Preacher-with-BibleGiving to the church is down and there are 3 reasons why pastors are to blame for the decline in giving.  I know this is a harsh statement.  Yet from my experience after 20 years of being a Senior Pastor and over 19 years of working with churches helping build giving plans this is the reality.  Pastors all too often simply don’t get the need for any type of giving plan.  When you don’t have a giving plan you are planning on failing.

Before I give you my three reasons let me say that the decline in giving is driven by many factors.  The decline in attendance is the biggest reason.  Put a chart of the decline of church attendance next to a chart of the decline in giving and they will look almost identical.  Another major reason for giving’s decline is that we are fast becoming a more secularized society.  That fuels the decline in attendance and thus in giving.  Finally, our major donor groups are aging and younger generations are not as generous as past generations.  So, these are the key factors.

Too many pastors are not responding to the decline in giving.  I have found three major reasons why.  Too many pastors are…

Disconnected – In over nineteen years in the stewardship ministry I have found without exception that the lack of pastoral involvement in stewardship is the number one reason churches are failing to realize their potential in giving.  Few pastors take an interest in stewardship.  When they do give any time to stewardship it is often begrudgingly.  The vast majority of pastors simply ignore stewardship and the offering plate shows the neglect.

Delusional – One of the mistakes that pastors and churches make when it comes to stewardship is what I call the business as usual approach to raising funds.  The vast majority of churches simply do what they have always done with regards to stewardship.  Then they wonder why giving has not increased or that it has actually declined.

If you do what you have always done you will not get what you have always gotten.  Times have changed and people’s views of stewardship have changed as well.  Giving to the church continues to decline year after year.  Much of this can be blamed by the fact that churches too often do the same thing year after year without ever considering if it works.  I mean no disrespect, but if you keeping doing what you have always done and the results are not what they used to be it is delusional to keep trying the same thing over again and again.

Desperate – At some point when you can’t pay salaries or the bills pastors realize they must do something.  Typically what they do is the wrong thing.  They react and usually it comes off as desperate.  That is followed up by desperate appeal letters or scorching sermons on giving.  The very action they take hoping to make matters better actually makes it worse.

I believe that pastors don’t talk too much about giving.  I believe they don’t talk about it enough!  When they do however they often do so utilizing guilt. It is not the frequency in which you talk about money it is how you talk about it that sets off people.  Too much of the preaching on the topic, when we preach on it at all, is guilt laden.  No wonder people are resentful.

Pastor, for your own sake, be a leader!  My old boss John Maxwell is famous for his quote that, “everything rises and falls upon leadership.”  When it comes to the success of stewardship at your church it rises and falls upon leadership of the Senior Pastor.  Show me a pastor who is connected and actively working stewardship and I will show you a church that has the funds for the ministry they desire to do.

I get responses like, “I don’t need your services.”  Or, “I am not interested.”  I am that bothering guy that asks questions few pastors want to think about.  I ask things like, “How is giving at your church?”  Or, “Are you ahead or behind budget.”  Then I ask, “What is your plan for making budget?”  What I get is blank stares or I get ignored.

Pastor, I can help you if you will let me.  I have the plans, the materials, the sample AND I have time to talk to you personally.  With my help we can reverse your decline in giving.  I will even let you try my plan for 14 days for only $1.  Go to, $1 14 Day Offering Trail

Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach