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On a Shoestring
and a Prayer - Churches need donations Excerpts from article with quotes by Brian Kluth and others... Breaking the silence. "There are 2,350 passages in the bible dealing with money and material possessions--more than on any other subject--but it's the least talked-about subject in the church," says Brian Kluth, an ordained minister and founder of www.MAXIMUMgenerosity.org, which provides pastors and church leaders with website articles, a free monthly newsletter, and downloadable resources to encourage greater giving in their churches*. "The church has been silent for so long that people don't understand the responsibilities that undergird a generous lifestyle." To address both the spiritual needs of parishioners and the financial needs of the church, lay leaders and pastors of successful churches are taking a number of steps to break the silence and reverse the downward direction of church-giving trends. They're providing more guidance to members. "People actually come to me and say 'How much should I give?'" says Dr. William Phillippe, a Presbyterian minister and a stewardship leader for the denomination. "They have no clue, and my goal is to try to get pastors to understand that they're now going to have to tell people." "Churches don't want to turn people off by seeming too rigid or dogmatic," says Robert Wuthnow, professor of sociology at Princeton University. "They prefer to say, `You figure it out and give us whatever you feel like giving,' and often that isn't very effective." In the absence of guidance, people may either pick a number out of the air or give what they gave last year (usually the same amount as the year before and the year before that). In simple terms, the theological rationale for stewardship is that God has been generous and that this blessing can be shared with others. Terry Parsons, stewardship officer for the Episcopal church, describes three kinds of giving in her talks to congregations around the country. The first is ordinary stewardship, the day-in, day-out giving of a portion of your time, talent and money. The second is extraordinary stewardship: the opportunity to make a meaningful one-time gift because of a sudden increase in your net worth--say, through an inheritance or a skyrocketing stock. "I think of this as a spiritual adventure, whereas ordinary stewardship is a spiritual discipline," says Parsons. The last category is legacy stewardship, leaving 10% or some other portion of your estate to the church. Churches that emphasize all three types of giving encourage members to look at their weekly offering as a starting point, not as the fulfillment of their obligation. Successful churches communicate a vision to their members. "The church has to demonstrate that it's truly doing God's work in the world and that it's not just taking care of its own bricks and mortar," says Tom Gossen, executive director of the Episcopal Network for Stewardship, a nonprofit group that exchanges ideas and resources on stewardship. Churches also need to address the financial and workplace concerns that affect parishioners all during the week, says Wuthnow. For starters, he suggests, "the clergy must do a better job of relating theology to everyday life and the work that people do in their ordinary jobs, not the work that they do for an hour or two a week in the church basement." Some churches offer classes and discussion groups on budgeting, debt counseling and other financial topics. "Those churches are seeing increases in giving because their members are getting their finances straightened out and reordering their priorities," says Kluth. Crown Ministries (www.crown.org), which offers one such program, says that the average level of giving among the million plus graduates of its 10-week course has risen by one-third. The courses are led by lay leaders, who must agree not to sell any financial products. They're making it convenient to give. "Churches have to catch up with the way people use money today," says Kluth, and that includes taking a cue from other nonprofit groups and accepting contributions via electronic fund transfer. That simple step can help churches avoid the year-end cash-flow crunch when they are waiting for members to catch up on their annual pledge. Kluth said, some churches are also establishing a separate account at a brokerage house to accept gifts of appreciated stock. Their pastors are providing leadership on finances. This is a challenge for churches because it doesn't come naturally to most clergymen and -women. Pastors aren't trained in seminary to talk about money, don't feel that money issues are part of their "calling" and are saddled with their own money hang-ups, says Phil Williams, an ordained minister and executive director of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center. "Pastors are some of the worst money managers," he says, so they don't want to speak on something that they are struggling with themselves. Some pastors may also feel that it's self-serving to preach about giving when their salary is a big chunk of the church's budget. Some seminaries are beginning to better prepare students for the administrative duties they will face. Kluth recommends quarterly rather than annual statements ("The more you let them know how they're doing, the more faithful they'll be") and a newsletter tucked in with the statement that shows how the money is spent... For the full article, go to:
On a
Shoestring and a Prayer *Position description is updated from the original article (when Brian was the national president of the Christian Stewardship Association) For media interviews with Brian Kluth, email him at: bk@kluth.org or call him on his cell at 719-930-4000
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