Don’t be afraid to ask!
One reason I believe churches are struggling financially is that they do not know The Art of the Ask. Yes I know it is a play on some person’s famous book. Yet there is an art to asking people to give that most churches either ignore or simply don’t know about. If your church is going to be fully funded you have to know The Art of the Ask.
Let me blow away a common myth to start with by saying that the vast majority of churches never talk about money. Studies consistently prove this to be true. In fact many churches go out of their way to avoid making any appeal for the offering.
A few years ago I wrote a book entitled, “The Top Ten Stewardship Mistakes Churches Make.” One of the chapters was called, “Failing to Ask.” It showed that contrary to popular opinion most churches never talk about money. The next chapter was entitled, “Asking to Fail.” Here is the opening sentence, “We have established that churches are failing to ask but what might surprise you is that a major stewardship mistake is that churches ask in a way that leads to failure.”
Most churches when they do talk about money and giving use guilt as a motivator.
Guilt or telling people they ought to give never works. Oh, it might get a short spike in that week’s offering but it will not change minds and hearts. The reason why is…
Guilt puts burdens on people’s backs. Love puts a passion in people’s hearts.
Telling people they “ought” to give will never move them to become disciples of generosity.
If you are going to be fully funded AND attract new donors you have to know the Art of the Ask.
There have been multiple studies done on what motivates people or what their life goals are. One thing that always come out is that people want their lives to make a difference. That means a variety of things but the point is that we want to exist for meaning and purpose. When it comes to deciding whether to give or not to your church the same is true. They give to what they deem has value and significance.
Instead of being afraid to make the “ask,” here is how you should think.
No other organization on the face of the earth can do what your church can do. Therefore it is worth giving money to. Since your church is changing the world for the better why would you NOT ask people to give to support your Kingdom building work? Since all this is true you will never shy away from asking people to support your cause because your cause is God’s cause!
So…
To get people to give…
- Show members what their gifts to your church have accomplished for the Kingdom.
- Show members what future gifts will do for the Kingdom.
- Show them God’s promises to those that do give.
- Be positive rather than negative.
- Never give up asking!
People will give when they know their gift matters. You need to craft each and every offering to show them why giving is important. As I always say, Get a story, work your story, tell your story and people will give to support your story! Did you tell a story before this past week’s offering? My members did!
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Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach