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July 27, 2009
Should a church post its weekly giving in the bulletin?
I came across this thread of discussion recently in the ChurchAdmin bulletin board on Yahoo Groups. (Sure wish they would move this conversation to Twitter.) The conversation began with one church business administrator wondering whether or not they should post weekly giving and related detail in the church bulletin each week.
I wanted to weigh in on the conversation through the Do More Ministry blog, a more comfortable platform and one more suitable for editorial rather than purely information content.
I would answer the question ...
YES!
OF COURSE!
WHY WOULDN'T YOU!?!
YOU'D BE CRAZY NOT TO!
Maybe this seems like I'm over-reacting, but we keep "score" in every area of our lives. Why should have to stop at the doors of the church? Keeping "score" forces the leadership and the membership to wrestle with "what is" not simply "what should be" or "what we want it to be."
In the age of accountability and transparency, it is absolutely essential that people - even guests who choose to visit your church - have an immediate understanding of your financial viability. Giving is an outward, measurable dimension of who we are, what we believe in, and how committed we are to an organization.
The thought that publishing numbers that show any church to be behind in giving might inherently turn people is bogus. The state of your church's giving is indicative of the spiritual condition and climate of your congregation. Behind just means behind. There is no need to attach a sense of personal ego or self-esteem to the numbers.
Measuring and reporting your church's giving patterns is essential to achieving fully funded ministry budgets and establishing long-term sustainable ministry. People appreciate honesty and understand that every organization has ups and downs. However, an organization that is in a downward spiral and refuses to talk about its situation is simply in denial. And that's not an organization healthy church members want to be a part of.
Reporting weekly giving offers the platform to celebrate ministry successes and to re-examine ministry return on investments when ministry results isn't matching ministry funding. Why would any organization shirk the opportunity to do that continually, and why would any church leader fear such a process?
Tell the people what they're giving. Perhaps it will reveal a need to talk about money, giving, and stewardship more openly and freely from the pulpit and the pew. Every church could benefit from such a candid conversation.
Posted by bstroup at July 27, 2009 12:04 PM
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