How can a shrinking church grow generosity? Part 2: Why are we here?
A stand-up comedian, riffing on the joys of aging, remarked that he often found himself asking, “Why am I here?” He meant this not in an existential way, but as in, “Why am I standing in the basement?”
The why of generosity really matters. People give to causes they believe in. I frequently cite the donor who told me, “Testimony is a better motivator than guilt.” What is the story of how God is acting through your congregation? Why are you here?
Recap
The first part of this blog featured a fictitious financial advice column for churches. The treasurer wanted to know how to best invest the church’s reserve funds so that they could survive as long as possible.
Reducing expenses doesn’t increase generosity
We all have blind spots. Appleseed Church was disregarding the state of their building. Choose the more inspiring reason for giving:
“How can this building be a gift to the community and future generations?”
“How can we keep this building going so the last congregants can have their funerals here?”
I choose the first answer. Which one did you pick?
Talking about hard things is hard, but churches can do this! God isn’t done with us yet. We can prayerfully and gratefully look at our situation - where we are now, not where we used to be or where we wish we were. Denial makes a poor coping tool. While we’re on the subject of hard truths, here’s another one:
Reducing expenses doesn’t increase generosity.
Generosity is a spiritual discipline like prayer. It’s part of following Jesus. Giving is not merely a means to a ministry end. If a church nurtures generous disciples, that’s a great outcome, regardless of what happens to the building.
Imagine that Appleseed Church stopped giving to the National Orchard Church (which supports mission work, their seminary, leadership development etc.). They reduced spending on the building. They went to a part-time minister. What happened next?
Quiz
How did people at Appleseed respond to reduced expenses? They said:
a) Appleseed church is finally headed in the right direction! Our future is bright! I’m going to increase my giving now.
b) Appleseed doesn’t need as much money as before. There’s lots of other worthy causes that could use my help.
c) I’ve always supported Appleseed and my $20 weekly gift will continue.
If you guessed b) with a bit of c), that’s what generally happens.
There might be another answer:
d) one or two sacrificial donors keep the congregation afloat
Option d) is another reason it’s important to know and understand individual giving in the congregation.
Note that $20/week to the church is in the stratosphere of Canadian generosity (i.e. $1000 annually far exceeds the median Canadian annual giving total of $340).
Appleseed Church became less generous (to its denomination and in other ways). Members followed suit. I’ve never seen a church that became less generous and as a result, church members became more generous.
The church has an opportunity to be a role model in prayerful discernment of how God calls us to love our neighbours.
I could talk about this all day and I’ll link to previous blog posts at the end.
Giving is about shared values. It is a why question. People give to causes that they believe in, places and people where they have a connection and to organizations that they trust. A cause they believe in, a place they are connected to, people they trust - that’s why people give.
Why do you give to your church? A short, grateful testimony would be a great place to start!
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I’ve written a book Growing a Generous Church: A Year in the Life of Peach Blossom Church. Peach Blossom practices gratitude and studies Scripture to learn generosity. Available through my website, Common Word bookstore or Amazon, it’s a small investment and an easy and accessible read.
Article on rural churches
The Lake Institute recently published an article on rural churches which rings true to my experience.