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Wednesday, December 7, 2022

 

                                            ANNUAL CAMPAIGNS #3

 

            I’ve talked about three important factors for donors, two important ideas about money, and talking about money throughout the year.

            It seems really difficult to talk about money, doesn’t it? Especially because church leaders asking for money seems closely related to the church leader’s income!



            While we are, of course, asking folks to pay the costs of the ministry and mission of the church, which often includes cost of staff and building, etc., making a fund-raising speech needs to be very different from preaching about generosity.  A fund-raising speech is aimed to boost contributions by convincing people to give money for a purpose, and while that sounds like what we do in church, it actually has to go much deeper than that.


            Preaching about generosity is “relating to others about God’s presence, purpose, and power in one’s life and in the life of the all of humanity!”[1] Giving shouldn’t be a response to whether someone likes the pastor or not, or whether the sermon is a “good one”, but needs to a liturgical response to God, not an up or down vote for the leader.

            The invitation is focused on the donor’s own generosity and the impact of what the contribution does. Giving and generosity is a spiritual practice, just like prayer and Scripture reading and worship.


            I’ve said it before; I’m going to say it again; and I’m sure I’ll say it again multiple times, but giving and generosity HAS to be focused on the need of the givers to give, not on the need of the church to receive!

            So, I’m going to repeat what I said last week: let’s talk about generosity, not money! Generosity is part of being a disciple, and if we ignore it, so our folks ignore it, then our disciples aren’t maturing in their discipleship!

            Giving and generosity is intertwined into our mission and who we are as Christians!

            Next week, I’ll share some additional thoughts on this same topic.

Please feel free to contact me at (315) 427-3668 or susanranous@unyumc.org if you’d like to talk about mission and money in your local church. I have some great ideas to help you understand where you are and where you’re going, and how to help your folks discuss and embrace generosity!

 



[1] Rev. Dr. Teresa Fry Brown, Bandy Professor of Preaching at Emory University.

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