• Home
• Articles
• Blogs
• Videos
• Buyer's Guide
• Consultant Directory
• Training & Certification
• Bookstore
• Jobs

How to maintain the spirit of giving throughout the year (part 2)

by: Ken Walker

Low offerings. It's a problem almost every church faces at some time in its life. The simple prescription offered by one financial consultant: prayer.

Keith Hamilton, director of church financial services for the Georgia Baptist Convention, recommends pastors and church leaders remember the vital nature of a prayer ministry. It should include the pastor’s participation.

"All churches pray, but this is when a significant group of men and women intentionally seek God for his blessing on the fellowship," Hamilton says. "I don’t know of any church trying to overcome low offerings without that essential ingredient."

The financial expert also thinks churches need to recover their "anointed position" as the place for members’ tithes. Offerings can go to para-church organizations and other ministries, but the tithe should go to the church, he insists.

"This is something we have forgotten that was taught 30 years ago," Hamilton says.

Whatever their view on tithing, Aubrey Malphurs, who co-authored the book, "Money Matters in Church," urges church leaders to develop a solid financial theology and to teach it well.

"It’s imperative that every pastor know what the Bible says about finances before trying to talk to his people about them," he writes.

Steve McSwain, senior vice president at Cargill Associates, a Dallas-based fund raising firm, suggests that both church and para-church giving are important parts of nurturing a lifestyle of generosity among Christians.

In his book, "The Giving Myths," he writes, "The discipline of giving must be given a higher priority in the church than any other discipline in the Christian life."

Hamilton agrees.

"Christ talked about money and the Bible talks about money, only second to the love of God," Hamilton says. "If it’s that important a topic to Christ and the rest of the Bible, then certainly we need to talk about it in the church."

Once a vision has been cast and stewardship education has been established, churches should take their talk about giving for a practical walk.

Malphurs suggests expanding opportunities to give—using what he calls the "five pockets" for donations: the general fund, building fund, missions, designated giving and benevolence. By simply providing more places to give people will often give more.

Trust is a big factor that can lead to decreased giving, McSwain says. A controversy or conflict within a congregation—particularly when it is unresolved—is one of the leading causes.

Misappropriation of funds can also diminish offerings. Big offerings meant big trouble for one church in the South where McSwain visited recently. A former pastor led the $2.5 million-budget church to direct its mission giving to a seminary overseas. After several years and millions of dollars, members discovered none of the money had reached its destination.

Although the church fired the pastor, it was unable to prove he had misappropriated the money and no criminal charges were filed. However, the damage lingers several years later, the consultant says.

"When people get the idea there’s a misuse of funds, if things aren’t on the up and up, we create an atmosphere of suspicion," McSwain says. "That will cut giving."

Churches can take several specific steps to help insure against mishandled funds. "The Zondervan 2005 Church and Nonprofit Tax and Financial Guide" by CPA Dan Busby explains that money-handling problems often arise because cash is easily misappropriated.

"If offerings are not counted before they go from two-person control to one-person control, some or all of the cash can easily disappear," Busby writes.

The guide recommends churches adopt a written policy outlining procedures for donations from the time they are received to the time they are deposited in the bank. This may be a start for a congregation that has no set policies in place.

Every church will inevitably face a financial crunch, whether that is related to the summer-vacation season or external factors such as a plant closing that costs some members their job.

That is why Hamilton advises the thousands of churches in his state convention to develop a contingency fund with at least two months’ of cash reserves to deal with interruptions in income.

"The two to three-month period is absolutely crucial," Hamilton says. "It gives the financial team or committee time when giving goes through a slump to be pro-active instead of reactive. If you don’t have a cash reserve built up it quickly becomes a very negative issue.

"Many temporary church financial crises could be avoided or reduced if the church exercised sound financial planning advice."

If creating a reserve fund isn’t possible, or a church finds itself in the midst of a crisis, Hamilton advises having a financial committee direct the church expenditures until the crisis is eliminated.

He says to never put one person (such as the treasurer) in the difficult position of deciding which bills should be paid first—salaries, salaries, benefits, utilities or missions?

Church consultants agree that turning financial crisis into financial peace may begin by casting a vision for giving from the heart. Imagine arguing over where to spend the surplus instead of how to pay the light bill.

This vision of plenty begins by educating congregation members about God’s ideas on giving. As McSwain says, "If we want to increase giving in the church, we’ve got to move away from the theology of giving to preserve the institution. We have to model for people what means to give one’s self away to find one’s self. That is the essence of the Christian faith."

Then, once they have seen a vision and understand a biblical theology of giving, involve members in communicating well about where the church should spend money and where it is spending money. This should include prayer.

Finally, take practical steps to create plenty of ways to give and to insure good financial accountability.