The importance of instructing and inspiring

LESSON #1 - Provide biblical teaching

Most churches found that their people were in need of practical and inspirational instruction and encouragement in the areas of Christian generosity. Churches found it helpful and very important that these areas be taught from the pulpit by the Sr. Pastor and/or an experienced financial speaker, so that a proper spiritual tone and biblical basis was in place for the drive.

LESSON #2 - Include personal testimonies

A number of churches actively included personal testimonies during worship times from people who have experienced the grace of giving in their lives and/or who were specifically led by the Lord to become supportive of the expansion project. Written testimonies, handouts and articles were also used to help encourage people in the spiritual aspects of their giving decisions.

LESSON #3 - Aim to make the fund drive a rich spiritual experience

Many churches indicated that their expansion drives helped deepen people's faith and spiritual commitment (i.e. - especially through the increased vision people received, the interaction people had with others during the drive, and/or their increased or sacrificial giving to the Lord's work at the church).

The importance of identifying and informing

LESSON #4 - Have a comprehensive plan

Every successful funding effort had a specific plan on how to instruct, inspire, inform and appropriately involve people within the following groups:

• Leadership: Church leadership, pastor(s), staff, heads and key leaders of church ministries/committees.
• Active membership:People regularly involved in serving and in small group ministries.
• Potential major givers: People who exhibited the gift of giving in the past or who may have the potential to be a major financial help in the drive.
• Regular attenders: People who attend church at least twice a month.
• Fringe people: Occasional or sporadic attenders.

LESSON #5 - Get experienced counsel and/or help

In addition to the active involvement of many lay leaders and staff, nearly all the churches that raised major dollars for expansion efforts used some level of experienced help and professional guidance (usually from external sources) to lead them through the funding process.

LESSON #6 - Develop helpful collateral materials

Each church developed materials that effectively informed the congregation what the plans were and what level of help and support would be needed. Items often developed included multimedia presentations, case-statement brochures, question-and-answer flyers, personal presentation packets, commitment cards, mailings, and update sections in church publications.

The importance of inviting and involving

LESSON #7 - Have specific commitment time(s)

Following a period of advance instruction, inspiration and information, churches would invite their people to carefully and prayerfully indicate how the Lord has led them to be involved in the church expansion plans. In a number of cases this was done in two stages, the first stage would be receiving the commitments from the families that make up the church's main leadership and lead givers, and the second phase (2-4 weeks later) would be receiving the commitments from the rest of the congregation on a specific target date or event.

NOTE: This information was gathered through interviews Brian Kluth conducted with churches of various sizes. Churches that followed these principles successfully raised several hundred thousand to millions of dollars. The author has seen churches whose leadership ignored, disregarded or violated these principles fall seriously short of their funding goals.

Brian Kluth is a national and international speaker and writer on Biblical generosity and financial matters. He is also a church pastor and the founder of MAXIMUM Generosity, a public ministry dedicated to advancing Biblical generosity through inspirational preaching, leadership training seminars, writing, resources and the media. Brian's written materials have been distributed to more than 350,000 Christian leaders in more than 100 countries. For additional materials or to contact Brian, email: bk@kluth.org or visit: www.kluth.org