On Stewardship

by the Rev. Dr. Delmer Chilton

Like most pastors who have been at it a while (35 years in June,) I have several bookshelves full of accumulated “how-to” books. “How to run a church meeting,” “How to do evangelism,” “How to do youth ministry;” generally speaking, “How to do all the things they forgot to teach you how to do in seminary.”

Most of the “how to” books on my shelf have to do with money; how to get it and how to manage it. What we in the church politely refer to as Stewardship of Financial Resources.

And somewhere in most of these books there is a chapter on “the Annual Stewardship Campaign,” otherwise known as “Pledging.”

There have been a lot of techniques recommended over the years; cottage meetings and temple talks and filmstrips and videos and power point presentations and charts on the wall and thermometers in the yard and weekly notes in the bulletin. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

I recently bought another how to book on stewardship. (I can’t help it, I’m an addict.) In “Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate” by J. Clif Christopher I read the clearest statement of what I have come to know, after 35 years, to be the basic truth about church stewardship.

Christopher says that numerous researchers, “. . . have asked the question – why did you choose to make a gift?” The answers coincided with those of Jerold Panas in his 1984 book Mega Gifts; “(1) belief in the mission of the institution, (2) a high regard for staff leadership, and (3) the fiscal responsibility of the institution.” (p. 13)

(1) Belief in the Mission

Most of us in church leadership have, most of the time, made an assumption that people care as much about the basic survival of the local church as we do. That is a dangerous assumption. It leads us to make financial stewardship a mundane matter of paying the bills in order to keep the lights on and the heat running and the pastor paid. People do care about those things, but as a means to an end, not as an end in themselves.

For people to get excited about giving they have to believe passionately in the why of the church, not just the what and the how. There has to be a sense that God has called us together in this place and in this time to do God’s work in the world. The why has to have been arrived at in such a way that the entire community had a voice in the creation of the mission and a part to play in making it happen.

The first step in creating a desire to give is engaging the whole congregation in a process of discerning the community’s mission for the coming years. Only after this mission and a ministry plan to fulfill it have been discerned should a financial strategy to fund it be developed. The focus is on the mission, not the money. If people are excited about the mission, they will find the money.

(2) High Regard for Staff Leadership

This is not exactly, “if they like the pastor, they’ll give,” but it comes close. It’s more along the lines of “if people believe the staff has both the skills and the motivation necessary to fulfill the congregation’s mission, they’ll give.” Sometimes people have a high regard for their pastor’s preaching or pastoral care or just like him or her as a person; but this does not translate into a trust in the pastor’s ability to lead the congregation into fulfilling its organizational mission.

So, besides having a warm personal regard for the members of the church staff, it is important that people also have a high regard for the staff’s ability to lead the congregation in fulfilling its mission. And there is no other way to build that regard than to simply “get the job done.”

Too often two interrelated things get in the way here; 1) overly ambitious and vague plans and 2) the lack of a clear definition of responsibility, of who does what when. If the mission is clearly defined and then a reasonable plan for attaining it is agreed upon, the staff are then in a position to demonstrate their competence in leading the congregation in fulfilling its mission.

This demonstrated competence leads to increased giving which leads to expanded opportunities for mission, etc.

(3) Fiscal Responsibility

Simply put, nobody likes to pour their money down a rat hole. People want to know that the money will be accurately accounted for and used for the purposes for which it was given. If they don’t trust that, they won’t give. It is that simple.

Too often, churches excuse sloppy money management in the church with the line, “it’s the church; we should trust each other.” I generally respond, “It’s the church; we have an obligation to be excruciatingly honest, not just as individuals but as a community.” That “excruciating honesty,” includes establishing and following good money management principles. It also includes being totally transparent about the money. When people are totally confident that the money they gave will be used for the purposes for which they gave it, they give more.

Three Simple Steps in the Right Direction:

1) Belief in the Mission: Have a “Visioning and Planning” Session for the whole congregation.

Find an outside facilitator and invite everyone to participate to a day of discussion around the mission and ministry of the church. Have brain-storming sessions and small groups planning and creating SMART plans for particular ministry areas. The key is allowing everyone to have input into the definition of the congregation’s ministry plan.

When the annual spending plan is put together link the results of the visioning and planning session to specific items in a “narrative” budget.

2) High Regard for Staff Leadership: Transform the Mutual Ministry committee from a complaint department into a ministry and mission support team. Review job descriptions in light of the ministry plan, set up a review process, and meet regularly.

Staff members will have a clear idea of expectations, support in working to meet them, and a group giving feedback to the congregation on performance. Congregation members will have

a better sense of what the staff are actually doing and an avenue for giving performance input in a positive and non-threatening way.

3) Fiscal Responsibility: This one is really simple. Go to the ELCA website. Find the Congregational Treasurers Financial and Accounting Guide. Download it, read it, do exactly what it says. I mean it; do exactly what it says. And make sure the entire congregation knows you are doing exactly what it says.

CONCLUSION:

These three things are the basic building blocks of a solid financial future for your congregation. They are not flashy, they will not lead to a sudden huge increase in revenue, they will not protect you from an economic downturn in the national or local economy; nothing can do that. They will establish a firm basis for continued and steady economic support of the mission and ministry of Christ in your community.

Peace,

Delmer Chilton