Generous Giving

This came today from a pastor who attended one of my workshops last fall.

Hi Jeff,

I thought I would let you know that one of your ideas went over very well in our congregation.  I sent thank you cards out with all the year end receipts.  One lady, who is 92, said, “In all the years I’ve given to the church no one has ever said thank you.”  She loved her card.  Thanks for the idea, as I work on the others you shared.

In a recent article published by the Alban Institute, Dan Hotchkiss takes an incisive look at beliefs that direct fundraising efforts in congregations.

“At the risk of oversimplifying, people give money away for two main reasons: to extend their own accomplishments and to bond with a community. “

Dan Hotchkiss

The article reviews four “beliefs that are optimistic, wishful, and mistaken”.

1. “A unified stewardship drive is better than a lot of special appeals.”
2. “Donors want their gifts kept secret.”
3. “Only evangelicals can ask people to tithe.”
4. “Faith and gratitude are the most important influence on people’s giving.”

To read the full article, click here.

In an earlier post I referred to the “Nurturing Generous Giving” workshops that I began offering in 2012.  At the beginning of each program I asked participants to complete an exercise in three steps:

• In the first step they completed a worksheet by themselves, without discussion.  The sheet contained twenty statements about giving, with the introductory phrase “In our congregation today . . .”  Participants checked off one of three boxes after each statement, labelled “agree”, “disagree” and “don’t know”.
• In the second step, they discussed their responses with the other people at their table (often people from their own congregation).
• In the third step we collected the responses to each question from the entire group, by show of hands .

All of the statements are about matters of fact, and people’s responses reflect whether they believe them to be true.

In future posts I am going to report on some of the more interesting results from the exercise

If you wish to complete the survey before reading what other people said, click on this link.

In every congregation there are two groups of members:

• Those who make financial contributions to the church’s ministry.
• Those who don’t.

When I refer to people who don’t make a financial contribution, I’m talking about households whose offering envelopes are unused or virtually empty all year long.

In my experience the second group comprises 30-50% of the people on the membership roll of a typical Lutheran congregation.  In one large congregation whose record I examined, the first group of members comprised 50% of the total roll but contributed a total of 99% of the offering receipts.  The second group of 50% contributed the remaining 1%.  That’s what I call a negligible contribution.

From my limited sample I conclude that smaller congregations have a smaller proportion of non-givers on their roll, but the percentage is still substantial.

What can we say about this phenomenon?

1. For some people, an extremely small amount of money may be all they can afford to give.  It would be a mistake to draw other conclusions about their reasons for giving so little.  People in this category are possibly ashamed of their poverty and genuinely wish they could give more.  They may feel excluded from many of the activities of the congregation because they lack transportation, suitable clothing or the resources even to bring a dish to the pot-luck dinner.   They may be single moms, people living on government benefits, people with disabilities, etc.
2. Most people in our churches who give nothing are not in the category described above.
3. Our definition of membership is not the same as you find in all other denominations.  Our practices tend to be somewhat relaxed.  We keep people’s names on a membership list for reasons  of sentimentality, loyalty to family members, political expediency or simple interia, long after they’ve moved away or stopped participating.  Although it makes some of our statistics look bad in relation to other churches, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this practice, except . . .
4. Our model congregation bylaws state that a member in good standing “supports the church with offerings”.  And only members in good standing have the privilege of attending, speaking, participating and voting in congregational meetings.  It is not a common occurrence, but I have chaired meetings of a congregation in deep and vicious conflict where it mattered a great deal who had a legitimate claim on those privileges.  Trust me, you don’t want members who do not meet the definition of good standing at such meetings.  The only way to avoid this is to follow the bylaws fairly and consistently.
5. It is a mistake to communicate the same message to all members.  You need to segment your audience and customize your message to the circumstances of each sub-group.  There is no point asking non-givers to tithe.  The theme of all communication with the non-givers should be inviting them to return to full participation in the life of the congregation.  Those people are your primary target for evangelism.   Some of them might even be receptive to your message, providing they haven’t left the church full of bitterness.  When in doubt, keep segmenting and customizing.
6. Even habitual non-participants can occasionally surprise you with a gift — sometimes even a very large one.  Congregations need to make it as easy as possible for people to give, through as many channels as you can think of.  I have a small collection of true stories about congregations who have received unexpected gifts from people who had only the slightest connection with their church, or who had not crossed the threshold in decades.  In the cases that come to mind most readily, each of the gifts received from three unlikely donors was in excess of $500,000.  Each of those congregations now has a large endowment fund.  Let people know that you would welcome a donation to your ministry, and you might be surprised by the results.

Somebody sent me a link to an article on the Ministry Matters website.  It’s by J. Clif Christopher, author of Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate.  Click here to find the article.

Don’t be put off by the article’s title, “Rich Church, Poor Church”, which happens to be the title of his new book.  It contains a brief explanation of the reasons people choose to make donations to a particular charity (and not others):

• A Belief in the Mission of the Institution
• Regard for Staff Leadership
• Fiscal Responsibility of the Institution

Does your experience bear out the truth of Christopher’s claims about why people give?  Can your congregation provide evidence to convince a prospective donor on all three counts?

John Hamalainen from Sudbury recently sent me a link to a website that sells money management resources of  all kinds:  books, DVDs, courses, podcasts — the whole nine yards. He wasn’t urging me to do anything, but was simply sharing something that he had found helpful.

John was sincere in his praise:

“I’ve been an avid follower of Dave Ramsey for about 2 years now and he’s made a big difference in my life my giving to the church.  At first I was a little skeptical, but after two years of listening I see he is genuine.  The nice thing about Dave Ramsey is he’s a devout Christian and references many biblical references in his teachings and the importance of Christian values and beliefs.  He has a live 3 hour radio program on each weekday from 2:00 – 5:00 EST which can be accessed through the radio tab in the link.  I never took the course but listen to him on average 8-10 hours per week and also have an audio book of his and others he  recommends.  All of his material is faith based.”

Disclaimer:  My inclusion of the name in the quote above is not an endorsement of the person or his material.  I am not familiar with his products or approach.  There are many other providers of material that purports to teach people how to manage their finances more effectively.

I tend to be skeptical of this sort of thing, especially when it is offered “from a Christian perspective”.  (Some day I need to work through the reasons why I am skeptical, but that’s another story.)  Perhaps it’s time to put my skepticism aside while considering the underlying question.  Should Eastern Synod congregations be offering some sort of program in basic money management to their members and others?

Many other denominations consider such programs a key part of their ministry, but I don’t know of many Lutheran churches that do so.  The argument in favour of the programs is easy to state:

• Many people encounter difficulties managing their financial life.
• Financial difficulties can spill over into other realms, destroying relationships, marriages and families.  One’s spiritual life can be affected by financial woes.
• Churches offer programs to address other types of “life problems”:  marriage enrichment; pastoral counselling with individuals, couples and families.  Why wouldn’t they offer programs to help people better manage their financial affairs?

If we examine the question from the perspective of giving, we might ask how we can expect people to be generous if they are deeply in debt and struggling with financial chaos?

If congregations were to offer such programs, they could form an important part of the church’s ministry to the community outside the congregation.  According to the statistics, millions of  Canadians are drowning in a sea of mortgages, car loans and credit card debt.

What do you think?  Does your church offer programs in basic money management?  Is this something we should be doing?

I’ve been reading Radical Gratitude by Mary Jo Leddy.  The book is rich in insight, so there may be more than one post here based on her thoughts.

“[This book] is about liberation that begins with a sense of gratitude for the most ordinary and taken-for-granted realities.”

Mary Jo Leddy, Radical Gratitude

In Leddy’s analysis, our society and most of us who live in it are held in a “captivity of craving for more”.  She calls the result a “culturally induced dissatisfaction” that transforms us at a deep level of our being.  We become convinced that:

• I don’t have enough
• I am not enough
• I am not good enough

Who among us has not experienced a dark night of the soul when doubts like these force their way into our consciousness?

Western culture tells us that there is only one cure for not enough, and that is more.  More gadgets, more food, more friends, more love, more exercise, more spiritual awakening; each of us has at least one weak spot in our life that would benefit from more of something.  Our economy works by creating dissatisfaction — wants and needs — through advertising and then selling us something to fill the gap.  But whatever we buy is never enough, so we’re launched on the cycle again and again.

Leddy’s proposition is that the only cure for dissatisfaction is the liberation that comes from radical gratitude, which she says begins when we stop taking life for granted.

My wife and I are blessed to live in a neighbourhood of wonderful neighbours.  Lately the tranquillity of our little corner of suburban Eden has been disrupted by road construction.  It began about 6 weeks ago and is scheduled to be completed by the end of August, but no one is betting the farm on that date.  The heavy equipment and dump trucks start up by 7:00 a.m. and rarely shut down before 5:30 p.m.  It’s noisy and dusty beyond description.  Because we live on a dead end, there’s only one way in and out, and traffic is often delayed by the excavation.

On Saturday night some neighbours wandered over to join us on our deck, and inevitably the conversation turned to the construction project.  After a few minutes of predictable complaining, one of the women said, “Won’t it be wonderful to have new sewers, sidewalks and a smooth road surface?”  Another chimed in, “And haven’t the crew been great?  They’re so patient and polite, and they worked through that awful heat and humidity last week.”  Someone else said, “How lucky are we to live in a society where, when our water is shut off for a few hours, it comes back on and it’s as drinkable as it was before!”  All of these comments were made without any prompting from me.

This is why I love the people who live near us.  Our neighbours have an attitude that does not take roads and sewers and clean water for granted.  They appreciate the construction workers (most of whom don’t look or talk like the people you sit next to at church) who labour on our behalf under a hot sun.  They are grateful to live in a municipality that provides us with all this (and much more) at the cost of a few thousand dollars a year in property taxes.

Do you have a story about finding gratitude where you least expected it?

This week’s email brought information about two resources on generous giving among children and youth.

Nathan Dungan is the president of Share Save Spend®, an organization dedicated to helping families make good decisions about money that are based on their values.  He was a keynote speaker at a conference in Toronto in 2009 sponsored by the Canadian Interchurch Stewardship Committee (CISC) and the Ecumenical Stewardship Center (ESC) [The ELCIC is a member of both groups.]  Nathan introduced himself as the son of a Lutheran pastor and a financial executive (if I remember correctly it was Mom who was the bank v-p).

I subscribe to Nathan’s newsletter to stay current on the financial issues affecting young people.  The Share Save Spend website contains lots of articles and offers resources for sale as well.

The ESC and CISC have collaborated to make available a resource called “Wrapped in God’s Love”.  The subtitle is “Planting Seeds of Faith; Growing Generous Hearts”.  This was originally a book developed by one of the other member denominations of CISC .  Now you can purchase it as a downloadable PDF for $9.95 on the Ecumenical Stewardship Center website.

I’m not familiar with the contents of the book, but would welcome and gladly post a review by any reader who has used it.

Kathryn Tanner, Professor of Theology at the Divinity School, University of Chicago, published Economy of Grace in 2005 (Fortress Press).  In it she attempts to develop the argument “that Christianity does have an economic vision for the whole of life”, and that it provides a platform from which to critique the economic orthodoxy that prevails in most of the world.

This vision is organized around the concept of gift.  She draws clear lines between giving on the one hand and all other forms of transfer on the other.

“The sense of gift or grace that organizes our reading of the Christian story should fundamentally undercut principles of exchange of all these sorts.  Notions of debt, contractual obligation, loan, even stewardship, should be written out of the story about God’s relations to the world and our relations with God and one another, in light of an understanding of grace that is fundamentally incompatible with them.”

Kathryn Tanner, Economy of Grace, pp. 56-7

She also provides a connection between generosity and social justice.

“God’s purpose in giving is to benefit creatures, and therefore the proper return of God’s giving is not so much directed back to God as directed to those creatures.  A proper return here is one in which God’s gifts both do the creatures who receive them good and are used for the good of others.”

Tanner, pp. 68-9

Gratitude is the simply the natural response to a gift, to grace:

“The gift’s goodness is what inclines one to affirm that fact, to thank the one who brought it, to praise and honour the giver for her kindness and generosity.  One doesn’t usually make a return like that to the giver because one has to, but out of a free and joyful testimony to what one has received from another’s hands.”

Tanner, p. 69

The book is organized into three sections.  The first section is a rigorous analysis of different ways of comparing two autonomous “fields”.  Even with an advanced degree in philosophy, I found it tough going and not very rewarding to a non-academic reader.

The second section, “Imagining Alternatives to the Present Economic System”, was of the greatest interest, although not without some challenges.

The final section, “Putting a Theological Economy to Work”, is a long critique of contemporary capitalism from the perspective developed earlier in the book.  A degree in economics would help here, although anyone who is following the current economic crisis in Europe and the debate over growth vs.  austerity will find many points of relevance.

The economy that we are accustomed to, the one we take for granted when we use the word, runs on money.  There are two main types of transaction: buying and selling is one; lending and borrowing is the other.  Money has come to have other kinds of significance in this economy.  It confers power, prestige, social status and self esteem, among other things.

We may forget that “economy” comes from the Greek oikonomia, meaning administration, management, or housekeeping.  If we return to the original meaning of the word we can speak of different types of economy, since there are different ways of administering or managing.

It would be foolish to attempt a comprehensive theological exposition of grace, although the commonly accepted definition is “undeserved favour”.  A few linguistic references are in order.

The Latin source of “grace” is gratia, whose meaning includes thankfulness (from which we get our words “grateful” and “gratitude”).  The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary says that “grace” is the English translation of a Greek word meaning “that which brings delight, joy, happiness, or good fortune” — in short, a gift.  Grace is connected with our concepts of both giving and gratitude.

This gives me the courage to suggest that we might imagine an economy of grace, a social system organized around giving and thanking, where the currency is generosity and gratitude.

How might this differ from the economy we are used to?  The idea of gratitude suggests appreciating what we have, as opposed to wanting what we don’t have.  Of course if this were applied universally it might lead to the end of civilization as we know it.   Come to think of it, there are some days when that prospect is not entirely  without appeal.

On a less apocalyptic level, an economy of grace might cause us to plan differently.

The traditional form of strategic planning identifies what we need but do not have, and finds a way to get what we need.   Asset-based planning first takes an inventory of what we already have, then finds  creative ways of using what we have to create something new.  One is based on scarcity, the other on abundance.

For a very accessible introduction to asset-based planning, I recommend The Power of Asset Mapping: How Your Congregation Can Act on Its Gifts by Luther K. Snow.  The book contains step-by-step instructions on how to do an asset mapping workshop with a small group in a church setting.

Next time, a look at a scholarly attempt to construct an economy of grace.