Does talk about giving make you grumpy or happy?
Giving to the Church is in decline and to increase giving you must adjust your attitude. Your attitude determines much of what you do and how you do what you do. When you hate something you simply don’t do it. If you do that which you hate you do it begrudgingly. When it comes to talking about giving, planning for giving or doing anything to increase giving the vast majority of pastors and staff would rather talk about something else. If we are to reverse the decline in giving we have to change our attitudes about talking about money!
Why is it pastors typically hate dealing with giving issues? I sometimes marvel that something as important as raising the funds to fuel ministry gets so little attention to the vast majority of pastors in America. In my experience there are several reasons for this. The following list impacts many pastors keeping them from fully developing a culture of stewardship at their churches. See which you are prone to be guilty of.
Many do not feel adequately trained. Our Christian institutions of learning have done a disservice to our leaders in not training them in this crucial field. Nearly everything a minister learns about stewardship he learned outside of the classroom.
One national survey of clergy, for instance, showed 77 percent of U.S. clergy are extremely satisfied with their seminary training on theological and liturgical issues, but a mere 7 percent are similarly satisfied with their seminary training on financial duties.”
Some pastors are not convinced it is biblically their role. I find that we have been so conditioned by lay people that we ministers are not supposed to know anything about the churches finances that we incorrectly assume that is biblical.
Author Loren Meade a clergyman and church management consultant, says, “Some pastors make a virtue of being “above” all that concern for filthy lucre…Under the rubric that money is “secular” and that the pastor’s work has to do with the “sacred,” clergy have written a brief that permits them to avoid leadership in the financial management and leadership of the congregation. They have accepted a functioning job description that excludes any concern for what I contend is one of the dominant spiritual issues every parishioner has: how to deal with material resources. This means that clergy not only give little leadership to the financial life of a congregation, but also set up a climate that sets little value on the functions of financial management carried out by others…It means pastoral abdication of one of the most troubling dimensions of living in our society.”
Some do not see the necessity. Despite numerous studies that show the importance of the leader being involved in stewardship many do not think it is necessary. As a result their ministry struggles to achieve the dreams they have been given or more likely don’t have any vision for the future at all. I find that most pastors give lip service to the importance of stewardship but in actuality it is far down their list of necessary tasks.
It’s unpopular and we like to be liked. No preacher wants to hear, “All you ever talk about at church is money.” I think the bottom line is that we like being liked and don’t want to do anything that will cause the above statement to be reinforced. So we go out of our way to not mention money.
It often makes the leader uncomfortable. Closely akin to the above point I find that many don’t like to talk about stewardship because it makes them feel uncomfortable. They struggle dealing with difficult topics knowing it will rub some the wrong way. They find that they cannot with boldness take a stand so they ignore the issue altogether. It is just easier to teach on the love of God rather than some subject that many find hard to listen to.
What is the result of this? A study by Robert Wuthnow that found only 32 percent of American church members reported that they had heard a sermon on the relationship between faith and personal finances in that previous year. Wuthnow concluded, “clergy often tiptoe around the topic of money as if they were taking a walk through a minefield.”
Is it any wonder giving is in decline? If you have read this far and found yourself guilty of a poor attitude and then wondered how can I fix that I have an answer, try my giving plan! My monthly membership gives you all the tools you need to increase giving. I do all the work for you! It gets sent directly to your inbox every Monday. You get the opportunity to personally connect with me. You are not one of 800 plus churches so that you get lost in the shuffle.
My sole mission in life is to help is to help pastors and church leaders have the tools they need to increase giving. I do that one church at a time. So, let’s start changing your attitude to change the course of your giving.
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach
Go here to take my 14 day trial of The Stewardship Coach for only $1! https://thestewardshipcoach.org/join-now/