3 Giving Conversations to Have with Members

This blog is a follow-up to the *3 Church Leadership Conversations on Giving * as effective giving conversations are also crucial for the health of the church and its members.

Church leaders talk about financial matters all the time, and it is not uncommon for these conversations to be focused primarily on the progress toward your giving goals. For an effective financial stewardship strategy that starts at the top, expand your financial discussions to include the topics that affect your givers.

Giving Conversation #1: The Spiritual Benefits of Giving

Leaders know the connection between giving and discipleship. They know that learning to trust God with our money is a major component of our spiritual journey. But not all your members know this.

Churches would do well to discuss them holistically, with stewardship focusing on managing one’s time, talent and treasure, and generosity focusing on the heart and its willingness to help rather than simply on dollar amounts.

This means teaching that:

• __Obedient owners __think of the tithe (10%) as the only part of the believer’s money that God cares about, but __love-inspired stewards __see everything they have as God’s and give him total authority over 100% of it.
• Giving is between the individual and God, not the individual and the church. Giving to the church is not a membership fee. Tithes and offerings are given __to __God __through __the church. Not __to__the church to meet its “needs.”

Giving Conversation #2: The Importance of Stewardship

Stewardship refers to the responsible management of resources, including financial resources. Many churches offer courses on responsible financial management, but we’re seeing a growing interest around creating a specific program for their church to proactively include stewardship training as a core concept for assimilating new members and educating existing ones. It would include, of course, #1 above.

Giving Conversation #3: Transparency and Accountability About Gifts

It’s becoming common for people to express concern about financial transparency and call for greater accountability in churches and nonprofits. They want to know that their donations are being used responsibly.

This is not unreasonable considering public awareness of fraud, extravagant buildings and expenses, and some highly paid pastors. However, sometimes the pendulum swings unreasonably far to an extreme, and donors don’t want to support legitimate operational expenses. Instead, they want all their donations to go to mission recipients.

This gives churches both a responsibility and opportunity to show that the members themselves, and the community, are recipients of ministry resources, teaching, support, an environment to gather, worship and serve, and a staff to manage all of that…all of which are funded strictly by donors’ generosity.

Expanding your discussions with specific details on the results of member generosity is a good starting point for incorporating this transparency. We also recommend engaging members in the giving moment and through personalized acknowledgments that provide immediate insight into the impact of their gifts, delivering the desired accountability and even inspiring ongoing generosity.