“Based on your giving last year . . .
. . . I’m guessing you make about $6K per year.”
Said no pastor ever.
As church leaders, we want to see our churches healthy and thriving, but there are some conversations we’re just never going to have. We’re not going to dig in on people’s salaries, we’re not going to nitpick their giving habits, and we’re going to stop ourselves from making assumptions about financial situations when we don’t have all the details. We can all agree these are not the most endearing ways to teach biblical stewardship.
But the reality is there are probably a decent number of regular attendees in our churches who may believe they’re tithing but are actually giving well below what they intend to give. And as pastors and church leaders (and whether or not we hold to the tithe), we have an obligation to teach and shepherd the flock toward healthy stewardship of God’s resources.
Sacrificial giving isn’t only about helping churches reach their giving and ministry goals (though that’s part of it). It’s about inviting people to join the work God is doing by financially supporting it—or to put it another way, making their financial priorities match their spiritual ones.
So, aside from preaching faithfully on this topic, what else can churches do to help encourage healthy stewardship?
Faithlife’s Giving Calculator is here to have the awkward stewardship conversation for you
One option is to use smart tools that help nudge your congregation in the right direction.
With Faithlife Giving, your congregation can not only set up recurring gifts (so they never miss a gift), but they can also use the Giving Calculator to hold themselves accountable to what they say they want to be giving.
Faithlife’s Giving Calculator is designed to inspire generosity by helping your congregation do three things:
- See what they’re really giving
They’ll get a beautifully designed visual view into their giving over time in one simple chart. - Set personal giving goals
They’ll be able to use the Goal Calculator to calculate what percent of their annual salary they’re currently giving and how much they’d like to be giving. - Learn more about financial stewardship
They can quickly access blog posts, ebooks, Scripture references, and other resources to dig deeper into the principles of biblical stewardship.
Pretty cool, right? Imagine how this tool could help increase giving and generosity in your church. Want to learn more? Check out the Giving Calculator page, or get started with Faithlife Giving today.
Matthew Wilkes says
June 1, 2020 at 12:13 pmStewardship is only taught to the body, not the Leadership… Churches would be healthier if they quit trying to be so modern and having high salary Pastors. Church is a place of worship, not entertainment. The body is expected to serve without question. The body doesn’t tithe because they know that the money is staying right here and building up something that will be torn down one day. On the other hand, that is the very reason some people tithe (so they can have a cool place to hang out). When Jesus was talking about the widow giving all she had, He had just said “They devour widows houses and say long prayers just for show”. Then He says “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down!” pretty sure he wasn’t just commending her in her giving but rebuking the “sucking dry” of money from widows. We DO NOT help widows like we should, but we will buy a massive sound production setup in the name of “Jesus” (however actually in the name of entertainment and comfort). Examine your motives (as I will also in this post). The church could function much more efficient if the Leaders would follow their own advise and be good stewards of the BODY’S MONEY!