12 Practices Of Highly Generous Churches

Tomorrow, the company I work for, INJOY Stewardship Solutions (ISS) along with NorthStar Church, will be putting on the Take Out Conference.  This is an event attended by approximately 200 church leaders who want to take ministry out of their churches and into their communities.

As part of the conference, I will be teaching a breakout session for ISS.  The following are my notes that I will be sharing:

The Problem That Currently Exists In American Churches

• Christians are giving at a 2.5% per capita or tithe.  During the Great Depression, they gave at a 3.3% rate.
• Today, 33-50% of church members, those who claim they have bought in at a deep level to your ministry, give nothing.
• If we were able to have our people increase their giving from 2.5% to 10% of their annual income, an additional $165 billion would flow into the Kingdom.  To show the global impact those resources could make, consider the following:
• $25 billion would relieve global hunger, starvation, and deaths from preventable diseases in 5 years.
• $12 billion would eliminate illiteracy in 5 years.
• $15 billion would solve the world’s water and sanitation issues, specifically at places in the world where 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day.
• $1 billion would fully fund the Great Commission.
• $100 – $110 billion would still be left over for additional ministry expansion.

These statistics were provided by www.generouschurch.com.Â

The Questions Church Leaders Then Need To Be Asking Based Upon This Current Reality

• Where can we get a roadmap to help us effectively communicate our need for financial resources to continue fulfilling our ministry vision?
• How do we focus people and leadership on the responsiveness and the generous heart that honors God?
• How do we help our leaders discern the importance of best practices and the role of faith in making decisions for the ministry of the church?

To answer these questions we must build a composite picture of what the Practices Of A Highly Generous Church looks like.  It has the following:

• Righteous Regret – The Pastor and senior leadership must be broken about the condition of those around them and had a vision of what financial resources could do to bring aid to the hurting and suffering.
• Ethos – The word means “shared fundamental traits.  The fundamental and distinctive character of a group, social context, or period of time, expressed in attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs.”  Church leaders, do you celebrate generosity?  Is it part of your culture?
• Defiant – Highly generous churches are non-apologetic about asking for resources because…
• Poverty Centric – Generous churches focus on the under-resourced, hurting, orphaned, poor, and those in need rather than ministry maintenance.Â
• Crusade – Is your church on a quest to be generous and serve those around you?
• Partnerships – Generous churches work with other groups such as Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, and Convoy Of Hope who do things better than we do.
• Call To Action – How you ask people to be generous makes a big difference in their level of engagement.
• Clear Instruction – Clarity is critical to connecting finances to ministry and life change.
• Easy Accessibility – All churches should have automatic draft, on-line giving, and kiosks in their lobbies.  Churches are one of the few places left where people still write checks but that is diminishing greatly.
• Corporate Commitment – Everyone (young, old, male, female, rich, or poor) can and does make a difference.
• Financial Leaders – Generous churches proactively identify, cultivate and engage financial leaders.
• Stories – To help keep the vision alive and connect-the-dots for those in your church, you must strategically and frequently communicate life change.

Pastors and church leaders, if you are in the Atlanta area, please come to the event as there is still room available.  Also, if your church needs to become a Highly Generous Church, please let me know.  The ISS team has helped over 5,000 churches and we would be honored to serve you as well.

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