5 Reasons People Are Not Giving

Article Written by Gary Rohrmayer

 

It is a fairly common statistic that 80% of funding for your ministry comes from 20% of the people in your church. Though some experts are seeing the trend move to 90/10 ratio in giving. The startling statistic for me is that the rest of the funding comes from only 30% of the congregation.  Revealing that 50% of the people who call your church their home church and receive spiritual nurture and care don’t contribute anything to the ministry. Dave Ramsey reinforces this by asserting that 53% of Christians have not given to their church in the last month. Click here. 

Why is this?

Here are a few reasons I have discovered:

1) People are in financial bondage.

The reality is that most of your congregation is up to their eyeballs in debt.  According to a recent study conducted by the Black Rock Investment Institute, the ratio of household debt to personal income in the United States is now 154 percent. Your people have no margin to give anything.  They can’t see beyond the bills, late notices and creditors. Incredibly, 43 percent of all American families spend more than they earn each year.

Larry Burkett wrote, “Over the last decade, giving overall in Christianity has increased about 20% — but recreational spending increased almost 125% and debt spending increased 550%.”  Click here.

How are you going to address the financial bondage people are facing in your church?

 

2) People don’t know how to invite God into their financial life.

The lack of understanding on why’s and how’s of financial management and generosity can be directly traced to the fact that two-thirds of churches have no written biblical generosity strategy.  In the latest research it was discovered that only 31% of churches said they had a written strategy for inspiring people in biblical generosity. A surprising 58% said they did not have a written philosophy for teaching people what the Bible says about money and possessions. The church needs to think through and document how they will educate and inspire their congregation through the pulpit, seminars, small groups, and one-on-one mentoring. 

Who could help you in putting together a comprehensive plan to accelerate generosity in your ministry? 

 

3) People don’t know why they are to give to the church.

Show me a church where there is no vision and I will show you an underfunded ministry.  Most churches think the vision is achieving the mission of God.  This is true but I think it is a secondary vision. The primary vision of the church is to promote love for God, worship of God and honoring God in our lives as followers of Jesus. Do we clearly present a vision that promotes our giving as a personal act of devotion?  Paul praised the Macedonian churches in that “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (II Corinthians 8:5). They gave out of love first then mission second.  Developing disciples who understand that their dealings with money reflects their relationship with God.  As Billy Graham said, “A checkbook is a theological document; it will tell you who and what you worship.”  Your church might benefit from a 21-Day campaign utilizing Gary Rohrmayer’s  21 Days Towards a Generous Life.

How are you going to encourage your church to become worship givers? 

 

4) People don’t see a big enough need.

If a congregation can’t see the needs in your community, country and world it reflects a small and ineffective vision. Is your vision big enough to inspire your people towards sacrificial giving?  Is your vision deep enough to grab peoples hearts?  Is it broad enough to expand their horizons? Doing a year-end giving campaign is a great place to start in casting a broader vision for your congregation.  If your church has done year-end giving campaigns well, it might be time to think about doing a 3 year capital campaign to expand your vision and release a spirit of generosity. 

How do you determine if your vision is too small or too big? 

 

5) People don’t think the church cares about their gifts.

Recognizing and affirming the giving of your people is critical to the health of your church. Two things pastors can do to show people they care.  Thank you notes and quarterly updates make a big impact.  I really believe that the best thing a pastor can do to increase the giving of their people is to write a personal thank you at least once a year to every giving family in the church.  I also believe that a vision letter accompanied with their quarterly giving report sent April, July and October as well as their year-end tax letter can make a huge difference showing people your care and concern for them. 

What steps can you take this week to show people that their giving matters? 

Finally: Remember Billy Graham’s insightful challenge, “A checkbook is a theological document; it will tell you who and what you worship.”

Are You A Microscope or Telescope Leader?

Written by Bryan Moak, Converge MSC, VP of Church Strengthening

We have a terrible way of greeting one another. Here’s how it goes. I ask, “Hey Bill, how are you doing?” Bill replies, “I’m good. I’m really busy. How about you?” And I reply, “I’m good, I’m really busy too.” And we both leave that greeting thinking that somehow being busy is a good thing. I disagree. I would go so far as to say that it is bad theology. Although hard work is a good thing, being busy for the sake of being busy is never a good thing. It creates overload in our personal lives and in our churches as well.

Pastor, how busy are you, and how busy is your church? If statistics play out, you and your church are too busy. If we’re not careful, we create a mentality that the more that is happening, the healthier we are. That’s wrong. More is simply more. Too often, we communicate what we are doing without understanding why we are even doing it anymore. If we simply try and manage the myriad of activities happening in our church without asking the why question, we will never look towards the future at what God wants for us and our churches.

I heard someone once say, “Every true leader needs to operate with a microscope of things up close, and a telescope of things far off.” Simply put, as leaders, we need to make time for things that are immediately at hand, but not to the detriment of taking out the telescope to peer into the future so that we might share what could be with our people. If I don’t take time at least twice a year to purposely step back and take out the telescope, I will always default to being a microscope leader.

As we at Converge MSC serve our pastors and churches, we want to provide opportunities for you to take out the telescope. One such example is our annual ministry intensive for pastors and wives called Compass. Compass is a great way to take out your telescope and look at your future personally, relationally and within your ministry. You can learn more about Compass here.

We have resources for your church to take out the telescope as well. Two in particular are called Vision Framing and Vision Planning. The Vision Framing process is a several months look into your church’s Mission, Values, Strategy and Outcomes. It helps answer the question of why you do what you do. The Vision Planning process is a two full-day leadership retreat that builds both an inspirational and practical picture of what the future could be. Learn more about both of these resources here.

If you are interested in any of these resources, other resources, or simply need someone to process what it means for you to look through the telescope, please feel free to contact me at bryan@convergemidamerica.org.

My prayer is that we would have the mindset of the Apostle Paul when he said to the Philippians, “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14b-14). May we all continue together to strive toward the goal!