How should pastors and churches help people position themselves to embrace generosity? In this conversation, a continuation from the previous episode, Pastors Brady Boyd and Andrew Arndt are joined by Chris Brown (Nationally Syndicated Radio Host of “Life Money Hope”) to answer this question and more.
The biggest revelation I’ve had in dealing with churches is that people are confused about stewardship… when people think about stewardship, they think the church is just trying to get their money…
Fundraising and stewardship are not the same thing… stewardship is about managing God’s blessings in God’s way for God’s glory… not just 10% but 100%…
We need to teach people to be faithful with the 100%…
At the core, this is about financial discipleship… we need to be teaching people not just what to do, but how to do it…
It saddens me that the church is an authority in the eyes of the world when it comes to marriage and parenting, but we’re not when it comes to finances… those churches that are taking stewardship seriously are seeing a lot of results…
The reason we teach on financial management and stewardship is not so that we can get their money but so that the Lord can get their hearts… we’re trying to teach people to worship the right thing…
People don’t give because they’re broke… so if you want to really do this well, people have got to pick up on the fact that this is something for them, not something that you want from them… it’s about trust…
QUESTIONS FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM
- How good of a job do you think you and your team are doing at helping people think biblically about managing “the 100%” as opposed to just “the 10%” of their resources?
- What are some improvements you could make to this area of your ministry?
- Take some time to list 5-6 practical things you could do this year to help bolster the quality of financial discipleship your church. Talk about them with your team.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Chris’s Podcast: Life, Money, Hope