I am here with the bad news of why your church will struggle to make budget in 2018. I know everyone hates bad news. Especially at the start of the New Year. We want to be filled with optimism and hope right? Yet what we often need is someone to tell us the truth. The truth is that giving to the Church is in decline. Here are some reasons why…
- America is increasingly more secularized every year. 40%. That is the amount of decline between 1983 and 2016 of the U.S. population that identified with most of the largest Protestant traditions in the U.S. As a result…
- Fewer people attend church weekly. When there are fewer bottoms in the chairs or pews the offering plate will feel the impact. For many Americans the Church is irrelevant and unnecessary.
- Aging donors present a giving challenge for churches. The generation that built our churches in the 1960’s and ’70’s are for the most part gone. The Baby Boomers, America’s largest donor class, is moving into retirement with 10,000 of them a day turning 65. All of the above impacts giving and threatens to cause you to miss your budget mark.
The above is what sociologists and Church administrators will cite as reasons for the decline in giving. These contribute to your struggling to make budget in 2018 but the real reasons you might come up empty handed in your struggle is a…
Lack of planning and messaging.
How important is your message? People want to give to causes that are making a difference. Churches do amazing work each and every day but most of it gets little to no mention. We simply fail to tell our story. We take up offerings without ever telling people what that money is being used for. We fail to connect the dots for people.
I believe that for a church to be fully funded you must tell the story of what you are doing. Every offering, every appeal MUST have a message. Every week I write for my members a weekly offering talk that allows them to help people see what their generous gifts will accomplish for the Kingdom. One of my mantras is…
Get a story, work your story, tell your story and people will gladly give to support that story! Do you have a story for 2018?
It takes planning and work to be fully funded! In my nearly 20 years of working with churches to increase giving this is the number one key. Churches who have plans to address giving and work their plans have a better chance of being fully funded than those that don’t have a plan. I always say, if you are not planning you are planning on failure. What is your plan for increasing giving and givers in this New Year? Without a message and a plan you will struggle!
My plan, The Stewardship Coach, find out more at Giving Help
Your plans and dreams for this New Year are too important to not be accomplished due to a lack of funding. Let me help you be fully funded this year. Don’t put off this crucial decision act now and let’s get started today! Let’s Get Started!
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach