GOING FOR YOUR ANNUAL CHECKUP

 

          Every year, I have a doctor’s appointment for a physical, blood work, tests; and a dentist appointment where my teeth are cleaned and x-rays are taken. In fact, today Steve’s and my house had a checkup of the heating system! Annual checkups are nothing new for most of us (even if we don’t look forward to them).

          Have you considered annual spiritual checkups? How about a spiritual checkup related to your finances? Money is actually part of your spiritual life, and can affect, positively or negatively, your spiritual life and your faith.

          Checking up your relationship with money is a good and important way to make sure that is a positive issue. Questions that I came across related to this include:

1. 1.   Do you ever worry about having enough or keeping what you have? Yes or no
2. 2.   Do you ever envy what others have or have been able to do because of what they have and you don’t? Yes or no
3. 3.   Do you get anxious about inflation and how it affects your savings and what you have set aside for retirement? Yes or no
4. 4.   Does your assessment of your personal value focus on what you earn? Yes or no
5. 5.   Does paying bills bring you stress? Yes or no
6. 6.   Has money been the focus of or source of an argument with a loved one? Yes or no
7. 7.   Do you spend more time during the day thinking about money then you do in prayer? Yes or no

          Be honest when you answer these questions. Don’t answer them the way you wish they could be, but answer them the way they are. When your doctor asks you questions during your physical like “do you exercise”, “do you smoke”, “how much do you drink”, “do you add salt to your food”? You’re supposed to answer the questions in truth, not in what you wish the answers were, or what the answers should be so your doctor isn’t mad at you. See, no matter was you answer, the tests the doctor performs during your physical will show the truth.

          These questions can function the same way as the tests that the doctor performs on you, if you’re honest.

• ·        If your blood pressure is high at the doctor’s office, then the doctor can guess that you are going out to eat too much or are adding salt to your food.
• ·        If the doctor listens to your lungs or does an x-ray and it shows something, then the doctor can guess that you are smoking.
• ·        If your sugar level is too high at the doctor’s office, then the doctor can guess that you might have a couple of drinks.
• ·        If your weight has gone up since the last time you were there, then the doctor can guess that you aren’t exercising.

          If you answer yes to any of these financial spiritual questions, then your relationship with money may be toxic and may need some work. Maybe you need to work on budgeting, or getting out of debt, or talk to a financial advisor, or do some financial classes.

          Treating the issues that the doctor finds during your physical ensures that your health remains good and that you have a healthy life.

          Treating the issues that a spiritual checkup of your finances means that your relationship with money doesn’t interfere with your relationship with God.

          Be honest; answer the questions; and then plan to make some changes, if needed.

          And do a checkup every year, because things change all the time!

         

 

                            TALKING ABOUT MONEY

 

          It seems like most of us see our pastors from behind the pulpit or somewhere in front of the church (or virtually from their living rooms!) talking. Of course, I know, there’s a lot more to the “job” of being pastor that talking, but for a lot of people that’s what they see!

          And that “talking” is only one way pastors share the Good News of Jesus Christ, share God’s love and the news of God’s grace. Mixed in with all that talking are hymns and prayers, music and offerings.

          But there is one topic that many pastors (and others) really, really hate to talk about. And that is money. I know, there are several topics that we were told shouldn’t be shared in “polite” company…politics, religion, money.

          But money is something that has to be talked about, especially in churches, and especially by our leaders. I had previously shared some questions from a generosity survey. (McKenzie, Scott, Generosity Rising (Abingdon Press, 2016)

                Four of those questions revolve around “talking” about money:

              1.   Does your pastor tithe and share his/her story with the congregation?

a.   No, and never talks about money

b.   We think so, but he won’t talk about it.

c.   Yes, and will talk about it in a general sense

d.   Yes, talks about it freely and openly

2.   Does your pastor talk about finances and giving?

a.   Can’t remember the last time

b.   For two or three weeks, but only during a financial campaign

c.   Regularly and throughout the yea

3.   Do your leaders give witness to their giving and why they give?

a.   Never

b.   Yes, but never anything very specific

c.   One a regular basis and on specific topics (tithing, electronic giving, debt, and so on)

4.  Do laypeople other than leaders give witness to their giving?

a.   Never

b.   Only during our financial campaign

c.   Regularly and year-round

          If you read these questions carefully, you’ll see that the questions are asking about pastors, leaders and non-leaders. No one person should be responsible for talking about money (or faith, or Scripture, or God, or Jesus)!

          And I really want to state for the record that talking about money is not all about how much goes in the offering plate (when we can have offering plates again!). It must be about our relationships with money, and how our relationships can enhance or interfere in our relationship with God.

          Jesus talked about money more than anything, even the Kingdom of God, and it wasn’t because Jesus thought money was the most important thing, but because Jesus knew that for some of us, money IS the most important thing.

• ·        When we believe that, our relationship with God suffers.
• ·        When we believe that, our being open to responding to the call of God suffers.
• ·        When we believe that, our relationships with family and friends will suffer.
• ·        When we believe that, our understanding of love and grace will suffer.

          If, as pastors and church leaders, we are too afraid to talk about money, then our people will suffer!

          We have many responsibilities and this is one of them. Talk about money (and what that really means).  Talk about your own stories and your own relationship with money; it will relate. Don’t limit yourself!

 

         

         

 

     GO AND TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN, AND IN THE

                STREET, AND IN YOUR CHURCH

 

          This is our third week talking about stewardship practices. We started with writing thank you notes to donors and asking people they like about your church and listening to the answers. This week, we’re going to talk about talking.

          So, from writing, to listening, to talking. But not just talking for the sense of talking, but telling stories of transformation, of lives impacted, Tell those stories over and over and over again.

          When I was young, I used to like to listen to stories read to me from books, and to hear stories about my parents and grandparents, where they’d share what it was like to be a kid “back in the day”.  Did you like to listen to stories too?

          Everyone does. Every one of us has stories to share, and every one of our churches has stories to share of how lives have been changed by the ministries of your church!

          We have to tell those stories. Why? Not just for the sake of talking, but because we are able to tell those stories. Those stories happened; those lives were impacted; ministry flourished...because of the generosity of past generations and of us!

          Every time we ell a story, we should also say thank you. The story happened because of you. Giving to my church = lives changed and transformed. That is something to be proud of.

          Don’t wait until “pledge time,” and don’t just tell the stories once in a while. Do it at least monthly. And don’t keep repeating the same story. Tell new stories. Lives should be being impacted and transformed and changed EVERY DAY because of what God is doing through you and in you and despite you, in your church!

          You can share stories in your newsletters, in emails, form the pulpit, during announcements, on bulletin boards, on Facebook---so many ways. Just like you shouldn’t focus on just one story, don’t focus on only one way of communicating. Different people learn differently. Different people hear differently.

          So GO AND TELL YOUR STORIES!

 

                  SECOND STEWARDSHIP PRACTICE 

                           ASKING AND LISTENING

 

          Last week, my blog started talking about practice relative to stewardship and good stewardship practices. Last week’s talked about writing thank you notes to donors. That is something that does take some action, like buying thank you cards and stamps, writing out the thank you notes and mailing them.

 

          This week’s practice concentrates on talking! Well, talking and listening. A good stewardship practice is to

·        Ask people what they like about your church

·        AND listen to their answers.

          We often THINK we know why people love our church, but do we really know? If we think we know, without actually asking, then we are simply ASSUMING we know the answer. And the answer could be wrong, and you know the rule about what the word assume means…about you and me!

          Well, Susan, that sounds pretty easy. I simply throw out a question. Tell me, Francis, why do you like the church? And Francis is going to tell you all about the good stuff (not the bad stuff, of course); and you’ll do this with lots of people in your congregation. And we’ll have all this information that we can use.

          Well, it’s not always that easy.

·        What if someone has something they are concerned about? Do they feel comfortable enough to share that?

·        What if they simply search something that they think you want to hear and share that?

          Instead of simply throwing out that really great question, consider starting with a prompt that will get them to tell you a story (or two):

·        When you look back over the entire time you’ve been here, tell me about the best experience you’ve ever had here?

·        What made it the best experience?

·        Who participated in it?

·        How did you feel about it?

·        What did you do as a result of that experience?

 

          Keep this in mind, though: don’t sound like you’re doing an interview, or present the entire list of questions and sit back. Start with the first prompt and then follow up depend on what they share.

          Other questions could include:

·        What do they value about the church?

·        What three wishes do they have for your church?

          Write down their answers; show them you’re serious about wanting to hear what they have to say. This isn’t busy work. You want to know and understand what they love about your church.

          And, you have to LISTEN! Ask follow-up questions that indicate that you are listening. People will tell you everything you need to know if you only listen to them.

 

                  ONE STEWARDSHIP PRACTICE

 

          I have written about generosity and stewardship over the past several months. I want to spend the next few blogs talking about stewardship practices.

          That’s right! Practice. Just like, if you want to become good at football (it is Super Bowl week!), you need to attend regular football practice, learning how to kick, throw, catch and block. If you want to become good at singing, you need to attend practice, where you learn how to breath, how to carry a tune, how to use the gift you’ve been given in the best way possible. Practice helps you to better the gifts and talents you have, to the betterment of yourself, the team, watchers and listeners.

          Stewardship practices are a little different. You don’t practice stewardship so that your stewardship becomes better…exactly. Practices are those things you do to transform your stewardship efforts and the church. Without these practices, your stewardship and your church will suffer.

          So, the first practice I want to talk about is “thanking.” It seems so easy. We say thank you when someone holds the door open for us, or we receive a gift… Or do we? I have to say, I’ve worked with quite a few churches on their stewardship theology and work, and once the stewardship campaign is over, or pledge cards have been received, or bills are able to be paid, we kind of drop the ball (a football/Super Bowl analogy??) We don’t really say thank you. Sometimes, we’ll put a line or two in the bulletin or a monthly newsletter saying “To each of you who responded, thank you.”

          That’s a start. If you’re not even doing that, you aren’t even at the tee, much less at the kick off or even really in the game.

          Make sure you make that general thank you, but don’t stop there.

·        Send thank you letters out to the folks who responded to your requests

·        Send handwritten notes (not everyone every week—but select a few people and send notes weekly). This is not a job for just one person. Pastor, Finance Committee, etc. should be participating. You don’t need to know HOW MUCH someone gave, just that they gave SOMETHING.

·        Say thank you on the quarterly giving statements (as well as telling the story of a life impacted that quarter).

·        Say thank you EVERY WEEK during offering time.

          Offering wasn’t always about the money in the early years of the church; it was about offering self back to God.