Giving to the Church in America is on decline and to offset that you need to know why churches are struggling financially. I have been working for twenty years to see the decline in giving be reversed. My life’s vision is, “To reverse the decline in giving one church at a time.” The biggest hurdle I have in fulfilling this vision are the churches themselves. Too many simply don’t pay attention to giving. In my twenty years of work here are what I have found as the major reason churches are struggling financially.
First and foremost, a church that is struggling financially is almost always led by a pastor that is disconnected from giving. That is a harsh statement but I have found it true. On the one hand it is a result of thinking any talk of money is not their place. The other issue is that few actually know what to do. Then finally most pastors are simply pressed for time and the tyranny of the urgent keeps them from spending time on giving.
Then I find that church tend to be overly optimistic. This exhibits itself in two major ways. Churches tend to set their budgets too high thus setting themselves up for failure even before their giving year begins. Then as the year progresses and giving falls behind they make the mistake of assuming next week will be better. As the old saying goes, “Hope is not a strategy.”
Churches tend to ignore trends and this leads them into trouble. As with the point above they often set a budget without considering their giving trends. They don’t know what their strengths or weaknesses are. This lack of knowledge and understanding results in going forward blind. The results are seldom good.
Often churches think momentum is perpetual. By this I mean that they don’t pay continual attention to the basics that lead to increases in giving. Every year you will lose donors. How will you make that up? The momentum you experienced last year will only carry you so far. Eventually your momentum will slow and your giving will be impacted. You have to continually work at increasing giving and givers. I can’t tell you how many times I have had leaders reply to an email from me by saying, “I don’t need this help.” The truth is they are probably already in trouble and simply do not realize it.
They wait too late to do anything! Typically when my phone rings it is a church that is desperate. Acting now can help you avoid trouble and crisis. Waiting until June or July to do something about your budget deficit makes it difficult to be successful. Every week you delay doing something about your giving makes it more difficult to pull you out of the decline. Act now!
They lack a plan of action! Churches have plans for everything but tragically few have a plan to increase giving and givers. Without a plan you are planning on failure.
One of my mantras is Get a plan and work your plan. That is what I provide my Giving365 members every week and every day. I give them detailed plans that if they follow will lead to an increase in giving. Here is a testimony from one of my clients…
“2016 contributions were up 17% over the same period in 2015. We attribute much of this to your leadership! I extol your praises, and the value of your services, at every Finance Committee meeting. They regularly remark that one of my strengths is that I’ve taken “talking about money from something you do once or twice a year to something that we can expect nearly every week.” THANK YOU for your leadership, inspiration, and support!” Pastor Steve Heyduck First United Methodist Church Euless, TX
Try the same plan that Steve used to increase his giving for only $1! Click this link, $1 for 14 Day Trail offer
Let’s get you started towards being fully funded for 2017!
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach