This document summarizes a presentation on church stewardship given by J. Clif Christopher. Some key points include: - Churches must understand they compete for charitable dollars with other non-profits and only receive 2% of donations. Successful churches focus on their mission and sharing stories of how lives are changed. - Presbyterians on average give $727 annually to their congregation, comprising 53.9% of their $1,300 in total annual charitable giving. - Budgets should be presented narratively focused on mission rather than line-items. Leadership must model giving and share their personal stories. Regular stewardship messaging is important to cultivate a culture of generosity.

1. S H A N N A N V A N C E - O C A M P O
C L A S S I N A P R I L 2 0 1 3 W I T H M O N M O U T H
P R E S B Y T E R Y
Stewardship Learnings
“Not Your Parent’s Offering Plate”
with J. Clif Christopher

2. Data and Information
 People are still giving at the same rate of disposable
income
 The question is: Why give to the church, why give to us,
why not something else?
 2% of charitable dollars go to religious institutions.
 #1 place of giving: higher education
 We need to understand that we are in competition for
every single dollar we receive with every other charity
that reaches out. Does our outreach match?
 90% of congregations are unable to compete in today’s
charitable world

3. Rich Church Poor Church
 Mission
 Describes mission to donors
 Lives
 Always talking about and showing how
lives are being changed. Money is a
tool for mission
 Service
 Constant opportunities for service
 Discipleship
 The “customer” is not inside the walls
of the church. It is the person outside
needing to know Jesus
 Jesus
 Every conversation is rooted in Jesus.
I am doing X or Y or Z because of who
Jesus is for me/us
 Survival
 Primary goal is a balanced budget
 Money
 Always talking about how more money
is needed.
 Facility
 Emphasis on caring for
facility/building
 Appeasement
 Decision-making is guided by keeping
current members happy to the “ways
things used to be”
 Church
 Discussions/conversations are about
what the “church” needs
Rich Church/Poor Church

4. Presbyterians
 84% give to charities
 Total on average/year is $1,300
 Total on average to their congregation: $727
 Church giving = 53.9% of their charitable
giving
 Church giving = 1% of their yearly income

5. Presentation of Budget
 We lead from a place of weakness, most
congregations do this. We talk about our deficit. We
do not tell a positive story.
 We present a line-item budget. This does not sell.
 Instead do a missional budget with narrative (with
copies of line-item in church office is anyone wants
them).
 Worship, Mission, Education
 Stop showing the line item in the annual report
 Do not put negative financial reports in newsletters,
instead put positive ones

6. Leadership issues
 All board members must pledge and give
 Membership = a high level of commitment. Many
denominations outpace mainline ones on giving. That is
because they talk about membership differently.
 Suggests that the Pastor share what he/she gives to the
church and all their other charitable giving to the
congregation as a challenge
 Giving is a spiritual issue. If people are not giving that
means they either have something going on in their life
that is a challenge or they are struggling to give God all
that they can.

7. Messaging
 Missional not line-item budgets
 Someone should share at least 2x/month about how their
experience of this particular congregation has changed their
faith-journey. A changed human life is our “product.”
 There should be a “stewardship” story in every newsletter.
Newsletters shouldn’t be announcements, they should be
mission stories.
 Stewardship sermons at least 4x/year, spread out
 Personal notes of thanks weekly. Done by board and Pastor.
 Planned giving information should be in the newsletter every-
other month and in the bulletin once/month which explicit
info on how to make planned gifts
 Targeted letters in a stewardship drive

8. 2014 Stewardship
 What do we want our goals to be?
 When do we want to roll out our stewardship drive?
 Do we want to begin earlier than last year?
 What role does each member of the Session want to
take on in the stewardship drive for 2014?