For all churches and denominations struggling to meet current budgets, Steve McSwain has a suggestion—stop trying to persuade, cajole or browbeat people into digging deep into their wallets.

Instead, the former pastor and vice president of one of the nation's largest charitable fund-raisers believes the Church should emphasize the joy that comes from giving.

When you learn to give away money, everything else falls into place, whether money, service or time, says McSwain, author of the newly-released "The Giving Myths: Giving, Then Getting, the Life You've Always Wanted."

"I think the culture needs to be established in the Church where we create freedom for people to talk about giving and what joy and experiences they are learning from giving in all its aspects," says the vice president of Dallas-based Cargill Associates. "Then, money becomes just one of those areas that we need to talk about."

Teaching how to give

When a church broadens its scope of what "giving" means, it can address the topic more frequently, McSwain says. Traditionally, Baptist churches discuss giving in the fall during budget-planning sessions, while independent Christian congregations schedule sessions every January.

Others are known for some form of annual giving emphasis. However, McSwain thinks these predictable pleas have established in members' minds that it is budget promotion time and money is needed to preserve the institutional church.

Not only is this timeworn stance much less popular today, the author says it does little to encourage generous giving.

"We need to be talking about giving from the pulpit," says McSwain, who consults with churches nationwide. "It's got to start with the leaders who are experiencing freedom from their own ego, learning how to give themselves away and how to abundantly share their own lives and resources with others.

"When that becomes the model, it's going to transform our preaching and teaching. We'll have experiences out of which we can speak that are not always tied to money, but may be tied to money."

This pro-active stance can mean scheduling regular, brief testimonies where members share how giving in some way has blessed them.

Another primary method McSwain recommends is forming a study group (largely laypersons) willing to explore the biblical basis of living an ego-free, resource-available lifestyle.

He believes getting together for scripture study and discussions can help this core group become life-transforming agents, with their learning and experiences infiltrating the entire church.

Confronting myths

Changing the culture means confronting ingrained myths that exist in church life. McSwain names seven leading ones in his book, including the idea that all giving must be done in secret.

While working with a church in the Southeast recently and trying to encourage open sharing about giving, the consultant encountered "all kinds of resistance," particularly the aforementioned belief.

While McSwain agrees that Jesus said in Matthew 6:1-4 to do good deeds in private, he points to Matthew 5:16, where Christ said to let our good deeds shine so everyone will praise the heavenly Father.

Too often, people who want to hide their miserly habits justify their secretiveness with the first passage, yet ignore scriptures that discuss openly sharing and cultivating generosity, he says.

Despite the scriptural studies and discussions with that church over a three-week period, at the end only one couple was willing to be more transparent with their giving. That shows how ingrained myths and cultural baggage won't be resolved overnight, McSwain says.

"It's going to take time and a patience on the part of leaders to develop a strategy that—over time—will reverse those trends we've created," McSwain says. "I think we can do it. We can become free to experience the joy of giving. It's got to start with leaders. If it happens with leaders, it will happen in the church."

Seriousness of situation

As the Church moves into the 21st century, giving's state of affairs demonstrates the seriousness of the situation. McSwain theorizes that the old 80-20 rule, where 80 percent of the money comes from 20 percent of the people, is now closer to 90-10.

There is a diminishing group of loyalists who are culturally conditioned to support the institutional Church; the consultant estimates the "Builders" who carried the nation through World War II are down to a few percent of the church population.

Those folks are being replaced by "Baby Boomers" who haven't been taught to give, which McSwain says stems from the belief handed down to them that giving was never to be discussed publicly.

This leaves pastors with the need to teach young and middle-aged adults about generous giving. McSwain says instead of pointing to the institutional church as a reason to give, what motivates younger adults is knowing the difference their dollars make in other people's lives.

One way to do that is for those who give to talk publicly about how it transformed their lives, he says.

"They need to bring up in front of people a living example, let the person tell it himself or herself," McSwain says. "Tell people, ‘Here's a living example of someone who's been reached, or whose family has been transformed.'

"Younger adults don't want to hear a sermon on why they should support this church. They want to see the difference their giving is making."