In many of the churches I work in, Finance Committees are also the Stewardship or Generosity Committee. The problem is that the Finance Committee is often charged with not only stewarding the dollars that are given, but they are also in charge of the church’s culture of generosity.
Here's a game-changing truth: every church should have a Finance Committee AND a Generosity Team.
The Finance Committee should steward the dollars, while the Generosity Team encourages people to want to give back to God through their local church.
Whether your church has both committees or not here are three steps your Finance/Generosity Committees should take as we approach the end of June.
A mid year/half way announcement. Every Finance Committee should make a mid year announcement on the second or third Sunday in July. Done appropriately the announcement will accomplish the following:
Gratitude to the people for giving.
Financial update on giving over the first half of the year.
Celebration of ministry through storytelling.
Every church should send out quarterly statements and the finance committee should have input. Those statements should include the following info at a minimum.
Letter from the pastor that includes all of the information that the Finance Committee does in the mid year announcement on the second or third Sunday in July.
Each person/family’s individual giving statement to let them know where they are.
Begin planning for the budget campaign this fall.
Identify leadership.
Discuss how this year’s campaign will be different.
Discuss the spiritual growth strategy for the people.
Discuss the 2023 budget and if it needs to be increased.
Discuss hiring a consultant to lead the campaign. Consultant led campaigns yield higher results.
When do we get started? I’ll answer this one for you. Now.
Take these three steps and not only will giving increase, but the culture of generosity in your church will accelerate.
If you’d like to have a conversation about accelerating generosity in your church please email me at alan@generis.com and let’s start a conversation.
If you’d like to read the story of how one church has increased their giving a total of 15% in the last three years, check my page out to read the story from University UMC.