HOW IS YOUR CHURCH’S GIVING?

            In my last blog, I talked about Fall Stewardship Season and discussion and prayer around stewardship, discipleship and generosity.

            I wanted to take another step, as you prepare for your fall stewardship, to look at actual giving in your church.

            I encourage you to take these conversations about generosity and prayer seriously as you plan your stewardship plans for this coming fall!

            Have the financial secretary “run” a report/spreadsheet showing the different people’s giving. You don’t need names for this, just the amount given by each “giving unit.” Then sort the list from small to large (or large to small). Are there a few big givers that cover a large percentage of your annual budget? Are most givers really small? Or is there a large spread over many givers?

            Depending on what you find can help you understand how people may view giving in your church.

            The other thing that can be helpful to your folks, no matter what level they are giving at, is a stair diagram. You’ve seen them. Each step on the stairs is a different level of giving. What amounts you assign to each step will depend on how people are actually giving at your church. You don’t want any step to be too small or too big. It needs to be helpful for people to view their own giving with what is needed to do God’s work at your church. It also helps people take a step or two up without feeling overwhelmed with that decision. You can do annual steps like he example below, or do monthly, or weekly numbers, whichever is most helpful.

            Try this and see where people are currently and where they might be able to grow into.

 

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org with any thoughts or questions.

 

                                                    STEWARDSHIP SEASON

            Well, it’s that time of year when (1) churches re-open after the summer (😊); and we ready ourselves for our fall stewardship campaigns.

            I know, I know, stewardship should be a year-round “thing”. However, even if your church is pretty good about discussing stewardship and discipleship year-round, you should still have a focus on the monetary part of stewardship in the fall.

            No matter how you approach stewardship, I strongly encourage you not to do what you’ve always done before. You know what I mean: write a letter, send out a pledge card and have the pastor preach a time or two.

            Talk about generosity and what that means, in terms of time, service, worship, and, yes, money. Spend some time looking at your congregation and at y9oru givers. Is your congregation full of givers, or are there just a few givers? Are your givers all in the lower end with just a few large givers? Do you have tithers? Have you discussed planned giving and have a plan in place?

            These are all important questions and could help you take a “good” pledge campaign and make it a “great” stewardship campaign. Grow stewards and disciples. It’s not about the budget; it’s about the people!

            I encourage you to take these conversations about generosity and prayer seriously as you plan your stewardship plans for this coming fall!

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org with any thoughts or questions.

 

                                 HAVING TROUBLE SLEEPING?

            Do you sometimes have trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep at night?

            Do you find that it’s more difficult when you’re facing a difficult decision? Do you

·         Count sheep

·         Pray

·         Pace

·         Cry

            Author Tom Melzoni in A Generous Life said his father would say “pray the night through until you find peace!”       

            I don’t know about you, but it’s very hard to find peace in the dark of night, even when praying. In times like this, you may be dealing with financial debt, buying a new home, changing jobs, or maybe even figuring out your own generosity.

 

            Author Melzoni said this in his devotion, which really resonated with me: “Prayer deepens our well of generosity. Giving comes from deep within us. Praying enables us to connect with God and listen for God’s will.”

            I think this sounds a lot different than how we normally handle stewardship, doesn’t it. Often we approach stewardship as a way to pay the church’s bills, but the prayer, the listening to God part of stewardship is a minimal part of our stewardship.

            I encourage you to take these conversations about generosity and prayer seriously as you plan your stewardship plans for this coming fall!

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org with any thoughts or questions.

 

                                          A NUDGE OR A FLICK?

            When I’ve discussed listening to God, I talk about what I like to call the “Holy Flick”. What’s that you ask? I don’t know if you ever experienced someone flicking you on the forehead—maybe to get your attention or maybe to inquire what you might have been thinking? Not something we really appreciate, is it?

            So what is a Holy Flick? That’s what I picture when there are the times when I chose not to listen to God, or to even push back against God. I pictured his listening to all my arguments and then giving me a flick on the forehead to say “are you listening?”

            In reading one of the daily devotions in “A Generous Life-28 Days of Devotion”, I read something that struck me. I was written by Sanford D. Coon. The title of that day’s devotion is “The Divine Nudge”. The devotion said “it dawned on him that he was focused on himself, not on God or the provisions that God persistently makes for him. That’s how God expresses his love for me, he realized.” The devotion went on to quote fourteenth-century Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart: “And suddenly you know: it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

            As we are about half-way through our summer, and, hopefully, are thinking and planning for the fall’s stewardship campaigns in our churches, how is God nudging us toward something new? How can we focus on God and not on ourselves.

            I encourage you to consider these questions and find a way to ask your folks these questions as well? What is God calling us to? Are we ignoring the nudge and the flick?

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org

 

                         EXPRESSING GRATITUDE

            So how are we at expressing gratitude? I’d like to think that when someone gives me something or expresses something positive, that I say thank you. But I don’t know that I really do that. I think I’m more inclined, when someone compliments me to say “oh this old thing—I’ve had this top forever or do you need new glasses?” Also, when someone gives me a gift, I feel guilty receiving it and immediately start to think what to give the person in return, instead of just saying (and meaning) thank you.

            Completely the opposite of how we sometimes approach gratitude, there’s Paul. He new hardship, imprisonments, stoning, shipwrecks, beatings, hunger, but he wrote, while he was imprisoned the following words: 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

            Have we considered being content in what we have and thankful for what we’ve received?

            How are folks in your church. Are they expressing gratitude and thanksgiving? Look around. Who is giving their:

·         Time

·         Groceries for the hungry

·         Service on committees

·         Their spiritual gifts

·         Their financial gifts

            Too often we are too focused on the negative and ignore the positive. It’s that way in our lives, and it’s that way in our churches.

 

Look around and see what God is providing. Be thankful. Express gratitude.

 

Feel free to contact me at sranousacctg@twcny.rr.com or susanranous@unyumc.org