Generous Living

Posted on August 14, 2012 Written by
  • My daughter participated in Relay for Life a few weeks ago. This event is put on by the American Cancer Society to raise funds for cancer research.
  • Last week, my church had a yardsale to raise money for youth to go on a mission trip.
  • A couple of months ago a friend participated in St. Baldricks – an event during which people will shave their heads to raise money for cancer research.
  • Every time I go to Starbucks, they give me the opportunity to buy a mosquito net for $10 for give a few dollars for some cause.

Every week I’m given the opportunity to be generous – to give a few dollars to people or a cause that is worthy of financial support. There are countless ones that don’t deserve your money or time – it is up to the donor to do his/her due diligence to ensure that the cause is worthy. But for the ones that are worthy, how are you giving to them. More importantly, is “generous living” part of your nature?

A few years ago Oprah interview some poeple who came into sudden wealth. Some were lottery winners and others were actors. All said they were mobbed by family and friends who wanted/needed money. The bottom line that everyone agreed with is that sudden wealth magnifies your innate personality: if you are stingy, you will be even more stingy with your money; if you are innately generous, you will be even more generous with your new money.

Children learn more by watching than by listening to their parents. If they see their elders being generous, I want to believe that these youngsters will grow up being generous (that is a hope of mine, I don’t know that there is any documentation to prove that). I’ve seen that lived out many, many times in individual situations – youth will be naturally generous because that is what they were taught by their parents.

All of us can be examples of daily generosity to individuals and causes. All of us need the practice of being more generous. All of us should be examples of generosity to the next generation. Generosity is not just about money, but also about your time, your skills, your expertise, your wisdom – its about being generous with YOU!

What are you doing to live out generosity? Do you take advantage of those opportunities that literally come across your path or do you ignore them? Do you research the causes that are requesting money or do you ignore them or give them a token gift instead of really digging?

Then, when you are living out your generosity, do you tell others about the neat cause or purpose? Make sure your motivation is pure – don’t tell others to get them to applaud you, tell others because you want them to be aware of how they can help, too.

Make generosity part of your DNA. Make it so that when other people talk about you, the word “generous” is used countless times. Make “a generous person” the words that should be on your tombstone.

Why do this?

  • If you are a follower of Christ, you’ll be generous because God was and is generous and you are commanded to be generous (you have absolutely no other option).
  • If you are not a follower of Christ, do it because there is no downside to being generous. When is the last time you heard someone get criticized for being “too generous?”

Give. Be generous in all you do, every day, so that people will automatically presume you will be wisely generous.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: generosity Tagged:

Electronic Donations

Posted on July 31, 2012 Written by

Making donations or gifts without using checks or cash is increasingly routine and within a few years will become the norm for many churches (but not all – some churches will fight this tooth and nail). There are a lot of ways to give electronically – let me list a few:

  • Bank Drafts
    • Bank drafts have been around for a couple of decades or more. This is where you authorize your bank to send money to the bank account of an organization (either at your bank or even another bank). It is easy to do but the donor has little control over the situation and gets reports only from the bank statement or from the organization sending the donor a contribution statement. This system is okay, but antiquated.
    • I work with a church that has been using this system for many years. Each month, almost 10% of their budget comes in this way. The fees are very low and the church gets most of the money, too.
  • Online Giving
    • In the past 10-15 years online giving has become quite the rage – as it should be. Younger generations don’t carry cash or even plastic – they “keep” their money in their phones or other electronic devices. They want to be able to go to a website where they can readily and easily give money to the organization they wish to support. This is a very good way to support your church and every church should have an electronic giving portal.
    • Credit card fees range from 2.30% to as high as 5% of the total gift and debit cards are typically much less. These fees should be considered part of the “cost of doing business.” In general, the easier it is for people to donate, the more people and the more donations will be received which will offset the fees. http://www.serviceu.com/ or http://www.e-giving.org/ are good companies that know churches and can provide solutions.
  • Giving Kiosk
    • About 10 years ago the idea was born of a computer station in the lobby of the church where people could give by either swiping a credit card or going to a website to give money. This is very neat – Stu Baker with http://www.securegive.com/ can show anyone their product which was developed by his father, a pastor in Georgia.
    • This kiosk provides great flexibility to the donor who can set up a one-time or recurring gift (just like in online giving), but it also gives the donor the option to swipe a credit or debit card by which means that personal data is transferred to the account and that makes it even easier for the donor. I very much like the idea of giving kiosks.
    • A colleague of mine even dreamed up a “kiosk-lite” by finding an old computer and monitor, connecting them to the internet and programming the PC so that it would only stay on their churches E-giving website and never go anywhere else.
  • Texting Service
    • After natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti in 2011, several organizations advertised where people could text money. This is a very simple method for people to donate money to their favorite cause – the problem is that most of the organizations that coordinate these apps have amounts of $5 and $10 – nothing more. I’d like for there to be an “unlimited” category where people put in their own amounts. I read in June 2012 where they are exploring increasing the amount that can be given to $20 (this is negotiated with the cell phone companies).
    • This is very convenient but it limits how generous people can be. If I want to give $100, I don’t want to tap my phone 10 times (at $10 per time) to give money. I very much like this concept, I just want it to be less restrictive.
  • QR Code
    • A QR code is that square made up of hundreds of very small black and white squares. QR codes are free. What they do is to activate the web browser on a portable device (phone, tablet, etc.). Every QR code is linked to a specific website. Linking your QR code to your churches giving website allows people to navigate to that site immediately.
    • A friend of mine created the QR code for his church and now places the QR image in every Sunday bulletin. As the offering is passed, people can pull out their smartphones, scan the code, and give as much as they want.
    • This is ultimate flexibility – it puts the donor in total control of when, where, how much, and to what he or she is giving. People can take the document with the QR code and use it later or save the destination of the QR code for later referral.

Additional benefits to electronic giving:

  • There is the well-documented fact that online giving is pretty much impervious to Sundays where the church is closed due to weather (snow, hurricanes, etc.) and tithing declines due to vacations and holidays. The internet is never closed due to weather and it never takes a vacation or is sick.
  • What is less well-known is how much online giving will make it easier for people (guests and regular attendees) who want to give who don’t have cash or a check with them that Sunday. If they could, they would give – but they left their money at home. No one leaves home without their smartphone!
  • An insurance agent told me the church’s premium will decrease because of the reduced exposure since there is less cash on hand (fewer dollars that could be stolen). That is a good but hidden benefit!
  • Online giving is becoming the norm – society is teaching people how to buy things online and make them feel comfortable with it. Since the marketplace is already doing the education to/for church members, churches can piggyback on this and leverage this knowledge for the church’s benefit through its online giving.
  • Donors can keep track of their contributions themselves. People can see what they’ve given to and what they haven’t supported (yet). This will help the church’s Finance Office by having donors more informed and even be able to print out their own statements of contribution as they need.
  • It also makes it easy for the church to send an email to everyone who has donated online which can result in increased communication between the church and members, especially donors.
  • Also, it might help the Finance Office. Some online giving sites interface with church financial software so that online gifts can be imported directly to the member’s database. That will update the financial portion of a member’s record and help the church keep track of all contributions by that person.

There are lots of ways to leverage online giving. Wise churches will be looking at ways to maximize the number of ways to receive gifts and to make it easier for donors to give. If you make it hard, then you’ll be on hard times. Make it easy for people to give – use the KISS principle: “Keep It Simple, Stupid!”

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church finances, church financial statements, generosity, young adults Tagged: , , ,

Generosity Not Just Tithes

Posted on April 27, 2012 Written by

For years I’ve struggled with the idea of tithing. Yeah, I know all about the verses in the Bible about tithing and why and when and whether you tithe on gross or net and all those other things about tithing. Yes, tithing is a critical component of Old Testament theology and practice. Yes, tithing is important for children to understand and it is easy enough for anyone who can move a decimal point to get as to how much they should give back to God. Tithing is for children – not for grown-ups.

I don’t like tithing. Never have. Never will. There – I’ve said it. I don’t think tithing should be the basis for adult stewardship education in Christian churches. We’re beyond that. Actually, we’ve been beyond that for about 2,000 years – I’ll prove it. Here’s my premise – let’s stop teaching tithing to adults and really, really teach GENEROSITY.

Tithing is the first step in giving back to God. I think most adults stop at that point and never progress beyond tithing. What Jesus teaches and lives out is much, much more than tithing – it is generosity and that is what God wants and expects from each of us, not just tithing. Too often tithing can end up being a scorecard – yep, done my 10%. God doesn’t want just 10%, he wants more; he wants us to step out in faith and dependence on him. While tithing has a place, I don’t think it is enough for a mature Christian.

Tithing is mentioned in the New Testament three times.

  • Matthew 23.23 and Luke 11.42: Jesus roundly condemns the Pharisees for being sanctimonious and legalistic, even in their tithing on minutae but forgetting the big picture.
  • Luke 18:12: Jesus mocks a Pharisee who keeps all the commandments, even tithing and fasting, but is less justified before God than a miserable tax collector.
  • Hebrews 7.2-6: Paul tells the story of Abraham’s encounter with Melchizidek and the tribute, a tithe, that Abraham gave. Paul is citing history and not writing theology.

Jesus himself didn’t have anything good to say about tithing because the Pharisees had made a mockery of it. Like so many other things that the very human Pharisees “legalized” to death, Jesus didn’t argue the point but instead came at it from another direction. Jesus emphasized generosity at every turn.

  • He fed 5,000 men (plus women and children) – now that’s generous!
  • He brought people back to life and healed people with disablities
  • He taught people like they’d never been taught before
  • He gave of himself till he was exhausted from the crowds
  • He died as the ultimate sacrifice and sign of generosity

In fact, the only instance I can find (based on my memory, mind you) of God being selfish is God’s demand that humans not worship anyone else (including money). That’s it. All the other words spoken by God relate to his giving nature and generous spirit. God does chastize people for their selfishness and spiritual immaturity but otherwise God is all about giving – from creating Eden (Genesis) to creating heaven (Revelation).

How does this translate to our churches today? Glad you asked!

Teach tithing to children. There are fundamental principles in tithing and of the relationship between what we have (time, talent, and treasure) and how those gifts should be given back to God. By all means, teach tithing to minors. But from middle school age kids up to 120 year olds, tithing takes a back seat to generosity. Big G is now the ruler – nothing trumps generosity. Tithing has the pitfall of becoming a scorecard – generosity has no negative connotations!

Well, how much is generosity? It is giving of all that you have in a way that makes you feel like you are indeed imitating God. Paul commended the Philippians for their eagerness to be generous; he taught the Corinthians the basis of generosity. Even Paul, that legalistic first century Christian, never focused on tithing but always on being generous. Imitate God in giving things away.

Generosity for some is just 1%,  for others it is 50%. For most of us it falls in the 5%-20% of our income. Generosity is not about keeping score of how much you’ve given away – as if you could ever compete with God, ha! Generosity is about seeing how much you can rely on God by imitating him in giving away anything and every thing you have. Let me challenge you to look at everything you have and ask if you’d be willing to give it away tomorrow if asked for it.

I challenge pastors and educators to start the conversation with tithing but to move quickly to generosity and ask yourself, “Am I being generous? Or stingy?” Stinginess is not a Christian concept – generosity is. And I can assure you that if every Christian lived up to his own definition of “generous” – the world would be utterly amazed. Teach, live, and love generously and generosity – and watch things change!

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: generosity Tagged:

Outrageous Generosity

Posted on February 12, 2012 Written by

Generosity is one of my favorite words because it so describes God’s nature. Actually, outrageous generosity is a much better descriptor. Think about – humans have offended and humiliated God in every possible way yet his response is pure love. What’s up with that? It’s a good thing humans are created in God’s image because if God had a human image, then God would react in a vengeful way and who could blame him after they way humans have treated him?

So, let me encourage you to think about God’s Outrageous Generosity. Actually, do more than think about it. I challenge you to do a sermon (or sermon series) on this topic. And the best time to start with it is Easter Sunday 2012. Take the month of April and preach on this subject and challenge your listeners to “be imitators of God,” the person in whose image they were created.

Humans are born with two life-sustaining instincts (something that every human baby does): grasping (taking hold) and sucking (taking in). God’s instinct is to give everything away (read the Bible, you’ll see that pretty soon). The greatest example of how God personified Outrageous Generosity was on Good Friday on a cross – Jesus opened his hands for the spikes and his arms for the cross and died for all humanity. That’s OUTRAGEOUS!

Now, how can you be generous, even outrageously generous?

  • In your personal life
    • Be generous by spending more time with your kids helping with their homework
    • Be generous with the time you give your spouse; go on a date once a month and a weekend away at least once a year
    • Be generous with other generations: call your parents or kids in college at least once a week
    • Be generous with yourself: take your family on a memorable vacation – you need to get away from work and be with the ones who love you and whom you love
    • Be generous in creating memories. Every present you give on Christmas morning will end up in a landfill but the memories you give them will last a lifetime!
  • In your professional life
    • Be generous with the credit at work: give someone else credit for a job even though you did 90% of the work
    • Be generous with someone else’s career: let someone else get a promotion
    • Be generous with your words of praise: encourage someone talented to start their own business or go for a new career
  • In your pocketbook
    • Be generous in how you give, not just how much. Think long and hard about the recipients and even do some homework by calling, visiting, and even studying the financial records of the organizations who get your money
    • Be generous with why you give. In the US we get a tax break for our gifts but that shouldn’t be the reason for giving. While giving benefits other people, giving actually benefits you far more because it makes you wrestle personally with the amount and recipient of your hard-earned cash. Get the right motivation for giving and a tax-break (more money for you) is not a good enough reason.
    • Be generous with when you give. Yes, you can wait till you die and leave everything in your will. That’s kind of like saving all the Christmas presents and giving them away in your will. Isn’t the greatest gift of Christmas morning seeing the joy in others when they open a gift from you. Give NOW so that you can see the joy that others experience.
    • Be generous with how much you give. Believe me, you won’t miss it.
  • In your faith
    • Be generous with the knowledge that every person is searching for God. Humans by nature seek God (we’ve never found chimpanzees worshiping or creating any type of religious icon!) – that makes us unique among all animal (every single human culture on earth has some form of faith).
    • Be generous in your own search. Most people inherit a faith from their parents. I believe a faith that isn’t questioned isn’t a faith worth having. Ask hard questions even if it means wondering about the foundations of your faith. And when you have solid answers, hold on to that faith
    • Be generous in asking others about their own faith. It’s a tough conversation but if you care about someone, it’s a necessary one. Everyone is seeking something; encourage that search.
    • Be generous with God. You may have questions about God and you may not like him at all for a bunch of reasons. But God can say the same thing about you and yet he loves being with you. Why not give God a chance and spend some time together?
Lead On!
Filed Under: budget, generosity, strategy Tagged: , ,

Telling Stories

Posted on July 24, 2011 Written by

Here are two secrets – people that give money to churches and other non-profit organizations really, really want to know what their money was used for. AND, if you tell them and it is a compelling and life-changing story, they’ll give you more money.

Most churches do a poor job of telling stories to their constituents. Churches just presume that people will continue to give “because that’s what the Bible teaches.” Sorry, that doesn’t cut it any more. Our society has trained people, especially the under-40 crowd, to ask questions about “what happened to my money.” They want to know – they expect and demand to know. There are two consequences:

  • Tell people where their money went
    • Once people see the good things that happened as a result of their money, they will tell others about it and, very often, give you more money. Telling stories is a game-changer: people will step up to the plate like they’ve not done before and they’ll tell others the stories they are hearing. Telling stories is huge!
  • Don’t tell people where their money went
    • If you do not prioritize telling people about how their money was used and you just presume that money will continue to come in, then you continue to operate as you are now. You may not see a decline in giving but you will probably not have an increase either.

How do you tell people? That’s easy. Every way you possibly can.  Use every medium possible from print to social media to illustrations in sermons to my favorite, completely altering the offering time.

Telling stories during offering time
The offering time has changed in the past couple of decades. It used to be a time for special music to show off some piece the choir or a soloist worked on and wanted to fit in the worship service. Not any more. Offerings need to be interactive and here’s how.

  • Every Sunday of the year, have a story about how the offerings have been used. You’ll need to coordinate the stories – don’t just insert stories – make them relevant to the message and/or to something going on in the life of the church at that time.
  • If you don’t have 52 stories, you’ve got serious problems and they’re not financial – your church is dying because you’re not aware of how at least 52 lives have been affected by your church.
  • Take 3 or 4 minutes each week during the offering to tell a story in different formats
    • Use videos of different things, slide shows, live interviews on stage, narratives, songs by children, conversion and baptism stories, etc.
    • Alter the format each week to keep the story-telling time fresh and interesting
    • Give each ministry of the church (missions, education, worship, fellowship, care, and administration) two or three times during the year for them to tell an interesting story about their ministry and how people’s contributions made all the difference.
    • If you’re doing a live interview, rehearse with the people you’re interviewing so that you’ll know their story and can help them get over their nerves about standing in front of “the whole church.”
    • When planning a story, think about the end first. What do you want people in the pew to hear and take home? Then backtrack till you come to an appropriate place to start the story. But always, always think about the end of the story first and then decide how to start the story.
  • Tell stories about
    • The youth mission trip that you’re raising money for, that is going out next week, and that just came back. That’s three times to tell the same story with different angles each time.
    • The Vacation Bible School that is coming next week and that happened last week. Two times for stories.
    • People!!! Every story is about people – every story must be centered around a person or group of people. Stories should have names (first name is enough) of lives that have been changed because of what people gave. I can’t emphasize this enough – even if the story is about how members gave money for a building, then talk about who will use that building and why!

Critical Elements
There are two things that need to be in every story-telling time. These two things need to be used every week and they need to be said in different ways so that these words are honest and genuine, not a refrain that everyone tunes out.  Here they are:

  • Thank you
    • Say thank you every time you can. People like to be thanked, even if they only gave a couple of bucks. If people are shown appreciation and not taken for granted, they’re more like to give next time. Say thank you as often as you can and be innovative in the ways that you use those words.
  • Generosity
    • Use the words generous and/or generosity as often as possible. Generosity has replaced “stewardship.” There are no negative connotations to generosity while stewardship can have some minor misunderstandings. Use these words – generous is a more accurate depiction of what God has done for each of us in opening his hand to share with us his wealth of love and in spreading his arms out to die for us and in holding us close to him in times of our distress.

We need to encourage our constituents to be generous, like God, and thank them for their generosity. Tell them stories about how generous God has been with us and how their own generosity has changed the lives of so many people.  So please, TELL STORIES!!

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: budget, church finances, communications, generosity Tagged: , , ,

Robbing the Rich

Posted on April 15, 2011 Written by

Every church steals from the rich and I wish they’d just get over it. Take money from the rich because, believe it or not, they are looking for ways to give their money away and when you don’t give them a chance to give their money to the causes the church supports, then you are robbing the rich.

I’ve dealt with a lot of rich people over the years. One guy that took me under his wing (thanks, HG!) quoted about $15 million in various bank accounts; another guy wrote a check for $2.2 million to the Community Foundation I worked at because that’s what his accountants told him he had to give away that year. A few years ago the magazine Town & Country (whose target audience has a gazillion dollars to their name) ran an entire issue on the subject of philanthropy. The rich are being asked for their money every day by their alma maters, hospitals and other charities. But churches don’t want to approach them.

Here’s a secret about the wealthy – many of them are very lonely because of their wealth. They’ve learned that people want to be around them so that they can get something out of their rich “friends.” That has made the rich extremely cautious in who they’ll talk to. However, the rich are people just like you and me and they need honest, true friends – not people who plan to use them.

Churches have two hang ups about the wealthy and we need to get over those hangs ups!

  • Some people misinterpret verses in the book of James and take them that we should pretty much ignore the rich. Actually, James talks about how to help the rich be better Christians – something we all can use. You don’t need to overtly favor the rich – they don’t want it anyway – but you don’t need to ignore them either.
  • Most pastors have never been rich and so have no idea how to talk about money. I’ve learned that the rich have no problem talking about money, they do it every day. It is the church and its leaders that need face that they have a problem talking about money. Here’s a solution: go to a rich person and get him or her to coach you in how to talk to the rich about money. I’m pretty sure they’d love to help you.

Some wealthy people have the gift of generosity. They know they have money and they want to use that money for God. When church leaders do not give the rich the opportunity to be generous, those leaders have robbed the rich and failed to be the leaders God wants them to be.

Suggestions

  • Every pastor should know the top 25 donors to his/her church
  • Every pastor should meet with those 25 donors at least once a year and better, twice a year. That means that once a week, the pastor will set aside two hours for a meeting. That way, every year the pastor will meet with the top 25 donors twice a year.
  • The meetings should NOT be about money. The meetings MUST be about the donor, his needs, his family, the vision the pastor has for the church, and what is currently going on in the church.
  • At a minimum, the pastor may gain business insights in how to run the church’s business more efficiently and effectively
  • The pastor may gain some strong acquaintenances and perhaps even friends
  • The pastor will definitely gain the right to talk about money when the time comes for a capital campaign or other need
  • The donor will gain insight into what the pastor goes through in a week and have a better understanding of how churches work
  • The donor will learn of opportunities to fund specific needs where his money can make a real difference
  • The donor will feel like a person and not a pariah just because he has money

Please, please, please get to know your top donors and know them well. Treat them as people (not as ATMs) and meet their human and spiritual needs. Then, when you are in need financially, you’ll be surprised by how generous they are even before you ask! And again, if you feel uncomfortable, ask them to teach you – I can promise you that most of them would jump at the chance to help their pastor and other church leaders!

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: generosity Tagged:

Adults Have Wallets

Posted on February 24, 2011 Written by

Several years ago my wife worked for a pastor in North Atlanta. The church grew incredibly fast: in a few years it went from a couple of hundred people to over a thousand. The growth was because it was the only Baptist church in an area of Atltanta that exploded in population. The church built buildings as fast as it could afford. They created a master-plan and communicated to everyone what the plans were for future expansion of the facilities. But the need for buildings meant that they had to rent some trailers for temporary housing of some Bible study classes.

The pastor and other leaders made the decision to put adults in those mobile home-like classrooms. He took some flak for that decision. Here was his response, “Adults have wallets, chidren don’t.” If the adults were uncomfortable with their trailer classrooms, then the adults should give more so the church can build more rooms. It worked. Within a dozen years the church had completely finished their master planned campus. It is really nice. I’m sure they still have debt, but everyone is in the same set of buildings all because the pastor was willing to challenge the people with wallets, adults, to give more.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church finances, generosity, leadership Tagged: , ,

The Church At Play

Posted on December 11, 2010 Written by

I really wanted to address two separate but related issues: church staff and the church itself.

What I mean by “at play” is very simple – how do church staff (and members) do fun things together on company time. Here’s why: years ago I had a boss who said that the only time he gets worried about his staff is when he did not hear laughter in the halls of the church office. Laughter is an indication that the staff is having fun together and not taking life too seriously. If you don’t hear laughter, you’re going to hear gossip. Laughter is much better.

Most church staffs do church together. Nothing else. That is not healthy – they need intentional times when the church approves (and funds) the staff going out on the company clock to do something memorable together: bowling, watching a movie, painting pottery, playing golf (if you like chasing a little white ball) or frisbee golf, playing softball or flag football, going fishing or sailing, etc. You get the idea. Do something that does not involve church. That will the staff something to talk about for months (years?) to come that does not involve “talking shop.” Give your staff something else to remember – not just last week’s worship and Bible study. After all, church is very stressful – giving your staff permission to play will reduce the stress and give them good memories and a pleasant shared experience. You’ll never regret it.

That leads to the church at play. I know a couple of churches that intentionally shut down their doors on Sundays for the entire church to go on a retreat over Labor Day or Easter. It’s the same principle as above – give the church members something to remember, an experience to share that is out of the ordinary. Going through seminary I worked for a large hospital company – 7000 employees. Each year during the state fair, the company rented a large tent, provided free food (served by top management), and gave away free admission tickets to the state fair to all employees and their families. Many churches do a picnic once a year and that is very healthy.

Most churches know that fellowship is a key component of a healthy church. Most churches view fellowship as punch and cookies after a Sunday music function or the Wednesday supper. Sorry to burst your bubble, that is not fellowship – that is a church program (church programs are quickly becoming a “four-letter word” to me – more in another post). The best fellowship invovles getting away from the church buildings – do something out of the ordinary and out of the four walls of your church. Get out, go away, make memories, take pictures, and have FUN!

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church staff, generosity, leadership, planning, young adults Tagged: , , , ,
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