How could you possibly tie chicken necks and offerings together? I recently wrote a Mother’s Day offering talk for my members entitled, “The Chicken Neck Sacrifice,” that I frankly worried might be too stupid to file. Imagine my amazement that it has become one of my most talked about offering talks! Read what I wrote and then stay with me as I break down the key elements of an offering talk. Here is the talk…
Have you ever heard that grandmothers and mothers would always eat the chicken neck when they served their families chicken? I remember hearing that and I found these statements from writers…
“When I was little, my mom and her mom used to always say that a mom’s favorite parts of the chicken were the necks and backs.” Another writer said,
“My Mom recently passed at 92. She ALWAYS ate the chicken neck. She said she liked it. Imagine my surprise when I brought one to her bedside three days before she passed and she turned her nose up at it. She confessed she never liked them and certainly didn’t have to eat them anymore!”
If they didn’t like them why did they eat them? Because mothers always sacrifice for their children saving the best for them. A mother’s love drives them to do amazing things even eating a bony chicken neck and feigning enjoyment from it! That is love and today we honor all mothers with this day of celebration. Let’s give all the mom’s a round of applause.
Love motivates us to do a lot of things we might not normally do like eat chicken necks. Every week we take up an offering and it is love that drives us to give away what we hold precious, our money. We sacrifice for the good of others. Your gifts allow us to do all we do here in impacting the lives of others.
So, this morning as we honor and celebrate the sacrificial love of mothers let’s give in that same spirit of mothers!
Now, let me be the first to say, this might have only struck a chord with a few but here is what one member wrote me, “your “elevator pitch for yesterday was primo, one of the best ever, so THANK YOU!” No, thank you Steve for the email and for giving me the idea to write about offering talks here.
8 Key Components of Effective Offering Talks – Use these components to write your own offering talk.
- Start with the attitude that all attendees should WANT to give to your offering. The issue is not that the church talks too much about giving it is how we do it. Let’s put some thought into our offering time creating a message that creates a desire to give. Your attitude about the offering drives how you take the offering.
- Give time to planning and forethought. Most churches NEVER think about the offering until it is time to take the offering!
- Never apologize for taking up the offering. The offering is worship so make it worshipful. We don’t tell guests they don’t have to sing so why do we go out of our way to tell them they don’t have to give. They will figure that out quickly! So, never start your offering with, “If you are a guest today please don’t feel you have to give.”
- Always connect the dots. Every talk should help people see how a dollar given the church helps fuel ministry. It is what I call connecting the dots.
- Tell your story of life change. One of my mantras is, “get a story, work your story, tell your story and people will give to support that story!”
- Be relevant. I might not have liked the chicken neck offering talk but I think the relevancy was what made it appealing to my clients.
- Be positive. Guilt never works. People know they ought to give. Show them how giving makes a difference and they will give.
- Ask them to give! Jesus said, “You have not because you ask not.” So ask people to give and they will give. When you ask correctly you will be surprised at the results.
Use these eight components to build out effective offering talks and you WILL see your offerings increase!
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach