When the Stock Market is volatile so is giving to the church! That might surprise you as most pastors and staff members I know are not students of the stock market. Yet the United Methodist church did a study some time ago and found that when the stock market was high giving to their churches was also higher.
If you have been watching the Markets have started 2015 with incredible volatility. We quickly lost sight of 18K for the DOW. There have been huge drops by as much as 300 points in one day! You might not think that matters to you but here is a truth we need to embrace, volatility creates a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence causes donors to push back from generous giving. This creates a trickle down impact upon your planned budget giving. Here is how it goes…
When Wall Street gets nervous Main Street catches that unease.
When Main Street feels uneasy the donors in your pews or chairs get uneasy.
When your donors feel uneasy it is more difficult to get them to give generously.
When donors don’t give generously you struggle to fund your missions and ministry.
Whether we like it or not those are realities. Your core members will of course give no matter what as they understand discipleship. Yet what about those new to the faith? The news of events and things like a declining market all combine to make giving seem a dangerous proposition for many. Sadly many Christians, as evidence by the decline in giving during the last recession, make giving the first thing they jettison.
For the spiritually immature emotions drives what they do. A church that wants to be fully funded must not ignore the realities around them. You must have a plan of action to address people’s fears.
Since emotions often impact whether a person gives or not let’s get their emotions on the right track! We can preach all day that people ought to give. The vast majority of your attendees know they ought to give. They need to see the why of giving first.
We talk to our clients about connecting the dots. Helping people see all the amazing things your church does for the community and the world. Then you can ask people to give and they will do so willingly. Before you can create a consistent giver you have to get the first gift.
Use your offering time to connect the dots for those in attendance. Every week the members here get an offering talk that connects the dots for them. We never apologize for taking up the offering. We never tell guests they don’t have to give. We simply tell all the wonderful things a gift to the church does. You know the old saying, you can lead the horse to water but you can’t make him drink? My goal is to lead people to the waters and make them WANT to give!
Do you have an offering talk ready for this week? I have one for you. You can get it by signing up to our monthly membership here, https://thestewardshipcoach.org/join-now/
Let me help you stabilize your giving no matter what the market does!
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach