Simple Steps towards Generosity: Church Stewardship for the Overwhelmed

Giving is a spiritual discipline like prayer, part of following Jesus. It’s a discipleship question, not a budget question. Can someone donate to your church using their phone?

Pastor Daniel is sweating profusely on a cold November morning. It’s stewardship Sunday, the one Sunday of the year where he is expected to talk about money. Pastor Daniel carries $45,000 in student debt. That’s without the credit card or line of credit factored in. How can he talk about money?

“Should I ask my dying parishioner for a bequest?” ranks high in the list of difficult questions I’ve been asked during church stewardship webinars. The ideal last conversation on generosity starts with thank you.
How the church can prepare for grateful conversations, instead of putting pastors in awkward situations?

Is the church building project a good cause? Should we pave the parking lot or send the money to missions?
Without a common cause “nothing much happens!”

Giving is a spiritual discipline like prayer. Both are lifelong practices, and there’s always something new to discover.

Once you can write an offering prayer, you can write a thank-you letter. Both are grateful acknowledgements of everything we have received from God, and the blessing of being able to share with God’s people.

A practical workshop on joyful generosity

There is no need to send a thank-you letter if you don’t care whether or not the donor gives again. That’s the fundraising angle, but to me this is a theological question. If you’re not grateful to God for the person’s contribution to your church, why is that? Each donation tells a story. Someone cares enough about your organization to send money. Your ministry is that important to them.

Some organizations have been looking at a plot of poor soil for so long that they can’t envision anything growing there. Stewardship becomes managing scarcity well.

Joyful generosity means telling other people about what’s growing in God’s garden and inviting them to water it. Digging our dreams in order to make certain that we we hope for will come true.

“You pray better when also writing a cheque.”

A donor told me that. After you give, then you pray for that charity more. Makes sense. Is the reverse also true? Can our prayers direct our giving?