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.