PREPARE FINANCIALLY FOR THE FUTURE #3

            During the last two weeks, I’ve written about basing your Ministry Spending Plan (a/k/a your budget) on the vision of your church, and about making a plan of sustaining ministry, based on ministry today and tomorrow.

            This week I want to take that a step further, and discuss high-capacity donors. I know, often when I speak of stewardship, I speak about ALL the nuances of stewardship, not just on money. But, of course, generosity and giving is a spiritual discipline. Is it part of your intentional discipleship plan? I hope so, because disciples can’t be maturing disciples if they are not giving back to God.

            When I talk about high-capacity donors, I am not necessarily talking about the people giving the biggest checks. I’m talking about financial leaders, leaders in ministry, high capacity.

            But the check isn’t the point, and it shouldn’t be the end result. We need to identify, engage and disciple them. What if you cultivated the desire of folks to give and give generously by being intentional about building a financial leader ministry?

            It is about building authentic relationships with those donors. Don’t be surprised if when you’ve formed those relationships, you find that giving to the church isn’t at the top of their list. And that’s all on us!

            Work on those discipleship plans and on nurturing maturing disciples!

 

Please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or susanranous@unyumc.org if you’d like to discuss linking stewardship and discipleship.