5 Strategies for Encouraging Year-Round Generosity in Your Church

To create a culture of generosity in your church, having a stewardship focus for only two to three weeks in the fall isn’t enough. It will require an intentional, ongoing conversation about generosity and giving with your congregation. This webinar will help you cultivate faithful generosity that will lead to generous giving all year long.

In under an hour, you will learn how to:

1. Understand the Principles of Stewardship
   Part of being a pastor is being a good steward of the resources God has provided for your church. When it comes to stewardship, Bill Cox, a Christian businessman, suggests: prayer and planning go together, visions need resources, the budgeting process is your friend, and your emphasis on money should be balanced. Read more about Cox’s “Seven Financial Stewardship Principles for Churches.”
2. Implement a Stewardship Plan in Your Church or Ministry
   Make a plan to keep the value of generosity in front of your congregation throughout the entire year, not just during the holiday season. Try telling stories about the work God is doing in and through your church. Encourage people to be generous with their time and talents as well as their finances. You may also want to take steps to ensure your church accounting is above board.
3. Demonstrate Accountability for Managing Church Funds
   Transparency is essential for trust, which leads to generosity. Some ways to build trust include handling your money with integrity, establishing a budget and living within it, practicing good discipline, and communicating openly about your finances to your congregation.
4. Use Reports and Fund Accounting to Make Strong Financial Choices
   Does your church budget line up with your actual expenses? Fund accounting will help you know where your budget is at any moment and if the money you have is allocated for the proper purposes.
5. Monitor Giving Trends to Gauge the Financial Health of Your Church
   When you look at the current giving trends inside and outside the church, is your church on the positive end of the spectrum? Is it different during the holiday season than throughout the rest of the year? Some indicators of financial health are the percentage of people who give, the overall number of contributions your church received in a set amount of time, and how many people are recurring givers. Member management software has been proven to connect giver information with the needed insights to provide a more complete picture of your church’s overall financial health.

If you’re interested in seeing how true church accounting software can help you better track your funds, try Aplos for free.