16 questions for church leaders
Disclaimer: I completely ripped these questions off from Seth Godin’s post earlier this week, “16 Questions for free agents” but with good intentions. Many leaders I talk to lack clarity in their role. Let’s face it: the job of the pastor and staff member today looks very different than what it did just five years ago. It’s time to revisit the tough questions and begin to rethink how we approach our leadership roles in local church ministry.
- Who are you trying to please?
- Are you trying to make a living, make a difference, or leave a legacy?
- How will the world be different when you’ve completed your time in professional church leadership?
- Is it more important to add new members or to increase your interactions with existing ones?
- Do you want a staff or a team?
- Would you rather have an open-ended program that’s never done, or programs that solve or address and immediate community need and comes with a natural end points?
- Are you prepared to actively represent your church, or are you expecting that people will just walk in the door of your church and beg to become a member?
- Which: to invent a new way of providing pastoral leadership or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?
- If you take money for your position, are you prepared to perform (get measurable results) at the level at which your are being compensated?
- Are you done personally growing, or are you committed to things that will force you to change and develop yourself?
- Choose: teach and lead and challenge your members, or do what they ask…
- How long can you wait before it feels as though you’re succeeding?
- Is perfect important?
- Do you want your members to know each other (a tribe) or is it better they be anonymous and separate?
- How close to failure, wipe out and humiliation are you willing to fly? (And while we’re on the topic, how open to criticism are you willing to be?)
- What does busy look like?
Not that you didn’t already have enough on the agenda for the next staff meeting or staff retreat, but I’d highly recommend asking and answer these questions individually and as a staff. It will change you, your staff, and your church.
People want to fund life change
People want to fund life change. They don’t want to fund self-preservation.
Below is a video of a church who effectively uses the “cardboard testimony” idea. BUT the best part is at the very end when the pastor provides a great example of calling his people to action. Too often, we set up “the ask” but never follow through. Watch how this pastor clearly and compelling challenges his people to fund life change on the heels of Kingdom Impact being clearly demonstrated.
3 steps to a balanced church budget this summer
Summer is one of the most dreaded times of the year for church leaders (especially the business administrator). People scatter. And so do their donations. There was a time that people would mail a check or even drop it by the church office on their way out of town. Those days are long gone.
Churches deal with this reality in various ways. Some keep a separate “summer reserve” account in addition to their “rainy day” fund to maintain cash flow when the contribution line graph usually takes a steep decline for at least six weeks. Others plan their expenses to occur in the Spring and Fall in anticipation of the summer decline.
Whatever “dance” you have devised to manage the summer slump, here are three suggestions you might want to consider before summer arrives:
1. Leverage e-mail communication. Make sure you have everyone’s current e-mail address. (Good rule of thumb: update every 30-90 days.) It easy to keep people connected through e-mail. And research shows that even millennial donors prefer e-mail to every other communication platform when receiving information from organizations like churches. Don’t forget about video-mail which allows you to add a personal touch to your message.
2. Promote online giving. It may be a little late for a full-blown campaign to increase participation in your church’s online giving options, but it never hurts to remind people it’s available. Chances are they didn’t hear you the last time you mentioned it. (Good rule of thumb: About the time you’re tired of hearing yourself say it, that’s when the person in the pew begins to listen.) Using auto-giving options such as auto-debits or bank drafts keeps cash coming even if the members aren’t present.
3. Upgrade your Facebook presence. Since several hundred million people around the globe use this platform, your church might want to consider investing some time and people into building a social media presence through Facebook. Share crazy videos from church camp, link to your Worship services, and keep the stories of life change coming. Facebook has an amazing way of keeping people connected even though there is no direct or immediate personal interaction or dialogue. Don’t miss out on the benefits of building community even when your members aren’t there on Sunday.
Summer is coming. You can’t change that. What steps will you take today to ensure your church is fully funded throughout the entire year?
Have you tried something to overcome the summer slump and it worked (or failed miserably and you can laugh about it now)? I’d love to hear about it.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy takes a snapshot of Generation Y
Part of the “new normal” of church giving is that our approach and appeals to our congregation related to church funding are going to have vary by demographic. We are a micro-communication culture that wants to be communicated with in practice, language, and through mediums that are “native” to our worldview.
The risk is not that we’ll upset someone by not meeting their expectations.
The risk is that some will never “hear” us at all.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy provided a nice overview of Generation Y (people born between 1970 and 2000) in their May 6, 2010 print edition.
$341 Average amount members of Gen Y donate annually
3.6 Average number of groups they support
57% Share who have volunteered in the past year
21% Share who say helping others is on of their biggest priorities
20 Median number of text messages they sent in the past 24 hours
83% Share who has slept with their cellphones on or near their beds
29% Share who made their donations online over the past two years
37% Share who joined a charity’s online social network in the past month
Are you prepared to change your funding plan to meet the “new reality” of church giving?
Raising money will ALWAYS cost you something
The reason so many church leaders walk away from raising money is that it comes at a high cost.
Raising money is going to cost you…
Time….it takes time to share your story and you never get the luxury of only sharing it only once and only through one medium.
Energy…it takes energy to discover what God is calling your church to do or become.
Effort…it takes effort to develop a strategy and define actionable items that create results.
People…it takes people encouraging others to get involved and there will always be someone who will leave your church using money as an excuse for his or her departure.
Money…it takes money to raise money and you might need to look outside your staff for guidance along the way.
Of course, the ability to fully fund your church and facilitate eternal life change and spiritual formation should be worth whatever it costs you along the way.
But if the cost just seems too high and appears to involve too much work, don’t do anything different. Nothing bad will happen immediately. Over time you will help direct money and people to other churches who are willing to incur the cost in exchange for seeing the evidence of life change.
Raising money will ALWAYS cost you something!
The power of relevance in raising funds
I have been thinking a lot about a recent Fundraising is Beautiful podcast from Jeff Brooks: The power of relevance.
“Relevance doesn’t just happen. The thing that just happens is irrelevance.”
- Jeff Brooks
The greatest obstacle church leaders have to funding budgets and raising money is that they assume that what is important to them is important to everyone else. Church leaders are often so close to the situation it’s impossible to have any objective perspective. They live with a sense of urgency because they know all the details and fail to acknowledge that the people in the pew are busy and will quickly forget whatever appeals were made Sunday morning by the time they finish lunch that same afternoon.
If you’re honest (and bold) enough to admit that your direct appeals from the pulpit aren’t getting the results in the offering plate that you’d like see, take 22:03 and listen how Jeff Brooks unpacks the incredibly successful Haiti relief funding appeals from people who largely lived with little connection to this country and were largely not personally affected by this natural disaster.
Are you relevant? Wait. Don’t answer that question yourself. Remember to ask the person in the pew.
One atheist take his cue from the church to encourage giving
Church leaders should pay careful attention to one atheist who is leaning upon his observations from the church to create a Foundation to fund the charitable and philanthropic urges of those who don’t even subscribe to the existence of God.
Read Atheists’ collection plate, with religious inspiration.
Fascinating!
While church leaders ask me if it’s even possible to increase giving, one guy is taking his cue from the church to tap into the power to influence and mobilize a body of people to collect resources and disperse them to those in need.
Those of us leading churches might do well to learn something, ironically, from this atheist.
Get creative and consistent in promoting online giving
If you want people to give online, you need to tell them it’s available.
Pretty simple, huh? You’d be surprised how many churches have online giving and NONE of their members know about. (Seriously! I’ve been to these churches.)
It’s hard for church leaders to remember that most people only interact with their church once every seven days in 59 minute segments.
People forget.
So get creative and consistent in telling people to give online.
Note: If you don’t want people to give online, why are you reading this blog?
“The church already has enough.”
I heard someone say this recently.
The person who said this fits the profile of a faithful church giver. And by this person’s own admission, they were faithfully involved in service and giving to their church until something happened a few years ago. I don’t completely understand the back story. I don’t know all the details, but something happened. Whatever that “something” was, it caused that individual to redirect their time, talent, and treasure elsewhere…OUTSIDE the church.
I wonder who is thinking and saying the same thing to themselves AND others while sitting in the pew of your church.
Do you know who they are?
You need to.
Are there systems and processes in place to help you identify shifts in people’s giving and serving habits?
There should be.
Ignoring this reality isn’t an option.
Worse!
Ignoring this reality is rejecting the gift God has provided in the people who sit in your pews.
