The Next Big Thing in Stewardship Ministry
Stewardship Ministry is continuing to evolve and change to the needs of The Church. Today, perhaps more than any other time in history, churches have or can obtain the information necessary to understand how effective their ministries are—knowing what works and what doesn’t is crucial. In this episode of Stewardship Leader, we discuss the biggest and most important thing in Stewardship Ministry that will directly impact the financial and spiritual well-being of the Church.
What you will hear in this episode:
“All of us that are in the work of generosity need a gut check as to why we’re doing it. If we are primarily doing it to fund ministry, from the perspective that we want something from the people we’re discipling, we’ve missed the mark.
“There’s a really significant shift happening in giving today. Essentially, since the late ’80s, giving to the Church has fallen to about half of what it was prior to that.”
“We’re no more generous than we were, and we’re no less generous than we were. What’s happening is that the Church is receiving about half what it used to, and when you consider inflation, we’ve actually lost buying power, while Americans continue to give.”
“The Builder Generation quintessentially has an organizational-centric view. They grew up supporting the institution (Church). They did it out of obedience, and they trusted that the leadership would use the funds in a way that was God-ordained. That perspective continues to decrease with each generation, where today, Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millenials, have an impact-centric view. They believe there has to be a connection between giving and its impact, and it has to be compelling and measurable, and they need to be able to see it.”
“They don’t trust leadership the same way Builders did. They want you to show them your work, and they need a connection, especially if you’re going to ask them to give.”
“I think it is the primary failure of the Church to not recognize the change that’s happened in culture… If our churches are not generous, if our people are not generous, it really is a failure of discipleship on our part.”
“The first thing we need to embrace is that this one-size-fits-all communication no longer works.”
At the end of the day, the next big thing is about growing a culture of generosity. It is not a season in the Church; it is not a Sunday in the Church, it’s not a one-time-a-year appeal, it is something that we have to do all the time because it is discipleship.”
Resources
Horizons Stewardship - www.horizons.net
Next Big Thing in Stewardship Ministry - Blog
2022 CSN Annual Forum - Registration
CSN Stewardship Impact Online - Online Course
CSN Stewardship Impact In-Person - Stewardship Impact Workshop