How do I decide where to give? Three idea for prayerful generosity

Prayer and giving are both spiritual disciplines - ways of following Jesus. This post looks at the when of giving and prayer: steady giving, spontaneous giving, steady prayer and spontaneous prayer.

Starting a four-part series on the spiritual disciplines of prayer and giving. Together and Apart looks at how we give - in worship and individually.

December is winter where I am, yet it’s a sweaty month for many church treasurers and finance people with a December fiscal year end. They are anxiously wondering: will the organization meet the budget, that is to say will donations match ministry goals?

Generosity is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Are our hearts and our lives headed in the same direction? Is it a good direction? Like the moisture meter, the answers to those questions speak truth!

Imagining Abundance by Kerry Alys Robinson is part fundraising story and part spiritual autobiography. The book demonstrates how to integrate fundraising and spirituality. Robinson helped the Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale raise $75 million, starting not just from scratch, but from debt and diminishment.

Her central thesis is faith: fundraising requires a deep trust in God's generosity. How can we ask donors to participate in what God is doing in our ministry if we don't believe God is at work?