Few books have impacted me like George Barna’s, “The Frog in the Kettle.” When it was published in 1990 as a young pastor I devoured every page. The basic message was change was coming but the Church was acting ignorantly bliss just like the proverbial frog in the kettle.
The frog in the kettle premise is that if you put a frog in a kettle of water and slowly turn up the heat it will not jump out until it is too late. It is a metaphor of the inability or unwillingness to react to changes or threats that come about gradually. At some point it is too late to jump.
The Church today is like the proverbial frog in the kettle. We live in a fast changing world that is impacting us often without our even realizing it. The change is so slow that it is imperceptible until it moves into a critical stage. Nowhere is this more evident than in the decline in giving.
$400 Billion Plus! For the first time giving in America last year surpassed the $400 billion mark. Yet that good news is dampened for we in the Church as giving to churches continues to decline. Giving USA just stated that giving to religion slightly increased last year. However the number of people giving has declined. Consider that…
- American giving as a percent of income to the church was above 3% in 1968.
- Since that time giving has been on a continual decline until,
- Today giving as a percent of income is at 2% despite the fact that Disposable Personal Incomes have grown by nearly 150%. So, we make more money and give less away.
- In fact Americans gave a higher percentage to the church during The Great Depression than they do today.
- 1%, at the current rate of decline, is what the percentage will be by 2050.
Here is the problem, few are really doing anything about this! I know that if you are reading this I am preaching to the choir. Yet my frustration is that the clarion call that God has given me to proclaim falls too often upon deaf ears. It makes me want to shout…
WAKE UP!
I have been writing and blogging the last few weeks about the state of giving in America and what this means for we in the Church. At times I wonder if anyone is listening.
The following is a key blog post that I wrote last week that addresses where we are and what we need to do. Please take the time to read it and let me know your thoughts.
How the Right Question, Interpreted the Wrong Way, Led to a Demise in Giving”
We did not get into this problem overnight. We will not get out of this problem overnight either. Yet every day we delay to act we make it that much harder to correct the decline in giving. Before we know it we have become the proverbial frog in the kettle. I am committed to not have that happen to you! Let me help you be fully funded! It starts, NOW!
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach