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!
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