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Money and Mission
Greetings!
This week Bishop Will Willimon reminds us that the most important reason why people give is mission. "People want to make the world a better place to live," Willimon said. "People want to be a part of something that changes lives." Willamon invites us to consider how we talk about our mission when we ask for support. Our churches are changing lives and it's important to celebrate that in our stewardship campaigns.
Grace & Peace,
Jerry Hoffman
Director of the Center for Stewardship Leaders
Luther Seminary
Money and Mission
Bishop Will Willimon
Summer 2009
In many ways, this summer has revealed this to be the worst of times and the best of times for raising money for the work of Christ's church. Historically, churches feel the effects of a financial recession about a year after the recession's beginning. We are certainly finding that to be true.
There are many lessons to be learned about stewardship in this worst of times, best of times. In order to learn as much as I could, I read J. Cliff Christopher's "Not Your Parents' Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship" (Abingdon Press, 2008).
Christopher chides church leaders like me who sound the alarm and plead for more money for ministry: "The church is the only nonprofit I know of that seems to believe that the more you cry that you are sinking, the more people will give to you. The exact opposite is true. No nonprofit I know of would ever send out a donor letter stating that they are running a horrible deficit and they just want the donors to help balance the budget. They know that such a letter actually discourages giving rather than motivates it. A nonprofit board will deal with budget matters in a board meeting but never publicize such to its donor base. The church goes out of its way to do just that.
Institutions that outperform others do not send ... a message that they are dying on the vine and must have one more contribution to stay afloat. No, they say, "We took your money last year and we did great things with it. If you will give us more, we will do more great things." And people give and give to them. People want results and these institutions give positive results!
Above all, Christopher stresses that "money follows mission." He asked a group of pastors why people give. They started blurting out, "taxes, guilt, involvement..." No one was even close. Finally, a lady who the executive director for Habitat for Humanity ... raised her hand and said, "Number one is a belief in the mission. Number two is a regard for staff leadership and number three is fiscal responsibility." She was right. I was stunned.
The one absolutely most important factor in why people give is mission. People want to make the world a better place to live. They want to believe that they can truly make a difference for the better. There is embedded in us, it seems, a desire to finish out our work on this earth with a sense that we amounted to something. To sum it up, people want to be a part of something that changes lives.
I get frustrated reading newsletters of church after church that tell me how the men's group is going to have a breakfast on Saturday and the women are going to have a bazaar next Thursday and the youth will have a dance next Friday after the ball game. Then, over in the corner, usually separated by a bold line so that it stands out, I see financial statistics, which usually indicate that a certain amount was needed and a lesser amount was received with a quote underneath, "God loves a cheerful giver."
When I see that I want to say, "What have I got to be cheerful about?" Did you show me one life story in this newsletter about how the church has been making our world better? Is there one life-changing story in the entire document? Do you really just exist so that men can have breakfast, women a bazaar, and youth can dance? What is it exactly that you want me to support?
To read the entire article go to Money and Mission.
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