One cannot effectively lead a church without knowing who the key leaders are. One cannot effectively mobilize a church without knowing who the key volunteers are. In the same way, one cannot effectively fund the church without knowing who the key financial supporters are. No surprise then, when we find poorly funded churches, we also find a pastor who doesn’t have the first clue who does and who does not give.
What Happens When You Don’t Know Who Gives What?
1. You will select poorer quality leaders.
Some people become leaders by demonstrating their commitment by their deeds. Some become leaders by putting their money where their mouth is. And some become leaders simply by having big mouths.
When you don’t know who gives what - many of your most committed supporters will be invisible to you. You will fail to discern their faithfulness and fail to deploy them effectively.
When you don’t know who gives what - you will instead select leaders who have no skin in the game. You will confuse their declarations for dedication and their big mouths for big hearts.
2. You won’t be able to express appropriate gratitude
It’s really part of our job to support and encourage people to do the right thing. We do this with staff and volunteers all the time. Even our best people will eventually burn out if they feel like their contributions don’t matter and all they do is thankless tasks. Well, it’s no different for our financial supporters. When they make personal sacrifices on behalf of the mission with no acknowledgment or support, they will get discouraged and burn out – just like anyone else.
3. You will be blinded in one eye as a disciple-maker
When people decide to follow Jesus, they will surrender both their time and their treasure. But this rarely happens in equal measures. Depending on the person and their life circumstances they will offer up one more than the other. However, if we only see those who make contributions of their time, we miss important disciple-making opportunities with those who are able to be more generous with their treasure. As a result, we overlook many willing hearts that we should be investing in.
What Happens When You Do Know Who Gives What?
1. You’ll be a much more effective disciple-maker.
Discipleship is a journey, not a magic wand. 1 John, chapter 2 describes people starting off as spiritual children, then growing to be like young men, before finally becoming spiritual fathers. Guiding people down this path of growth is the fundamental job assigned to us in the Great Commission.
We can observe an important aspect of this journey by looking at someone’s giving habits – where their treasure is, there will be their heart also. Those who are taking their first steps in trusting in God will eventually make their first gift. This is an important first step and we should notice when this happens. Then as they grow their gifts will become more regular. As they grow further, those regular gifts increase in size and consistency as the begin to trust God with tithing principles in their lives. Occasionally, they may face a crisis of finance or a crisis of faith and their giving falters – here, too, we should take notice and respond.
Observing and responding to one’s growth journey in giving is just as important to observing their growth journey in prayer, Bible reading, and volunteering. It’s all a part of the discipleship journey.
2. You’ll have significantly more buy-in from your people.
Great leaders have great teams because they develop great followers. The art of leadership isn’t about being bossy, it’s about investing in people and giving them the notice, the teaching, and the encouragement they need. When someone first starts to serve, we need to be aware of that and then deliver coaching and encouragement to that new volunteer. When someone becomes more consistent in their service, we want to increase their opportunities to serve. When we do this, we get eager and faithful disciples and volunteers.
It’s no different with their finances. When we notice and support their financial contributions to the mission and then deliver coaching and encouragement to the new giver then, they too will grow into eager and faithful disciples and givers.
3. You’ll raise significantly more money for the mission.
When you notice and invest in your volunteers you end up with more, and more committed, volunteers. The bottom-line result is that you will have more volunteer manpower to accomplish the mission.
When you notice and invest in your givers you end up with more, and more generous, givers. The bottom-line result is that you will have more money to accomplish the mission.
The fact is that no one has the ability to raise funds quite like the pastor. People give to vision, and no one can articulate it better than the pastor. People give because they trust the leader, therefore, have people talk to the leader they trust.
To successfully raise funds, you have to know who has the capacity and the willingness to give. Knowing past giving habits is essential. When the pastor knows who we can count on financially he can sow seeds that will produce a harvest.
John works as an Effectiveness Coach with the ABNWT District of the PAOC. He is a strategic thinker who has pastored urban and rural churches, traditional and on the cutting edge. He is a passionate evangelist who is committed to rapid church growth by creating churches that unchurched people love to attend. With his church planting, multi-service, multi-site, and church merger experience, he regularly trains leaders, coaches church planters, and helps other pastors lead their churches into new growth.