I make easy the thing you hate! That is a new tag line of mine. What is one of the biggest things that pastors and Christian leaders hate to talk about? Money.
No one wants to be “that preacher,” the one that always talks about money. Right? So, we don’t preach on it or talk about it so no one can every accuse us of being, “that preacher.” Then we wonder why come July we don’t have the funds to do what we wanted to do. Fear kept us from doing what we should have done.
The biggest challenge I have in helping a church be fully funded is getting leaders over their fear of talking about money. Yet if you don’t talk about money you risk NOT being fully funded.
I can hear you though. If we talk about money won’t that drive people away? NO! Here is my illustration of why not.
Over $400 billion was raised in 2017 by non-profits. You know how they raised that? They asked for it. Now, let me ask you this. How many times have you heard someone say, “All the Red Cross talks about is money?” I never have. Yet apart from asking you to donate blood, every message is about sending them money.
It is not THAT you ask that drives people away. It is HOW you ask.
So, let’s get back to my opening, making easy what you hate. I can do that for you. Here is a story…
Several years ago a church contracted my services to help them reverse a 4% decrease in giving from the previous year. I met with each of the campus staffs to start a process to reverse that decline. I started the meeting by telling them that my goal was…
To make giving fun and easy!
I know that sounds strange. The easy part they got. Online, text, recurring etc. But the fun part? That took some as we say in the south, splaining. Here is in part what we did…
We focused upon what the church was doing. What crisis was there that this church could meet? What needs were there that donors generosity could solve? We worked on telling the story of life change that this church was accomplishing. In short we put a plan of action together and worked our plan.
Giving that year increased by 12%. For this church that was a couple of a million dollar swing in revenue. They are still my client.
That was over ten years ago when I realized that every church needed their own coach to help them overcome their fears and uncertainty.
At that point I devised plans to help any size of church. Frankly I don’t care if your budget is less than $100K or over $25 million. I work with churches right now on both sides of that scale. I work with many of the top 100 churches in size and with churches working to break 100 in attendance.
Every pastor, no matter the size of their church woke up today needing to raise funds. I am not talking about capital dollars. I am talking about funding your budget for this year. So, here is my question…
One month into the New Year, how is giving going? If you are behind now, how will you manage funding everything this summer? Why not get some help? That help is right here.
Email me today so we can talk about an affordable plan of action for you. Let me take the fear out of asking for money!
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach