Three Steps to Solving a Church Giving Crisis
Copyright 2006 Rod Rogers
Even if you boldly teach biblical principles of stewardship year
after year, as I did, you will still experience an occasional
church giving crisis. What do you do when your giving begins to
plummet?
If you're like many pastors, you probably pray harder and offer
a brief reminder to your congregation to be faithful in their
giving. In most cases this does not fix the problem. It
certainly never worked for me.
After many years of fumbling around, I finally figured out that
I should address poor giving as I would any other problem in the
church: by taking the lead to determine the cause, to clearly
explain that cause to my people, and to challenge them to do
what they should to solve it.
Here are three steps you can take to solve any giving crisis:
1. Check the giving records to discover the cause. Your
offerings haven't shrunk for some mysterious or mystical reason.
They have dropped because some of your people have failed to
give as they should. Have your church treasurer examine the
giving records and tell you what changes he sees in your
people's giving patterns. You don't necessarily need to know the
names of those whose giving is sliding; but you do need to know
if a large donor has stopped giving, or if ten families who
regularly tithe have given a much smaller amount than normal.
2. Directly address the issue with your congregation. Clearly
explain the nature of the problem ("We are $1,500 behind each
month") and its causes ("Five members gave nothing last month,"
or "Twelve families significantly decreased their giving the
last four weeks"). You can do this in a matter of fact way
without singling anyone out and without scolding or shaming your
people.
3. Challenge your church family to do what they should to fix
the problem. I always took the position that poor giving was not
primarily the pastor's problem (assuming I was giving
obediently), but that it was a crisis our entire church family
should own. It was their responsibility to give to overcome the
crises that they had created. Therefore, I would boldly
challenge them to do what they should to keep our finances
stable. For example, here is an actual letter I sent to our
members and regular attendees on October 20, 1999, about a
giving crisis we were in.
Dear Friend, I'm writing to you, a part of our church family, to
let you know our offerings have been down in the last couple of
months. This has created a budget problem we must not ignore.
Here are the pertinent figures: * July - $910.00 under budget *
August - $42.00 under budget * September - $2,397.00 under
budget (Here's where things got real serious.) * October -
$1,297.00 under budget (so far)
Since our new budget year began on July 1, we have fallen behind
by $4,646.00. If this trend continues we will find ourselves in
deep trouble soon, since our budget contains no "fluff."
How do I explain this deficit? It's not due to anything
mysterious or mystical. It is explained by the following facts:
* Three members (who committed to giving 10% in their membership
covenant) have not given anything for four or more months. * One
member has not given anything for two months. * Three members
have not given their usual tithe amount, but have significantly
decreased their giving, for two to four months. (This doesn't
include one member family who has been unemployed for several
months--but who is still giving!). * Five regularly attending
families/individuals have decreased their giving from their
usual amount for two to four months.
These giving decreases account for approximately $4,000.00 of
our $4,646.00 deficit. As your pastor I am asking you to please
prayerfully evaluate your giving to see if you are acting as a
faithful steward of God's money. And if you have been sloppy in
your giving, please consider making up what you have missed!
Of course, if you have had a financial crisis which accounts for
your decreased giving, we understand, and would love to be able
to pray, assist, and encourage you. Just let us know!
No one likes to have to talk about money, but I just thought you
should know what's going on. You have been a wonderfully giving
congregation for many years, so I have confidence you will do
what you can to help meet our current need. Please be praying
with shameless persistence for our offerings to increase to meet
our financial needs.
I love you,
Pastor Rod
Our people responded well to this letter and our giving was back
on track in a few months.
When you fall into a giving crisis, don't ignore it and hope it
will go away. Get the facts, share them with your congregation,
and challenge them to do what's right. In most cases they will.