The way most church leaders approach budgeting may not yield the best results for congregation because it focuses on income and expenditures, NOT on goals and ministry priorities. What’s a congregational leader to do? This article from Logan Leadership has some suggestions. (Photo: Werner_Hahn, Creative Commons)
Everybody agrees a finance committee is essential to a congregation, but many do not have clear guidelines, goals or job descriptions for their members. How can they know whether they’re doing a good job? Here are 11 tasks that a committee should be doing, from Smart Church Management. (Illustration: AJ Cann, Creative Commons)
Stewardship is more than financial giving, writes author and consultant Julia Kuhn Wallace. It is a sense of thanksgiving for all that God has given us, including care giving for the world around us! She presents eight ideas for developing stewardship in a smaller congregation. Which might work for yours? From ChristianityToday.com. (Photo: Dublin Molly, […]
Most people are not surprised to learn that operating a church takes money, says this essay from Churchfuel.com. And they are not offended by being asked to participate in something important. It’s HOW we ask that matters. Read on for how to approach financial stewardship in your congregation. (Photo: Bev8200, Creative Commons)
When it comes to stewardship ministry, too often we want unrealistically fast results — the program that will increase revenue by 20 percent in the first year. Using a gardening analogy, Anne Brock of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy explores what it means to plant seeds of abundance.
Here’s a resource with great ideas to energize your financial stewardship ministry. Stewardship 101: An Invitation to Financial Stewardship is a free e-book from the Center for Steward Leadership at Luther Seminary. It contains 17 of the center’s best newsletter articles on a wide variety of stewardship topics.
“To know, or not to know?” That is the question that Hamlet surely never had to ask, but church leaders wrestle with it as they ponder whether to look at the donation records for their church. Faith & Leadership explores the “common assumptions” with the “actual facts.” (Photo: Edith Soto, Creative Commons)
Stewardship efforts often fail because a single team is saddled with all the financial leadership responsibilities and they get overwhelmed. A better approach is to create three teams who can focus — and do a good job — on just one area of responsibility. From the Center for Faith and Giving.
Stewardship is more than just a six-week campaign in the fall, yet most congregations lack a strategy for anything else. Here, from the United Methodist Church, is a handy guide with links to help keep financial stewardship awareness simmering all year long.
“There’s a hoax being perpetuated that time management is essentially about technique … All you need are the right tools: paper planner, online calendar, tools to block addictive websites,” writes leadership consultant Margaret Marcuson, who explores deeper issues that can help leaders get a handle on things. (Photo: Robert van der Steeg, Creative Commons.)
