For most churches, giving is framed by the annual budget. No matter the size or kind, any gift made towards the year-end goal gets lumped together. It’s all giving.
But church leaders have to think differently. Any thought of expanding ministry requires a plan to pay for it. This means finding new ways to think and talk about giving.
Every financial literacy guru promotes strategies to skip the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. So, why do churches get to ignore this? Is there a way to save money for church ministry that hasn’t even been dreamed of yet?
It’s 2022 and this year’s budget (at least for calendar year) isn’t exactly screaming for attention. But what would it be like if, right now, your church set this year’s giving goal to exceed budget expectations?
Crazy talk? Sure, if we’re just talking cash gifts. But when non-cash gifts are in play, anything’s possible.
When impulse buyers went shopping in the Middle Ages, they often ended up with a “pig-in-a-poke.” It made them wish they had practiced some patience and self-control.
Today, we’re not doing much better.
Is it possible to make regular, reasoned and calculated money choices? Can that little whisper telling us to “buy now” ever be silenced?
It’s not just the Netflix series about corporate corruption. It’s the headline some believers apply to money.
After all, Jesus Himself said it was dirty — once, sort of, when He called money “adikia” — unrighteous, unjust, iniquitous, wrong. But this was as a postscript to His story about the shrewd money manager.