If you are a pastor, how much time did you spend this week preparing for your message?  When I was in seminary we had a preaching professor that said for every minute you preached you should spend one hour of preparation.  While I know few pastors that put in that amount of time still we do prepare and pray over our message.  Why, because it is so important.

Let me ask you how much time and preparation have you put into this weekend’s offering?  Most would have to answer none or very little.  Is the offering not important?  If you struggle to make the budget it suddenly becomes very important.  Is not the offering a part of worship?  Since it is worship should we not put at least some thought and preparation into it?

Most offering times in churches are one of the most boring times of the service.  We ask the ushers to come forward say a prayer and then pass the plates.  The typical church offering has become a routine that we rarely if ever put any thought or action into.  Is it any wonder giving is declining?  Here are some thoughts about how to break out of that rut and make your offerings inspiring and more impactful.

1. Elevate the importance of the offering first with yourself and then the entire staff.  Work to change the attitude that the offering is an inconvenience and see it as an act of worship.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask people to give.  Never apologize for the offering. The offering is a time of worship.  So we never apologize for letting people worship.
3. Plan out every offering just like you plan out every message.  Spend time every week thinking through how best to present the offering.
4. Change the format and positioning regularly.  Do something different every once in awhile to break the routine.
5. Always have a stewardship message before the offering is taken up.  Work to craft one minute messages that underscore the importance of giving.
6. Utilize testimonies before the offering as a means of inspiration.  Lay people expect you to tell them to give.  When one of their peers talks about giving they listen.
7. Use creative tools like video and skits to make the offering fun.  There is a host of material out there, use it!
8. Always be positive with every offering appeal.  Guilt never works so don’t try to guilt people into giving.
9. Cast a compelling reason as to why people should give.  People give to that which makes a difference.  Tell them how their gift matters and they will give.
10. Regularly tell people what their gifts have accomplished and thank them for their gifts.  Blow your own horn.  Link the offering to what ministries the church is doing.  People give to success!  People also like to be thanked.  Never take your donors for granted.

I believe if you will incorporate these ten steps your offerings will dramatically pick up.  At the minimum it will make the offering time more interesting and more worshipful.

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

PS.  I have just finished writing my new book “Elevator Pitch Your Offerings,” which contains 52 one to two minute stewardship messages.  Email me if you are interested in purchasing a copy.

One of the most common mistakes that churches make is waiting too long before they make decisions or waiting too late to realize they have a problem.  At the last minute when crisis is eminent then they call.  Don’t wait until it is too late!

As we are in the middle of summer inevitably we will get calls from churches about wanting a fall campaign.  Good campaigns take time to execute properly.  If you hurry the process you should not be surprised if the results are less than what you were looking for.  The most oft thing that pastors say to us is that they wished they had started sooner.  Don’t let this be you.

When it comes to capital stewardship campaigns here are some things to consider…

Timing is everything!  You want your campaign to be done right not on some time schedule.  However it is important that the timing be correct.  As we say in the south, you want all your ducks lined up.

There are two seasons for a campaign – fall and spring.  For a fall campaign you want your commitment date to be before Thanksgiving.  For a spring campaign you either want the commitment to be before Easter or before school gets out.

Good campaigns take six months to run.  There are exceptions to this rule but you should figure on six months from start to finish.  So, if you have not even chosen the companies you want to interview, a process that can take one to two months, you can see it is getting late.

Need trumps timing.  While I would always want additional time for the campaign there are times that you simply have to put the peddle down and forge ahead.  I once worked with a church that had to move due to the state highway expanding the road.  They did not have the luxury of waiting around.  The quickness of the campaign however made sense to members.  Without a good reason for a hasty campaign you run the risk of being viewed as not planning ahead.  Even when need trumps timing you can expect a quick campaign to raise less than a well timed and planned approach.

Every week you delay a decision about a campaign means a continual loss of potential dollars.  Good campaigns are cast around a compelling vision.  People give to vision not brick and mortar.  Waiting for every piece of the puzzle to come together might take months and years.  In the mean time you have lost those potential dollars to other ministries or McDonald’s!  The sooner you start the campaign process the quicker you will have money in the coffers.  Nothing gives you more options than cash in the bank.

One of my frustrations in working with churches is that they take an incredibly long time to make their minds up.  For whatever reason the decision process moves as slow as Christmas to a child.  As a result they often lose out on significant dollars.  As I told a potential client recently, it might look to you that my pushing for a decision is self serving but I know how much time a quality campaign takes.  Whatever you do don’t wait until it is too late!

As I write this post all the buzz in the media is over the debt ceiling debate in Washington.  Once again we are subjected to the gridlock of politics as each side postures not simply to solve the crisis but to emerge looking like the winner.  After all the real issue for Washington is re-election.  The result of all this is a further decline in public opinion about our politicians both Democrat and Republican.  You and I could have solved this way faster than Washington.  All this back and forth debate and postures have left most of us with a headache.  A deal will ultimately be reached but what I fear the politicians have lost sight of is how much they have lost in the public eye.

I began to think about what principles church leaders might take away from this crisis.  What can we learn from this malaise?  How can we avoid the same melt down in our own small economies?  How can we avoid losing the confidence of our base?

The danger in addressing political issues is that some might take what I say as negative towards one certain party.  My goal is not to embrace one party over the other in this debate.  I frankly think both sides of the aisle have made huge mistakes.  I will however confess that I am for a smaller government role, holding taxes down, and in favor of the Ryan plan as a good starting point.  That means I tend to side with the Republican side of the aisle over the Democratic side.  I will attempt however to be fair and balanced.  What this post is about is analyzing the decision making process and how you and I can learn leadership lessons from it.  So here are my thoughts…

Be careful what you promise.  Do Americans not realize that politicians will say just about anything to get elected?  The Tea Party movement swept the country in the last election.  I identify with much of what they espouse.  I don’t want higher taxes and I want spending curbed and cut.  However, some in the Tea Party need to realize that turning an aircraft carrier around takes awhile.  Many House Republicans who view their election as a result of the Tea Party are now frozen into inaction by campaign promises that are unsustainable given the current state of Washington.  President Obama promised that the stimulus would create jobs and unemployment would fall to 8% with shovel ready work.  None of that happened.  House Speaker Boner claimed his bill would reduce the deficit by an amount that projections say will fall far short of his announced mark.

Pastors and church leaders can unwittingly promise too much to congregants.  In the run up to “sell” our idea to our constituents it is all too easy to be overly optimistic.  I cannot tell you how many times I have had to help pastors extricate themselves from statements that were wildly optimistic and never happened.  One of the values of our partnership is to help church leaders appropriately “sell” the congregation on a project or new direction.  If you promise too much and deliver too little, you will lose change in your pocket.  Then the next major decision will be that much harder to get people on board for.

Lesson:  Be careful what you promise.  Church members have memories like elephants when it serves their purpose!

Avoid arbitrary deadlines.  By now we all know that the deadline for reaching a decision on the debt ceiling to avoid default is August 2nd.  Right?  Well, that depends on who you talk to.  Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner had actually initially talked of other deadlines before landing on August 2nd.  Economists disagree if the US would actually default on this date or not.  There is talk that our credit rating will be down graded even if we do raise the debt ceiling simply because of the amount of debt we carry.  Setting a deadline in the sand often back fires on politicians.  Remember when candidate Obama promised to close Gitmo?  What about troop withdrawals?  What sounds good on the campaign trail is often difficult to accomplish in real life.  Again the Tea Party could learn something here too.

The point is arbitrary deadlines back leaders into a corner.  They cause leaders to have to hurry up the process thus endangering good outcomes.  At times leaders have to back off the deadline which then causes people to question their next statement.  This is in part why the public is fed up with our politicians.  Everything is a moving target in DC.

Lesson:  Avoid arbitrary deadlines.  Always give yourself wiggle room!

Think and work long term.  I have a sneaking suspicion that much of this debt ceiling deadline has to do with Congresses August vacation!  While that might not be totally true none the less how long have they had to work on this?  Also, isn’t it a bit disingenuous for the Democrats to blame the Republicans for this when they controlled all of Congress and the White House for two years?  Somebody has been playing too much golf!

I find that one of the biggest down falls of leaders is their inability to think and work long term.  If your idea of long range planning is next weeks sermon or even next months sermon series, you are in trouble.  Good leaders are proactive in seeing and addressing problems.  Poor leaders react.  What kind of leader are you?

Lesson:  Think and work long term.  What problems do you see over the horizon for your ministry?  What are you doing NOW to address those problems?

Tell the truth even if it is hard to swallow.  The fact is no country, business or person can spend more than they bring in.  While we can argue about taxes to increase revenue the fact of the matter is we have to cut our expenses.  Washington simply cannot bring itself to get out the scissors.  There are too many vested interests at stake and too much money.  Politicians get elected for bringing home the bacon not cutting the fat.  Everyone is for budget cuts until it closes their favorite park.  Why can’t the folks in Nancy Pelosi’s district feel the cuts instead of mine?  Let someone else pay the bill.  This kind of selfishness has gotten us into this mess.  Our politicians would rather give us prop us up with hope than discourage us with the cold hard facts.

It is time for our leaders to stand up and tell the truth.  Stop rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.  One reason I like the Ryan plan is it at least addresses the problems.  I find too many others simply want to continue on in the same way we have been operating.  If it is not working for the European Union why do we think it will work for us?  We have some hard decision ahead of us as a country and its time someone stood up and told it like it is.

I have always counseled the pastors that I work with to tell their members the cold hard facts up front.  Don’t water down the price of the building or program.  Tell them the truth.  They can adjust to it.  Leaders get in trouble when they piece meal out information hoping to soften the blow of hard decisions.  This tactic only frustrates leaders and ultimately causes you to lose the respect of your membership.

Lesson:  Tell the truth even if it is hard to swallow.  The truth will never hurt you.  Openness is a necessity for Christian leaders.

Let’s hope and pray that this crisis is settled quickly.  Let’s hope and pray that we avoid future crisis.  I believe a deal will be reached at the eleventh and a half hour.  All parties will claim victory and take the credit.  The reality is that Washington is now seen as more detached from the people who they are elected to serve.  There will be no real winners.  I fear the real loser however will be we the American people.  I hope and pray I am wrong.

I firmly believe this mess could have and should have been avoided.  I also believe that in every failure there are life lessons to learn.  While your own economy is fractionally smaller than our government you still are tasked by your members to faithfully over see it.  Learn from the mistakes of our political leaders who may very well get voted out of office as a result of this mess.  The last thing you want or need is a crisis of leadership to derail your plans for ministry.  Take action now to avoid any crisis.

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

I have not met a pastor yet that does not want to be a leader.  While there are a lot of ideas of how leadership in a pastor should develop and be manifested, none disagree that the pastor should be the leader of the congregation.  Yet surprisingly when it comes to stewardship I find that many pastors abrogate their responsibilities.  This lack of leadership begins from the platform where many pastors hardly ever preach or mention stewardship.  The lack of leadership continues into the committee meetings where many pastors sit on their hands as major decisions are made about funding are decided.  It is a trap that lessons a pastors leadership to give ground to this crucial area of leadership.  Why do preachers fall prey avoiding involvement in stewardship?  Why do they not see stewardship as a key part of their leadership responsibilities?

The Preachers Trap

The trap that many preachers fall prey to is listening to the complaints of the crowd.  As a result many never or seldom preach about money or stewardship.  Why is that?  Here are some reasons…

It’s unpopular and we like to be liked. No preacher wants to hear, “All you ever talk about at church is money.” I think the bottom line is that we like being liked and don’t want to do anything that will cause the above statement to be reinforced. So we go out of our way to not mention money. Could it be that the reason people do not like us to talk about money is that they have such a problem handling it correctly? Could it be that by not talking about money we are giving them a pass on an area of disobedience in their lives?

It often makes the leader uncomfortable. Closely akin to the above point I find that many don’t like to talk about stewardship because it makes them feel uncomfortable. They struggle dealing with difficult topics knowing it will rub some the wrong way. They find that they can not with boldness take a stand so they ignore the issue altogether. It is just easier to teach on the love of God rather than some subject that many find hard to listen to.

Some or not convinced it is biblically their role. I find that we have been so conditioned by lay people that we ministers are not suppose to know anything about the churches finances that we incorrectly assume that is biblical. You can search the Scriptures but you will not find a verse that prohibits the leaders from taking an active role in stewardship. Christian ministries that have leaders that are active in stewardship raise more funds and in the end do more for the Kingdom.

Many do not feel adequately trained. Our Christian institutions of learning have done a disservice to our leaders in not training them in this crucial field. Nearly everything a minister learns about stewardship he learned outside of the classroom. If I do not feel properly trained in an area I will not operate in that area.

Some do not see the necessity. Despite numerous studies that show the importance of the leader being involved in stewardship many do not think it is necessary. As a result their ministry struggles to achieve the dreams they have been given or more likely don’t have any vision for the future at all.

Whatever the reasons are we need to get over them! Without a firm stewardship plan your ministry will suffer.  If you do not teach and preach on stewardship your ministry will suffer. At the end of the day the only person you can blame for that is yourself. It might well be that our education was lacking in stewardship training. However there were many things that we did not learn in college or seminary that we have had to pick up. Fortunately there are tools and resources out there to help bridge this gap in knowledge. If you feel you are lacking take advantage of the various conferences, books and partnerships that can help you in this area. The growth of your ministry could well depend upon it.  The bottom line is that stewardship is leadership.  How are you doing as a leader in the area of stewardship?

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

As a former pastor of twenty years I was well schooled in the art of expository preaching.  My wife once remarked how amazing it was that God always spoke in three points.  As the old saying goes, “Three points, a poem and a car wreck story and it is time to sing Just As I Am.”  While I learned a lot in college and seminary about how to preach I learned virtually nothing about how to run a church.  This was especially true when it came to the development of a project.

One of our greatest challenges as a stewardship firm is helping pastors understand that they cannot approach projects like they approach preaching.  A preacher doesn’t think about point number two until he has finished point number one.  The same is true for point number three and the car wreck story conclusion.  We preach sequentially and as a result we tend to think sequentially and work sequentially.  When it comes to developing your project that can lead to disastrous results.  Projects indeed have some sequential aspects but they also run on similar tracks.  Let me illustrate.

A church decides they need a new building.  So after thinking through what exactly they need they contract with a building firm and have plans drawn up.  They work to arrive at a cost, $2.5 million, and drawings and plans.  This process takes a few months to finalize.  The church still does not know what the total amount of the project is going to be.  They wait for the final estimates to be submitted.  Then after that point is settled they think about finding a bank or lending institution that will loan them the money to get started.  Then after that point is settled they begin to think about how to pay the loan back and contemplate a capital stewardship campaign and thus start looking for a firm to help them, point three.

So what is the problem?  For one thing they are leaving a lot of questions up in the air.  How much can they borrow?  Which begs the question how much can they afford?  How much can they realistically expect to raise in a campaign?  Another major problem is that planning out a project sequentially like this will always take a church more time to actually get started on the building.  That means the building they need right now will probably not be available for twelve to twenty four months or longer.

Recently I talked with a church that was considering partnering with us.  When I asked them if they had talked with any banks they responded no how could they since they did not know what they were going to build yet.  This church has already contracted with a design build firm that guarantees that their fee will not exceed the bid.  Currently the churches project is $2.5 million.  The church has an annual operating budget of $600K and only $100K in reserve.  Can this church afford that amount?  While they might the real question is can they find a bank that is willing to loan them that amount.

Consider that most banks will only lead a church two to three times their annual operating expense.  A few before the recession would go up to four times IF a church was already in a capital stewardship campaign.  Many banks today are requiring a reserve fund of around six months of a churches annual operating expense to be held in reserve.  Every bank I know is requiring the church to be in a campaign.  One bank that we work with a lot requires the campaign to have been running three to six months before they will consider loaning the church money.

So my counsel to the church I talked to was to immediately begin talking to lending institutions to see if they could qualify for the type of money they were thinking of.  You do not want to cast a vision to your church about a potential building, only to find out you cannot afford it.  The church knows the basic cost they are looking at.  They have enough information to start talking to the bank.  It is never too early to start the conversation with a bank.  Here are some final thoughts that we are finding when it comes to acquiring loans.

• It will take you longer to acquire a loan than in the past.
• The bank you have your account with might not be the best bank to acquire your loan with.
• You should talk to more than one bank to compare rates and requirements.
• You will have to prove you are a good risk for any loan amount.  Banks are looking for stability.
• Cash is king!  The more money you have in reserve the more attractive you will be to any lender.  Start your capital campaign earlier to amass cash!
• Pay down any existing debt.  Banks will look at your current debt and count that against you in terms of how much they will loan on another project.
• Have debt repayment structured into your operating budget.  Even if you are in a capital campaign banks are impressed if you also have a line item in the budget to attack your debt.
• Have good documentation!  Show banks why you are a good risk.  We can help you with this putting together documentation that shows your growth and value.
• Start NOW talking to banks!

In 2000 my wife and I moved to Atlanta and needed to buy a new home.  Before we ever arrived and started looking for houses we met with a mortgage broker to get pre-qualified for a loan.  In Atlanta no one would talk about selling you their home until they knew you could afford to purchase it.  If we know we need to do this in our personal lives why is it we don’t do this in our church life?  Remember it is never too early to talk to banks.  For that matter it is never too early to talk to a stewardship firm.  So, what are you waiting for?  Call us!

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

The final Harry Potter movie came out this past weekend and it smashed box office receipts bringing in nearly half a billion dollars world-wide.  The Wall Street Journal reported that the movie earned $168.6 million at 4,375 North American locations.  The eighth movie in the series is on track to become the top grossing movie of all the Harry Potter movies.  To date these movies combined have grossed $6.3 billion since the first film was released ten years ago.  Warner Brother’s the studio that released the Potter films has also turned out theme parks and other Potter brands that have spawned nearly $20 billion in retail sales.

What possible lesson for the church can there be in all this?  People will always find the money to spend on items they desperately want.  All this money was spent this past weekend while our government leaders are dead locked on the debt limit and spending.  What debt limit?  Can we super size our popcorn and coke?  I mean who goes to a movie and doesn’t buy popcorn, candy and drinks?  Cha ching!

I wonder how many of the millions that went to see the movie over the weekend did not put any money in the church offering plate.  Many would tell you they could not afford to give.  Yet we still go to the movies.  We still drive through McDonald’s whose profits continue to climb.  All of this is happening as we still worry and fret over the economy and it’s impact.  Harry Potter’s incredible windfall is a simple reminder that people do what they want to do.  People can give to your church they simply are choosing not to.

How can this help you the church?  I am not suggesting that we compete with Hollywood in making our services theatrical.  There are a host of churches who are trying that already.  Glitz and glamor, smoke and lasers, louder music, hip apparel and cute talks are not the path to increasing your giving.  You might attract a crowd but that is about all you have.  When the going gets tough or there is something better down the street the crowd shifts with the tide.  You are left with the bill for the laser lights and smoke generator and empty chairs and an empty offering bucket.

The lesson is we need to create a church that people want to come to and want to give to.  It is all about vision.  Give people a compelling vision and they will pull money out of their mattress to support it.  They will forego eating at McDonald’s and instead put that money in your offering plate.  Do something bold and exciting for the Kingdom and people will line up to support it.  Trumpet what you are accomplishing, tell your story, broadcast that your church is making a difference in the lives of people.  Then you will find money more freely coming to you.  Give your people good reasons to want to give to your church and they will.

Hollywood will always get the crowds.  Movies will come and go.  Soon some other movie will break this weekend’s record.  The point is not that we are in competition with Hollywood.  Frankly they cannot compete with our story.  They cannot change lives. They can only make people forget their pain and misery for a brief time.  After it is over all those that attended the movie have is an empty pocket.  The Church however still has the greatest story ever told.  It is a story for the ages.  If we will tell it faithfully we will find people willing to give to help us continue to tell it over and over again and again.  This weekend’s windfall for Harry Potter should teach us that there is money under those mattresses!

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

It is our natural tendency to want to blame someone other than ourselves when things go wrong.  Washington is playing that game.  Republicans blame Obama.  Obama blames Bush.  Nothing truly gets done as our politicians posture for re-election.  The same is true when it comes to giving.  I find that too many blame the economy for all their woes and misfortunes.  They look at the past recession and claim that all was wonderful before the crash and that if we could only get back to the way things were everything would be alright.  It sounds reassuring and it might give some hope.  That hope however is false.  The truth is that giving has been in decline for years and the economy has but little impact upon that reality.

There has been much debate about how this past recession has impacted giving to religion.  Last year when Giving USA released their data on giving there were howls of protest.  The reason why was Giving USA’s report showed only modest declines.  For religion the decline was essentially flat.  People screamed that it could not be true that their data must be wrong.  Recently Giving USA did indeed adjust their report based upon new IRS released data.  Giving to charities overall declined 7% in 2008 and 6.2% in 2009.  In 2010 giving to charities rose 2.1 %.  Amazingly giving to religion declined only 0.8% in 2010.  We do not know yet what the decline for churches will be as their data gets lumped in with all religious giving.  Reports on church giving typically lags two years behind in their reports.  However it stands to reason that the decline will be less than what many felt it would have been.  Still a decline is a decline.

What is more alarming is how giving to religion has changed over time.  Religious causes now attract just above one third of all charitable giving in the US at 35.8%.  However during the years spanning 1991-1995 that average was 48.6%.  So while the economy was booming and charitable giving was increasing, giving to religion was actually taking a smaller percentage of the giving pie of Americans.  Reports like Giving USA are interesting and do give us a back drop of what is occurring on the American landscape.  However they only give us the 30,000 foot view.  For you as a leader you are much more concerned with how things look at ground zero where you work and minister.  What is giving doing in your church and ministry?

My guess is that it is challenged.  I have not yet worked with a church that told me that they did not have challenges with giving.  Even our best clients, who weathered the recessions storm and continued to raise funds always need more funds.  The more you do in ministry the more funds you need.  If the best are still challenged is it any wonder that the rest are struggling.  Yet why is that?  Here are my thoughts and observations of why giving to religion is declining.

1.  We are becoming increasingly more secular as a nation. We can talk all we want about the few explosive mega churches in America but the truth is that attendance continues to spiral downward.  When attendance is in decline giving will also be in decline.

2.  We have not engaged the younger generations. As the Builders move off the stage and Boomers move into retirement we had better find a way to engage the next generations coming up.  What is alarming is the fall out of our youth after they enter college.  If we do not reverse this trend we will be in serious trouble in the coming years.

3.  We have retreated from teaching stewardship as a part of discipleship. In part I blame this on the contemporary church movement.  We have gone out of our way to apologize for the offering rather than make a cause for why attendees should give.  A true disciple gives willingly to their church.  In our desire to attract the crowd we have thrown making disciples under the bus.  We may have a crowd but we have few horses pulling the bus.  Jesus never apologized about teaching on money.  Neither should you.  Go and make disciples not a crowd.

4.  We have failed to communicate a compelling vision. People give to vision.  They want their gift to matter.  If the only reason you state for people to give is to help you make budget don’t be surprised if they pass the plate without putting anything in it.  Get a vision worth inspiring people and then trumpet that vision!

5.  We are guilty of re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic ignoring the water lapping at our feet. I find few who are truly alarmed by statistics like those I quoted from Giving USA.  We hope things will turn around.  Hope is never a strategy.  Our ship is sinking and re-arranging the chairs will do nothing to change that fact.  Find the holes and plug them.  Now!

6.  We lack a plan of action. If you read my blog posts you will know that this is the same song I sing over and over again and again.  Yet I find few churches with any type of stewardship plan.  Failing to plan is planning to fail!

I am sure there are other reasons for the decline in giving to religion.  The point is however that the decline is real and should be cause for alarm.  Rather than wringing our hands about how terrible that is we need to work to do something about it.  While you cannot impact the church across the state much less the church down the street from you you can do something about your church.  Your church may not be the Titanic but there are icebergs drifting in the waters you navigate.  What actions are you taking right now to avoid becoming the next church Titanic?

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

My ministry is about stewardship.  After twenty years as a senior pastor I entered the stewardship field almost fourteen years ago.  Since that time I have worked in a wide variety of churches.  I have sat in Joel Osteen’s dining room talking about raising funds and I have sat with pastors struggling to run a hundred.  I have just about seen it all.  The one constant is that stewardship seems to always take a back seat to other issues in the church.  Most pastors view it as a necessary evil and give little or no time to the issue.  What results is that many churches fail to raise the significant funds they could.  In the end ministry gets short changed.

Why is it that stewardship takes a back seat?  Here are the five most common reasons that I have found.

1.  Lack of training. Our schools simply do not teach pastors about stewardship.  I cannot remember one class either in my under graduate religion studies or at the seminary level that focused on stewardship.  If you talk to any pastor you will find the same to be true.  If pastors learn anything about stewardship they are forced to learn it themselves.  Most are not interested and thus go untrained.

2.  Lack of planning. Churches have all kinds of plans for growth, missions and discipleship.  Few have stewardship plans.  If you do not have a plan you are planning on failure.

3.  Lack of ownership. No one takes ownership of stewardship until a crisis occurs.  I once drew up a detailed stewardship plan for a church.  The problem was no one owned the plan and thus it sat on the shelf collecting dust.  The number one reason do it yourself campaigns fail is that no one owns the process and thus key elements of a campaign are left undone.

4.  Tyranny of the urgent. It’s Monday but another weekend is approaching and there is a sermon to prepare.  On top of that there are meetings to attend, weddings to plan for, funerals to preach, hospital visits and countless other issues weighing upon the staff.  Something has to give and what all too often gives is stewardship planning.

5.  We simply don’t like to talk about money. Any talk about money is seen as unpopular.  We want to be loved and appreciated so our natural inclination is to shy away from tough topics.  The avoidance to properly talk about this key issue robs the church of much needed funding.

What about you?  Do you find yourself in any of those top five reasons?  While you might be uncomfortable with stewardship or feel you are untrained it none the less is vastly important.  Without the funds needed your ministry will not be able to thrive.  If you are struggling to meet your budget needs it might be time to put stewardship in the front seat.  Doing so now could just save your ministry.

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

A pastor called me yesterday to tell me that he was thinking of putting off his churches much needed new sanctuary.  The church still needs the space but the path ahead seems fraught with difficulty.  They finally after months received approval from the city to enlarge their parking lot.  The length and difficulty of that small project has this pastor wondering if the city will approve the plans for his new sanctuary.  “How can we raise funds for something that in the end we are not sure we can build,” he said?  Good question.  What do you do in cases like this when the project is months out and there is so much uncertainty?  Can you raise funds?  Should you raise funds?

Here are the steps that I laid out for this pastor to consider.  They are good thoughts for any situation.

1.  Funds are raised by casting a compelling vision not by raising up structures. The bottom line is that you have to cast a vision of how any project can help you grow and achieve Kingdom principles.  All buildings are simply boxes that we use for ministry.  As such you will always need to raise funds for something.  Those that say they have no need for funds are admitting that they have no vision.

2.  Putting off a campaign will not save you donations it will only cost you donations. I told this pastor that if he delays his campaign his people will not open savings accounts and regularly put money in the bank for when the campaign kicks off.  They will spend that discretionary money on something or some other ministry.  While they might not give as sacrificially until they know exactly what you will build if you cast the appeal around a vision they will give to it.

3.  Projects will always take longer than you want and cost more than you like. On the road to realizing the new building this pastor needs there will be multiple bumps along the way.  Zoning issues can sometimes take years AND cost you thousands of dollars in legal expense and other fees.  Raising money now will help you meet these soft costs before the shovel hits the ground.  Failing to raise money now puts you at a disadvantage.

4.  Positioning yourself with cash puts you in the drivers seat. This pastor’s church has nearly a two million dollar debt on a one million dollar a year budget.  Their project is projected to cost $5 million.  That is on the edge of what banks are willing to loan.  So, while they wait for the approval of whatever they will build they need to pay down their existing debt load AND build up a cash reserve.  This strategy will make sense to their members and make them more appealing when it comes time to acquire additional funding.  Remember, cash is king and cash flow is emperor!

5.  The key for success in any campaign is communication. The vision must be made clearly, concisely and most of all compellingly.  Donors will respond when you lay out the options and decisions that you have made.  I once helped a church raise funds for a potential land purchase even though the church did not have specific property in mind.  In their area land came and went so quickly that you had to be prepared ahead of time.  We communicated clearly why we were raising funds and the people gave.  Even if your project is months down the road or even murky in terms of what you will build you can and should start raising funds.

6.  Start now, it’s later than you think! I often hear from pastors that they wished they had started sooner.  We try and counsel our potential clients on the importance of starting sooner on their planning.  Some think we are only trying to get their money.  While we do like to eat we also like our campaigns to be successful.  Effective campaigns take longer than you think.  Start now and your campaign will go much smoother than if you wait.  Waiting only costs you time and money.

7.  Get help to avoid mistakes and landmines. I know a church that bragged that they were not going to use “professional fundraisers.”  They saved a few thousands of dollars but have now lost much more through simple mistakes and errors that they were unaware of.  I know it seems self serving for me to say this but we really can save you time, money and heart ache.  If your church was sued for millions would you try to defend yourself?  Why is it then that you think you can go it alone on something as complex as a building project and raising funds?  Unless your seminary was different from mine, you were not trained for that.  The price you pay for a good partner will be more than made up by the help they give you to avoid mistakes and landmines.

I am not sure what the pastor who called me yesterday will do.  My hope and prayer is that he and his church will press on and not be discouraged.  If they partner with us or not I want to see their dreams become a reality.  I do know that sitting back and wringing their hands will not move them closer to realizing those dreams.  Set backs will happen.  We simply have to push through them.  My prayer for you is the same, that you will allow nothing to stop the dreams God has given you.

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group

This past weekend we were at the National Association of Church Business Administrators conference in Washington D.C.  We like several other stewardship firms and other businesses set up our booth and set out our wares.  Between conferences the attendees come by and looked over what we have to offer.  All of us pay a pretty price to do this and I am sure our fees help NACBA put on a much better conference charging their members much less than if we were not here.  It all works out well for both parties.  You get to see what is being offered and we get a chance to build some leads and hopefully some business.

I get amused at those that come by our booth.  Many times people will not make eye contact with us.  If they do they might have to speak to us and then they might have to stop.  Some go as far out of the way as possible to avoid talking to us.  At times I feel like I must have the plague or something.

My Director of Marketing, Tom Holloway, always asks those that walk by, ‘Do you need to raise funds any time soon?”  Amazingly many say no.  Deep down I know that the answer has more to do with the fact that they do not want to stop and talk with us rather than they don’t need funds.  However if you think about it all churches always need to raise funds all the time.  If you don’t need to raise funds you are not doing anything for the Kingdom.  In fact you are working for free as you don’t need money.

I know what you might be thinking that they are thinking about a capital stewardship campaign.  While it is true that some could be in a position of not needing to raise funds soon for any buildings they do need to weekly raise funds.

So, after one person told me he did not need to raise any funds I asked him, “Will you take up an offering this weekend?”  He looked shocked at the question and said, “yes.”  It was then that I handed him a sheet about our Elevator Pitch Offering e-book that is soon to come out.  I then talked to him about his regular operating budget, quarterly giving statement letters, special appeal letters, one year giving plans and all the other services we provide APART from capital campaigns.  I gave him the three books I had written and wished him well.

My hope in part is that we taught some people this week that EVERY church needs to raise funds all the time.  My other hope is that when they realize that anybody can improve what they are doing with regards to stewardship they will give us a call.

What about you?  Do you need to raise funds?  Be careful before you answer!  If you recognize that you do check out our Turbo Charged Giving page for the list of ways in which we can help you increase your giving.  Our mission is to help good churches become great churches.  We can help you.  Give us a call.

Mark Brooks

Founder and President

The Charis Group