It seems like everything is moving into the digital world these days. The Internet has quickly become a world unto itself where we can share the highlights of our life, purchase… read more

At a recent stewardship meeting our chair brought a book to us: Not Your Parents' Offering Plate, by J. Clif Christopher. After reading and discussing, there were three things… read more

Any stewardship campaign has to start with the question on everyone's mind, "Why should I give?" There are many ways to answer that question, and it will likely be different for… read more

Chances are when you hear the word idol, the first thing that comes to mind is Ryan Seacrest, or possibly a shiny gold statue of a calf. Idolatry isn’t a new problem, but it … read more

In early February, my husband and I prepared to visit the Taxman, spending a lunch hour gathering W-2s and mortgage statements and all the other official documents we had spent… read more

Why do people give? I have written extensively about this in my book, Not Your Parents Offering Plate. It is, however, important to restate this elementary understanding before… read more

The other day, in a seminar I was leading, I shared a story of a very active church member who had just chosen to give a multi-million dollar gift to his college and a much… read more

I’ve read that you can tell a lot about what a person values by looking at what he or she spends time and money on. I think we could use these same indicators to learn… read more

1. Go Back to Basics. What is an offering? It is a response to the word of God, made in cash or check. That may sound disrespectful to both God and cash but cash is not much… read more

Yesterday, I got a call from a minister who wanted to talk about what to expect from a follow-up campaign. His church was finishing up a campaign that added a significant addition … read more

“As a form of ministry, fund-raising is as spiritual as giving a sermon, entering a time of prayer, visiting the sick, or feeding the hungry.”  Henri Nouwen, The… read more

A few years ago, I had the privilege of speaking at a training seminar at a large United Methodist church. My host was on staff at the church, and he described how he had recently … read more

For over a decade I have been talking with folks about their personal financial giving. Among the most common questions I hear is, "What do I do when my spouse and I are not on… read more

Parents want their children to be generous.   Among the first words we teach them are "momma", "dadda", "yes" and "no."   Somehow they learn "mine." Then we teach them … read more

4 Week Series Week 1: A Little Is Enough Mark 6:30-44 “You give them something to eat,” said Jesus. Jesus can be unreasonable. I mean that not as blasphemy but as… read more

1. Focusing on Shortfall In the vast majority of Christian Churches, in particular the small congregations, the only financial stewardship emphasis occurs when the church… read more

What do you think of when you hear the word stewardship? You responded typically if you said money or finance campaign. Too often, stewardship discussions focus on how to raise… read more

A few months ago our ministry team made tentative plans for this fall’s stewardship campaign. A few weeks later we ditched that plan. Instead, we are going to lead a… read more

My ministry began as an associate pastor of a large urban congregation. The church budget was a million dollars, with endowments that were many times as large. After two years, I… read more

In established church settings it is very difficult to change the stewardship DNA of the congregation. I wish to repent of the low expectations I presented to new members early in … read more

In far too many of our churches the pastor and finance committee are focused on developing the budget, perfecting the budget, and meeting the budget so that bills and payroll can… read more

Mark 10:17:22 Mark 10 tells a sad story of a rich young man who could not leave his possessions behind in order to follow Jesus. Any fair reading of this story leads us to wonder … read more

For most pastors, fund-raising is the least rewarding part of our work. And like many of you, I would rather preach on almost anything other than finances and stewardship. But I… read more

David Mosser’s Stewardship Companion (Westminster John Knox) takes on a very ambitious task: to show how the theme of stewardship can be found in at least one of the texts… read more

Giving USA, the leading authority on charitable giving, has just released its findings for 2011. Giving as a whole rose by roughly 4% to 298 billion dollars. This is about a 1%… read more