From the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Leading Ideas: Reimaging Stewardship Season | Five Questions for Discerning Your Annual Giving Theme" from The Lewis Center for Church Leadership of The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D. C., United States for Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Reimaging Stewardship Season by Laura Heikes Pastor Laura Heikes shares strategies for making stewardship season something people don’t dread, but to which they look forward. “It’s not impossible,” she writes. “Dream a little, try some new things, and don’t be afraid to talk boldly about giving. After all, Jesus did.”
Who says stewardship has to drive people away? Last year during our stewardship drive, 14 people joined our church, four of them by professing their faith in Christ. Try doing it a new way, and you may find it’s so wonderful that visitors can’t wait to be a part of a church like yours.
Focus on the positive
One of the best changes we ever made was to stop talking about what was lacking and focus on what was going right. How many prayer shawls have you given away this year? How many kids are in the church nursery? Have you built a home with Habitat? Gone on a mission trip? That’s not a victory just for the people who were there, but for the church.
Share Stories
Many churches try to recruit an influential public figure as their “stewardship speaker,” to come in and tell people they really need to give more money. Use special speakers from within the church instead. Don’t ask them to tell their neighbors to give. Ask them to share their stories. How has being part of your church changed their lives? Some of our best speakers haven’t necessarily had a track record of generosity, but they always have an amazing story of the impact the congregation has had on their lives.
We call the final Sunday of our Stewardship Emphasis “I Love My Church Sunday.” At each worship service, two or three members share why they love our church and how our ministry has changed their lives. The result is a Stewardship Sunday that has become a service people look forward to all year.
Be Bold
Don’t be afraid! Money was one of the things Jesus talked about most. For years, I skirted the issue, thinking it was too tough for most people. But then I realized: God promises to throw open floodgates and pour out blessings so great that we won’t have room for them (Malachi 3:10). Which of us wouldn’t want that for ourselves and others? Present tithing invitingly and boldly, and help people work towards it with joy.
What if people looked forward to stewardship time? It’s not impossible. Dream a little, try some new things, and don’t be afraid to talk boldly about giving. After all, Jesus did.
Related Resources:
Reimaging Stewardship Season by Laura Heikes Pastor Laura Heikes shares strategies for making stewardship season something people don’t dread, but to which they look forward. “It’s not impossible,” she writes. “Dream a little, try some new things, and don’t be afraid to talk boldly about giving. After all, Jesus did.”Who says stewardship has to drive people away? Last year during our stewardship drive, 14 people joined our church, four of them by professing their faith in Christ. Try doing it a new way, and you may find it’s so wonderful that visitors can’t wait to be a part of a church like yours.
Focus on the positive
One of the best changes we ever made was to stop talking about what was lacking and focus on what was going right. How many prayer shawls have you given away this year? How many kids are in the church nursery? Have you built a home with Habitat? Gone on a mission trip? That’s not a victory just for the people who were there, but for the church.
We call the final Sunday of our Stewardship Emphasis “I Love My Church Sunday.” Two or three members share how our ministry has changed their lives. The result is a Stewardship Sunday that has become a service people look forward to all year.
As leaders, look for what is good, the ministry that is changing lives, and talk about it. Take pictures and share in newsletters, sermons, and casual conversations. Before the offering each week, don’t talk about how the budget is short; talk about the $200 the youth raised to feed 500 homeless people this weekend. Then fill your yearly stewardship materials with stories and pictures of the impact your ministry has had in your community.Share Stories
Many churches try to recruit an influential public figure as their “stewardship speaker,” to come in and tell people they really need to give more money. Use special speakers from within the church instead. Don’t ask them to tell their neighbors to give. Ask them to share their stories. How has being part of your church changed their lives? Some of our best speakers haven’t necessarily had a track record of generosity, but they always have an amazing story of the impact the congregation has had on their lives.
We call the final Sunday of our Stewardship Emphasis “I Love My Church Sunday.” At each worship service, two or three members share why they love our church and how our ministry has changed their lives. The result is a Stewardship Sunday that has become a service people look forward to all year.
Be Bold
Don’t be afraid! Money was one of the things Jesus talked about most. For years, I skirted the issue, thinking it was too tough for most people. But then I realized: God promises to throw open floodgates and pour out blessings so great that we won’t have room for them (Malachi 3:10). Which of us wouldn’t want that for ourselves and others? Present tithing invitingly and boldly, and help people work towards it with joy.
What if people looked forward to stewardship time? It’s not impossible. Dream a little, try some new things, and don’t be afraid to talk boldly about giving. After all, Jesus did.
Related Resources:
- 50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship Campaign
- Optimizing Annual Financial Campaigns Video Tool Kit
- Crafting Better Commitment Campaign Messages by Ann A. Michel
Read more.
Five Questions for Discerning Your Annual Giving Themes by John Zehring And Kate Jagger John Zehring and Kate Jagger describe five questions that can help you define a theme that can serve as an effective framework for your annual stewardship campaign. A well-chosen campaign theme, they say, can help make your annual focus on giving invigorating and spiritually uplifting.
Special offerings to aid individuals or communities in the wake of natural disasters or other crises often provide opportunities for churches to demonstrate their capacity for generosity and to measure the abundance within the congregation. Similarly, capital campaigns or special fund-raising efforts for one-time major expenses, such as fixing the organ or the roof, radiate an energy of their own. They are surrounded by hoopla, promotions, and celebrations, and everyone pulls together to reach the one-time goal, exclaiming, “We can do it!”
But what about the campaign for pledges to cover the church’s annual budget year after year? Fund-raising, even with a spiritual focus, can be a chore and downright drudgery. How can the energy of an annual campaign be sustained? It feels that as soon as you finish, it is time to prepare for the next year.
Five questions will help you define a theme that can serve as an effective framework for your campaign.
Related Resources:
Five Questions for Discerning Your Annual Giving Themes by John Zehring And Kate Jagger John Zehring and Kate Jagger describe five questions that can help you define a theme that can serve as an effective framework for your annual stewardship campaign. A well-chosen campaign theme, they say, can help make your annual focus on giving invigorating and spiritually uplifting.Special offerings to aid individuals or communities in the wake of natural disasters or other crises often provide opportunities for churches to demonstrate their capacity for generosity and to measure the abundance within the congregation. Similarly, capital campaigns or special fund-raising efforts for one-time major expenses, such as fixing the organ or the roof, radiate an energy of their own. They are surrounded by hoopla, promotions, and celebrations, and everyone pulls together to reach the one-time goal, exclaiming, “We can do it!”
But what about the campaign for pledges to cover the church’s annual budget year after year? Fund-raising, even with a spiritual focus, can be a chore and downright drudgery. How can the energy of an annual campaign be sustained? It feels that as soon as you finish, it is time to prepare for the next year.
A well-chosen campaign theme can help make your annual focus on giving invigorating and spiritually uplifting.
The annual campaign provides an opportunity to tell stories, highlight your church’s strengths, use language that resonates with your congregation, and connect to the unique vision which God has called your church to pursue.Five questions will help you define a theme that can serve as an effective framework for your campaign.
- What are the strengths of your church? Emphasize what your congregation does best, not its weaknesses or needs.
- What words resonate in your community of faith? Make a list of words or phrases that you think will speak to the values or goals of your congregation. Favor positive words. Avoid negative ones.
- What is God calling your church to be? This may be related to your presence and work in the community or world, or it may be focused on a particular spiritual emphasis.
- What idea or image will inspire members to grow in generosity? One church celebrating the arrival of a new pastor and the sense of renewed energy he brought to the congregation chose the image of a tree to represent their theme. The tree symbolized the spirit of growth they were experiencing as a community, the growth of programming and outreach they hoped would follow, and, of course, the growing generosity the campaign aimed to inspire.
- How might one or more of the previous answers be linked to a Bible verse? You do not need to use an entire verse; a key phrase from a verse may work as your theme. For example, from 2 Corinthians 9:5-8, “Every blessing in abundance.”
Related Resources:
- 50 Ways to Improve Your Annual Stewardship Campaign
- Optimizing Annual Financial Campaigns Video Tool Kit
- Crafting Better Commitment Campaign Messages by Ann A. Michel
Read more.
The Right Question:
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
It's easy to dream too small or miss opportunities. Will Mancini tells about a meeting with church leaders in which a question sparked ideas leading to a new ministry in their community -- one that had never come up for conversation before. He asked each person to respond to this question:
What do you secretly believe your church would be great at but never told anyone?
The Right Question:
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
It's easy to dream too small or miss opportunities. Will Mancini tells about a meeting with church leaders in which a question sparked ideas leading to a new ministry in their community -- one that had never come up for conversation before. He asked each person to respond to this question:
What do you secretly believe your church would be great at but never told anyone?
Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.
Learn about Stewardship and Biblical Generosity
Designed to nurture the spiritual discipline of giving,Theology of Stewardship and Biblical Generosity may be used in a variety of Christian education settings or in conjunction with an annual stewardship emphasis. This video tool kit is ecumenical and may be used for self study or with groups. Featured topics:
Quotable Leadership:
I've come to see institutional decline like a staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages.[Jim Collins]
50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Children
Jesus said, "Let the children come to me." Learn how your church can demonstrate its love for children and its desire to connect with younger families through effective ministry for and with children. Read "50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Children" now.
Editors: Dr. Ann A. Michel and Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Learn about Stewardship and Biblical Generosity Designed to nurture the spiritual discipline of giving,Theology of Stewardship and Biblical Generosity may be used in a variety of Christian education settings or in conjunction with an annual stewardship emphasis. This video tool kit is ecumenical and may be used for self study or with groups. Featured topics:
- Stewardship 101
- What the Bible Teaches about Giving
- A Christian Understanding of Money, Possessions, and Generosity
- Biblical Generosity
- Faith and Generosity
Quotable Leadership:
I've come to see institutional decline like a staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages.[Jim Collins]
50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with ChildrenJesus said, "Let the children come to me." Learn how your church can demonstrate its love for children and its desire to connect with younger families through effective ministry for and with children. Read "50 Ways to Strengthen Ministry with Children" now.
Editors: Dr. Ann A. Michel and Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NorthWest
Washington, D. C. 20016, United States
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