Many pastors don’t like to think of themselves as fundraisers, but the function seems to go with the position. And whether we like it or not, the better we fulfill that part of our job, the more effective our ministries.
—Gary Fenton
There is an old story about a young seminary graduate who came to a rural congregation as their first seminary-trained pastor. The people were proud of his vocabulary, the evidences of culture and education, and his sophistication.
Several weeks after his arrival, he announced that on the following Sunday he would speak on “The Fiduciary Stewardship of the Royal Priesthood.” The congregation eagerly anticipated this learned young man’s sermon.
When the minister completed the sermon, one of the members said, “Pastor, I don’t know exactly what it was you preached about, but it sounded like what our former pastor used to say when he was trying to lift an offering.”
Regardless of how we say it, we are fund raisers in the eyes of many people. Many pastors don’t like to think of themselves that way, but the function seems to go with the position. And whether we like it or not, the better we fulfill that part of our job, the more effective our ministries.
Why Become Involved
I have heard a few pastors say that they don’t become involved in the financial procedures of the church—although I have heard very few say this in the presence of their church members! As much as I sometimes rebel against the idea, I’ve come up with several reasons I take an active role in the financial procedures of the church.
• The pastor is a part of the church family. For a member to be ignorant of how the church is actually using its funds would amount to poor stewardship. If church members are expected to be at least somewhat informed and interested in church finances, I’m no exception.
• The pastor is a church leader. The precise role of the pastor as leader varies from church to church, but for me to avoid all involvement in church finances would be to abdicate leadership. It takes money to build buildings, pay salaries, supply paper clips, and offer curriculum materials. I’ve never seen a church that can do without such things. Therefore I don’t think I can claim to lead a church if I don’t, at some level, concern myself with how it’s going to pay for paper clips.
And as a leader I don’t want to communicate a cavalier attitude about money. An older and wiser minister, speaking to our staff, told us that by refusing to become involved in money issues, we tell our people that money is not important.
Some pastors say they want to reserve their energies for the more “spiritual” concerns and leave money matters to others. I find it difficult, however, to separate money from spiritual issues. Jesus addressed the subject of money often, and his interest in the subject didn’t make his ministry less spiritual.
• Only the pastor sees the big picture. In one church I served, a staff member suggested to me that our annual stewardship appeal actually discouraged new members from giving. At the time, our church was having difficulty assimilating new members into the life of the church. Although the motto and budget letter had not consciously excluded new members, it could have been interpreted that way.
Since the overall finances were not in this staff person’s responsibility, he had hesitated to speak to the finance committee. Even if he had, the finance committee, because it is not directly concerned with membership, may not have taken his objection seriously. After I discussed the matter with the committee, they agreed to make some necessary changes.
As pastor, I was the only person in the church who was aware and concerned about both issues (new members and finances) and had the clout to make sure both were taken seriously.
Five Ways to Raise Funds
To be involved with finances, though, doesn’t mean we have to master the intricacies of spreadsheets. I’ve found I can be involved in five less tangible but perhaps more crucial ways.
1. Stewardship preacher. We live in a materialistic society, and often the first line of spiritual skirmish in believers is at the point of spending. Naturally, stewardship is more than asking for money, but it certainly includes money. As I mentioned, Jesus touched on money often in his preaching. I am wise to do no less. And if I do it well, it will raise money for the church.
And that means I’ve got to get specific from time to time.
“Why don’t you use the word money when preaching about stewardship?” a member once asked me. “You speak of resources, talents, possessions, tithing, and sacrificial giving, but you appear to be afraid of the word money.” After verbally treading water for several minutes, I had to admit he was right. I avoided the word money as if it were obscene.
When preaching on stewardship now, I try to use the m-word as well as talents, time, and the other “good” words. Not only is it more effective, it is also more honest. Sometimes when we ask people to give money, we need to make ourselves clear that this is what we are asking for. I am still not perfectly comfortable with it, but that’s my problem. I don’t have to project that upon the whole church.
2. Accidental fund raiser. Most people want to give to a variety of causes. And they often become aware of a cause, and thus contribute to it, because they’ve heard about it first in a sermon or class I’ve given. When, as a sermon illustration, I mention the work of the local food closet or a Baptist missionary, people will sometimes approach me afterwards asking how they can donate to the person or organization I’ve mentioned.
Also, I sometimes inadvertently challenge people to give when I address deeper issues in their lives. Once after I preached a message on compassion for the outcast, a man made a commitment to give a large amount to the benevolence ministry of our church. My message made no reference to money. I was seeking to address the attitude of superiority most upwardly mobile people have when they associate with the poor. This wealthy man heard his greed and selfishness challenged.
3. A trusted trustee. To many members, the pastor is the one person they can talk to without feeling manipulated. The pastor is wise to preserve this trust, especially when it comes to financial matters.
A wealthy and generous layman told me in any given week he received five to eight requests for charitable contributions. He had the same pastor for over twenty years and had developed a healthy respect for him. He said that when his pastor indicated a need in the church or the community, he was more than willing to give, because his pastor had never, to his knowledge, abused the gift or tried to manipulate him for selfish purposes.
4. Herald of the vision. The pastor may not be the only one who reminds the congregation of the church’s goals, but he or she is usually the best trained to put the vision into words and images that a broad spectrum of the congregation can appreciate. People give to causes that flow out of the vision. I don’t articulate a vision for the sole purpose of raising money, but if I cast vision well, I see money raised.
5. The conscience of the church. The pastor, among others, must insist on integrity in financial matters. The pastor publicly and privately must be aware of how money is raised, given, counted, and spent, and how all this is reported.
In some cases, the issues are not so subtle. In one large church, the budget promotion committee planned a stewardship campaign that used a slogan and creative publicity methods. Unfortunately, they appealed to guilt and greed. The pastor intervened and asked the committee to redesign their emphasis. Although two leaders at first felt the pastor was trying to usurp their authority, they finally saw the pastor’s point.
In some instances, though, the lack of integrity is subtle. In one church, the new pastor heard several people complain about the complexity of the monthly financial statement. When he asked the treasurer and the chairman of the board of deacons, they explained to him how to interpret the statement. After a couple of hours of decoding, the pastor determined that the church was in great financial condition. Still, it wasn’t right, he thought, that the financial statement was too difficult to understand without detailed explanations.
As the pastor researched the problem, he discovered that the previous pastor and treasurer had designed the financial statement to keep the people from asking questions about expenditures. The report had been intentionally designed to intimidate the congregation into silence! Consequently, the questions about finances usually centered on the form of reporting, and there never seemed to be enough time to discuss exactly how money was being used.
The pastor quickly recognized this as a lack of integrity in reporting finances, and he eventually led the treasurer to present more clearly the information.
What to Say in a Finance Committee Meeting
In most churches the pastor is an ex-officio member of all the committees of the church, including the finance committee. As such, the pastor is permitted to discuss issues but not vote on them. How and where to become involved in the discussion of financial matters is a crucial issue for the pastor. I have found the following guidelines helpful.
• Speak to clarify. The pastor is often the only person who represents continuity in a committee. Church committees are in constant transition, and the people in them, or many of them at least, may be asked to discuss issues of which they have little knowledge. If an embryo of confusion exists in financial matters, I find it helps everyone if I speak up.
Recently in a finance committee meeting, a staff member realized that several new members did not understand the purpose of a proposed change in our financial policy. The change, in fact, was insignificant, more a housekeeping item than a major policy shift, but the new members couldn’t have known that.
The staff member noticed one of the new members start to ask a question but then withdraw, mumbling that his question was not worthy of the time required to discuss it. The staff member at this point asked to speak to clarify what exactly was going on. Soon the hesitant new members were “on board” and happily supported the change.
• Speak when you are the only source of information. The pastor sometimes has privileged information that the committee needs if it’s going to make an intelligent decision.
In one church I served, the finance committee was concerned over the church’s heating bills. Our church purchased propane from a local businessman, who was not a member of the church. It was moved by a committee member immediately to begin a bidding process with other companies.
I happened to know that at the end of each year, we received a check for our building fund from this businessman. Although the check equaled our annual billing to his company, he insisted on anonymity.
Without giving all the details, I assured the committee, “Changing companies at this time would prove quite expensive to the church. For one reason, this man’s company has been quite generous to our church for several years, which more than compensates for the relatively high heating bills.”
The matter was then dropped.
• Speak redemptively regarding controversial issues. Financial issues are great arenas for controversy. Sometimes individuals or groups become polarized and often question the motives of those who differ with them. But often the pastor can bring unity to the group.
One pastor, after hearing members debate a controversial program, tried to interpret positively each view he had heard.
On the one hand, there were some who were opposed to the proposed bond program to finance the program. These people seemed to be less opposed to the program than to the method. This was a valid concern, he concluded.
The pastor also mentioned those who had reservations regarding the timing of the program. These people thought a large program like the one proposed needed more time to develop. These folks, the pastor explained, did not want to block the church’s vision, they simply wanted to ensure the program’s success.
The pastor also discussed the views of those who supported the program. His purpose was to show that each position had merit and that to support one did not mean you had to question the integrity of the other positions or their proponents.
The pastor then explained why he supported the bond program, but he made it clear that it was not a vote between good and evil but a vote between three options, which were all morally good.
The layman who told me this story said that although the pastor’s preference of proceeding with the bond program had probably been a minority position at the start of the meeting, the committee voted to support the pastor’s position and did so with a sense of unity.
• Affirm major decisions. After a committee has approved a large expenditure or is facing a deficit, it’s important to reassure them of the decision they’ve made.
Churches usually elect people to finance committees who will protect the church’s investments: bankers, accountants, and financial managers. The problem is such people have been trained to minimize loss rather than produce great gain. They are the kinds of people who feel personally responsible for the church’s finances. So they tend to see more risk and problems than exist.
I feel one of my roles is to keep reminding the committee of the things that are going well and of the signs that the future is hopeful. This doesn’t mean that I understate the gravity of any situation. I’ve just discovered a church’s financial problems are usually not as grave as they first appear. They may not be solvable in one committee meeting, but over the long run, they usually can be worked out.
Sometimes we help a committee think about their difficult work in hopeful terms. The church in which I presently serve went through a major financial crisis prior to my coming. Due to an intense conflict, several of the church’s long-time “financial heavy hitters” had left the church. During the interim, the financial leadership had to prepare a budget.
Everyone knew that the church would have to reduce the budget from the previous year, but people were divided over how to go about the cuts. Some wanted immediate and drastic reductions, others less drastic. The committee prepared a budget that tried to please both sides, but in the end everyone on the committee felt as if the cuts they had made were pretty brutal.
The interim pastor at this point stepped in and spoke to the committee: “I know how difficult it can be to be good stewards in a time like this. I also know we have to make some necessary reductions, and that is going to create some pain among the members. But let’s remember that the work you’ve done here is the first step in getting us in shape for the future.
“Don’t think of yourselves as butchers, hacking away at excess fat. Think of yourselves as aerobic instructors; you’re dealing with fat by exercise and good diet. That’s going to be painful, but in the end it will be worth it. The whole church will be more healthy.”
Instead of the reduced budget being a brutal and defeating experience, it became a watershed budget that made it possible for the church to be a good steward to this day.
Delegating Financial Matters
The pastor, in order to be effective, must delegate some fiscal responsibilities. Each community and each church has different expectations regarding the role of the pastor. A careful exegesis of the local culture of the community will help the pastor learn to deal with these expectations and keep the church directed toward its specific mission.
• Clarify what is delegated. Each church has unique traditions, so the job titles and descriptions of committees and boards will not necessarily reflect accurately what each does. When dealing with money issues, it is imperative that everyone know what is being delegated and to whom.
In one large church, a new pastor arrived just prior to the preparation of the budget. He assumed that the budget preparation committee would promote the budget—at least that’s what the committee job description indicated. But by tradition, the staff and church council actually promoted the budget. There was mass confusion in his first year and a shortfall in pledges. As a result, it took several years for the church to recover.
That pastor now writes an annual expectation letter to the finance committee chairperson. He tells the chairperson precisely what he can expect from the pastor and the staff, and he then lists what he expects of the chairperson. In his letter, he invites the chairperson to redefine or change the expectations.
• Determine how much you should know about individual contributions. Before deciding how much I should know about people’s giving, I ask myself two key questions.
1. What is the tradition of the church? A pastor friend recently interviewed with a church’s search committee. He said he received more questions regarding how he handled financial contributions than how he preached or practiced spiritual disciplines.
Specifically, they said they did not want their pastor to know the amounts of people’s giving. They felt their previous pastor spent inordinate time with the people who lived in the “high-tithe district.” More than likely, their new pastor will have limited access to members’ giving patterns, at least for a few years while these wounds heal.
Other churches expect the pastor to know the giving records of the members. They feel that as shepherd of the flock, he needs this information in order to hold the membership accountable for their stewardship. These churches often have a tradition of trust and confidence in their pastors.
If a pastor is still uncomfortable knowing about members’ giving, he will have to explain carefully why he wants to remain ignorant of such things. Otherwise, the members may interpret his lack of interest as an indication that stewardship is not important to him.
2. Can I handle this information with integrity? Will my knowing help the members and the church, or will it just get in the way of my ministry?
I have found that I’m a better pastor if I don’t know the giving levels of individual members. I become angry with people who I believe are not giving enough, and my anger only increases when I feel my own family is making great sacrifices compared with them. Neither does reviewing records anonymously, without knowing the individual whose giving I’m examining, increase my effectiveness.
On the other hand, I don’t hesitate to ask members about their giving when they are nominated to serve in leadership positions. Since our congregation has a strong history of tithing, I ask our prospective deacons if their giving level is consistent with the church’s view of tithing and with our emphasis on sacrificial giving. If they are going to help lead the church, they have to live by our priorities.
Many churches ask the financial secretary or treasurer to review the giving records of all potential leaders prior to their election. If their giving level is not acceptable, they tell the nominating committee so. The church I serve does this for members nominated to committees that handle large sums of money.
Then again, one of the most effective pastors I know reviews annually the giving records of each of his members. He does this, he says, not for the financial good of the church but for the good of the individual member.
If a member’s contributions have dropped drastically in one year, it prompts him to ask the member if the family is having a financial crisis. He has discovered some members with intense needs this way. I have known people who were members of this church, and each of them speaks positively of this practice. Apparently he did not start this practice, though, until he served this congregation several years.
Always a Shepherd
A pastor may have financial responsibilities in the church, but in the end, we’re still pastors.
One recent Sunday evening, I began the sermon by asking everyone to take the largest denomination bill out of their wallet or purse. If they had nothing larger then a five, I told them to take a check out of their checkbook. I did this on my seventh-month anniversary as pastor.
The congregation looked at me as if I were joking. I told them I was serious, and I really hoped they would do as I suggested. To those who had taken out a check, I asked them to find a pen and a hymnal, or something else with a hard surface. Some nervous laughter moved through the sanctuary, but most people did what I suggested.
I took a fifty-dollar bill out of my wallet. I then paused for about a minute and looked across the congregation and commented on the tension in the room. It felt as if “the honeymoon” was over. Even those to whom I felt closest looked at me as if I had lost my mind.
After the pause, I said, “Okay, you can put away your money and checks.” We all felt the tension ease.
“We’re a lot more relaxed now, aren’t we?” Everyone laughed. “You think you were nervous; my palms are sweaty!” I continued. “We were nervous, of course, because we thought we were going to have to part with something that is precious to us. And that’s uncomfortable.
“In my tenure as pastor, sometimes I or the finance committee will ask you to part with things that are valuable to you, like your money. I never want to manipulate you, but even the gentlest discussion of money can make us all feel uncomfortable. I want you to know I understand that; I feel it myself. I also want you to know that Christ can help us deal with this discomfort.”
In the end, my most important financial role with my people is that of pastor. I not only help people to give to the work of the church, I also help them identify their fears and concerns, especially about money, and place such anxieties into the hands of a compassionate God.
Copyright © 1992 by Christianity Today
