An area which congregations can be found asleep at the switch is extra-curricular giving; giving beyond the weekly budget. The double edged sword needing sharpened is: (1) we need to provide a place for extra giving, and (2) our people with extra money need a place to give. Our people have money. They have unexpected money. I know that the large percentage of the church does not experience sudden cash flow. Precisely, that's why we miss this blessing.
Budget committees lay out annual plans and the congregations belly up to the bar in willing support. Yet, we miss another zone. We need what I will term as "special needs" to fulfill those sprinkled among the congregation who have extra money. In the early 90s I was pressing for $82,000 for a film project. I'll never forget the time and place an unassuming member handed me a check for $30,000. I had no idea his family had money. Where would his money have gone if not this church project. The answer is not to this church.
Every so often a member encounters a nice inheritance, has a cushy insurance settlement, or receives a plush bonus. Because 95% of the members don't have such occurrences, we behave as if big money doesn't exist. It does. A few people throughout the year have surprise money. We need to be positioning ourselves with special projects to help them be good stewards. I challenge church leadership to be good stewards of our good stewards.
While our people in general are very good givers, we aren't forking over all we can. I can raise $700 to $1500 at Memorial on any given Sunday for someone or something needed. What this tells us is extra giving will not dent the stability of the weekly budget.
The reason we are asleep at the switch is so many of those in church position to okay such a funding drive are among the 95% who never have extra. I never have extra. I stretch in my giving and have never understood extra to give. However, after years of experience, I think I know what I'm talking about. Various pockets of members have money (for whatever reason) and they are quite generous. We are failing them when we don't have special high-dollar items calling out for a contributor.
I encourage you to put before your congregation a specialty item costing anywhere from $500 to $50,000. Write me back and tell me you received no funds toward that project. It won't happen! Create. Dream. Imagine. Provide avenues for more giving to encourage the entire congregation. Sharpen the sword on both edges. Arise to leadership responsibility of imagining beyond your personal means. Enjoy the promises of God.
3 comments:
Great thoughts Brother! We have been so blessed by the love given us by our Lord. We need to be busy about His business using His money! Let's see, I think I remember a song that said "All to Jesus, I Surrender, All to Him I Freely Give". Thanks for the encouraging challenge. (Heb. 10:19-24)Let's see if our faith is "standing on the promises". E.E.S.
Great post, Terry!
For about 14 years, the Sunday class I'm a part of takes up a special contribution each 3rd Sunday for specific needs. We have sponsored mission efforts, helped with schooling for missionaries, aided our local Hispanic ministry, helped a small church in the next county get started, paid doctor bills, rent bills, utility bills, paid for kids' lunches at schools, sponsored kids to summer camp, aided several of our families hit with unexpected medical bills, aided flood victims, Katrina victims and more things than my poor old mind can recall. You are so right about our people - they are the best in the world and when they see a need, they give and give and give. We just need to help them see those needs. Again, great post!
READ AND ENJOY
Putting the Struggle in My Own Heart
By Michael T.O. Timmis
Michael T.O. Timmis heads the Timmis Family Foundation in Naples, Fla. He shared this testimony at the Generous Giving Development Directors Summit, Colorado Springs, Colo., August 21-22, 2001.
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I am what they call a COW—a child of wealth. I’m not sure if I’m very happy with that acronym. I serve as the head of our family foundation, which has been operating for about 15 years. My father made all the money himself, and I have the privilege of spending it now, which is a great job. I want to share with you the perspective of the second- generation wealthy: what it’s like and how the money influences our lives. I hope that this will allow you to stand in my shoes, just for a moment.
My dad was a very successful lawyer who specialized in mergers and acquisitions. When he was in his 30s, he had an accountant partner, and they worked for three older investors. As these older men were getting toward retirement and losing interest in the really big deals, my dad and his partner decided that they would try to buy these guys out. The only problem was that they did not have anywhere near enough money to do it.
I was probably 10 years old at the time. I remember my dad sitting all us kids down, and telling the family about this deal in simple terms. He said to us, “I really want to try this. We will run the risk of losing everything. But even in that case, I would still be a lawyer, and I would always be able to support the family. But I feel like this is the big shot, and I want to take it.” My 10-year-old response was: “Yeah, OK, Dad.” Well, in short, the buyout worked, and my father became very successful.
Money and Relationships
The new wealth did not really radically change our family at the time. But it has changed things very slowly over years. I don’t think that we have been particularly ostentatious people. But the money has profoundly influenced us in one area—our relationships.
As our fortune increased, it did not affect my parents’ friendships too much because they had an established network of old friends. Old friends know you well, and you know them well. And, for the most part, money did not change those friendships. But for me growing up, our new family wealth deeply impacted every relationship. And the older I got, the more I realized this fact. Today, in my mid-30s, I can count on my two hands the number of relationships in my life that have not been directly affected by my family fortune.
Let me tell you a story that illustrates this pattern. In college I dated one girl very seriously for more than a year. We were talking about getting married. To make a long story short: Eventually, the relationship collapsed. A while later, I heard of a conversation that she had had with a friend of mine. He had said: “I’m really sorry that you and Michael broke up. I really thought you were a good couple.” And she had replied: “That’s OK. There’s a lot of rich guys out there.”
Sadly, I could share many other stories like this one. Some are not as dramatic, but this pattern has been a big part of my life. And I have experienced the same with pastors, priests, ministry staff, and friendships generally: Many people have valued me for access to my money and have shown little love to me. As you might imagine, these experiences are painful. They make you very weary, and you learn to guard your heart. I tell you all this not to elicit your pity, but to help you understand a little-known truth.
A Safe Place
And this is why it is so valuable for a donor (like me) to be able to enter a neutral, safe environment of peers and be challenged in his giving. That is the unique strength of Generous Giving—it can deliver that safe environment for challenging donors in a way that no church or ministry can.
My first contact with Generous Giving was years ago, when I found myself sitting next to Daryl Heald at a benefit dinner. It was one of those times when you click with someone and have a great time talking. So we sporadically exchanged e-mails and phone calls for the next couple of years. Daryl started putting me on invitation lists for the events that they were doing. I went to my first Generous Giving conference at Daryl’s invitation, not knowing anybody else there. I had always had an interest in giving. All my life, my father had modeled and trained me in generosity, without my realizing it at the time.
When I got to the Generous Giving conference, it really blew me away. The teachings were not particularly new. As I said, my father has always been very wise about the responsibility of wealth for followers of Christ. What moved me deeply at the conference was this: It was a safe environment. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but it was huge for me. Through the whole event, there was no “pitch.” I was waiting for the development guys there to pitch me. But no one ever did. Generous Giving was a neutral broker. They were not asking anything of me for themselves, so they were free to challenge me about my generosity.
When a wealthy peer stands up and says, “This is what I do in my own life. This is my own struggle. Here is where the giving line is for me,” it is radically different from a fund-raiser asking for money. When another donor challenges me, it puts the struggle in my heart, rather than between me and the fund-raiser.
I can tell you: The vast majority of Christian donors are certainly not as generous as they could be. The public may think that they are generous (and some truly are), but the vast majority are not. A six-figure gift seems like a lot of money to any ministry, but it is barely a dent for many mega-wealthy donors. In the story of the widow’s mite, Jesus gives us a giving model based on percentage. The idea is that eventually the Christian giver reaches 100 percent.
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