consciousness around money—one that allows us to be honest about our needs and the unlimited God we serve. Money is not in short supply. But if we believe it is, we will act, and ask, accordingly.
The most awkward moment in many church services comes when the offering plates are passed. Rarely is an inspirational invitation to give offered. Instead, code language, which only church insiders understand, may be used. Ushers themselves are often under-trained in actually passing plates to the people. Many a time I’ve wanted to put something in an offering plate but it never made it to me. It’s almost as if the ushers are apologetic about bringing the plate around. Music may play during the offering. But this offertory music is not connected with the offering of our financial gifts or our lives. Sometimes I wonder if it’s real function is to distract from the the embarrassing matter of collecting money. Finally, people stand while the doxology is sung.
Money makes the world go ’round. And churches need it as much if not more than other organizations. We have holy business to attend to: acts of justice, works of mercy, support of denominational initiatives, paying the salary and benefits of leaders, mortgages, heat, light, etc.
So why these mixed messages about money? Why awkward silences and the lack of clear direction or invitation? The truth is, many people want to express their gratitude to God, yet they don’t participate in the offering.
Here are 5 reasons why:
1. We don’t ask them to give. Yes, this may allow us to avoid awkward moments that make it seem like the church is “all about money.” But we also sidestep teaching moments, miss the opportunity for spiritual formation of life-long givers and don’t give people a way to express their gratitude. Worse, we hinder spiritual growth.
2. We ask them to give to the budget, but not to mission or ministry. Thus they don’t connect their giving with transformational activity. Don’t highlight the building or leadership salaries. Instead, highlight what buildings and salaries make possible!
3. We don’t ask for enough. Have you ever noticed that some people are only deeply motivated to give when challenged? If the “ask” isn’t big enough, they won’t bother giving. Are you asking for enough to get the attention of these givers? If not, you are blocking their spiritual growth, and the church’s ministry.
4. We have lost our vision for ministry and our passion for mission. They can tell the church is in maintenance-mode or a downward spiral. In one church I served, we redirected “the Pennies from Heaven” offering from paying off the mortgage to specific missional opportunities. Giving increased dramatically. Same people. Bigger offerings. They were jazzed by the vision and passion.
5. We don’t ask God to fully, richly, lavishly fund our ministries. Again, it’s that awkward relationship with money. And with vision.
We have not because we ask not. It’s time to start asking: inspirationally, invitationally, intentionally. Stop making excuses for why our churches are poor. Instead, it’s time to open ourselves to all the gifts God wants to bless us with. Acting poor won’t get it done.
