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The Stewardship Connection Multilevel Approaches to Financial Enlistment by Pr. Richard Gahl, LCMS Executive Director for Stewardship, The Ohio District |
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Congregational Mission Endowment Funds Stewardship Adventures: Increasing the Harvest 15 to 30 Percent
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A Commentary on a portion Creating a Climate for Giving by Donald Joiner In the book, Creating a Climate for Giving, Discipleship Resources, Donald Joiner offers a very practical perspective for enlisting members in their support of the mission of the congregation. He encourages congregations to replace their one-size-fits-all communication strategy with multilevel approaches based on involvement in the life of the parish. While Joiner is writing about financial enlistment, it is likely this approach has a much broader application. Four categories of parish involvement. Actives: Hold leadership positions, give nearly every time you ask, show up for most programs and are in church most every Sunday. They know what tithing is and will give some effort to become faithful givers. Approach: Affirm and Thank with leadership dinners and notes. Keep the vision and mission of the church before them and what part they play to facilitate God's ministry. Supporters: Participate on committees, attend on a regular basis (but less than actives) and respond when asked to give. Approach: Need newsletters, stories of what the church is doing and why the church is doing it, intentional processes asking them to make a commitment. Step-up charts work with this group. Attendees: Will most likely see at Sunday worship perhaps two or three times a month. Will skim the newsletter and probably not make a pledge. Because they will not be in worship every Sunday you cannot rely on telling a story only once and getting through to every worshipper. Approach: Themes, processes, and invitations need to be handled on at least a monthly basis, in order to reach the bulk of this audience. Less-than-actives: Rarely or never give or attend church. Churches often do not bother to give envelopes, quarterly statements, or any other way to give or know what is going on in the church. They do not read the newsletter. Approach: Mailings at least three times a year. The message of these mailings is not asking for money. It is a public relations message about what good the church is doing, how lives are being touched by the ministries of the church, and what an exciting place it is. Include a return envelope in the mailing, and in a postscript invite them to use the enclosed envelope if they want to make a gift through the church.
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