FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR MINISTRERS & MINISTRIES: 10 SECRETS OF RAISING A GIVING CHURCH

The desire of every minister is to have a church that knows how to really give. But the reality is that very many churches and Christians are stingy, unfaithful and backward in their giving. One out of every three Christian don’t pay their tithes One out of every five Christian don’t give at all and nine out of every ten Christian don’t give to mission at all. Inspite of the amount of money coming to the church in the last several years, yet majority of Christians are seriously lacking behind in giving.

To build or raise a giving church will take deliberate and intentional effort on the part of the minister. To build or develop a giving church is not a programme but a long and painstaking process. If you preach salvation, healing and miracles and they happen, you must talk about money and giving also before it can happen.

A. SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATION Pro. 11:23-25; Luke 6:38; II Cor. 9:7; Pro. 22:9; 28:27; Eccl. 11:1-2; Exo. 35:5,6,29; 36:5-7.

The church in the wilderness was a giving church. Acts 4:34-37. Also the New Testament church Giving should be second nature to Christians. The people of God must give generously Abundance mentality helps people to give, while poverty mentality allows them to be stingy. One mark of healthy Christians, churches and leaders is their giving nature resembling their God Stingy churches are usually poor churches. Receiving churches will always be at receiving end. How should we give?

Give yourself to the Lord first-I1 Cor. 8:5
Give willingly-II Cor. 8:3
Give generously and liberally-Luke 6:38
Give cheerfully-1 Cor. 9:7
Give regularly-1 Cor. 16:2
Give sacrificially-Luke 21:1-4.
Give as sowing to a fertile ground
Give freely as you have received – Rom. 12:13
Give as unto the Lord, not man.
Give as the Lord leads and directs
Give until the Lord stop giving to you = Acts 20:35

The reason God gave us riches is not for our personal aggrandizement, but to give unto others. If God cannot withdraw from you, he will stop depositing in you ‘If you don’t measure your giving Your giving will determine your heaven -Matt. 19:21, Luke 12:33, 1 Tim. 6:17-19. Your reward, position and place in heaven will largely be determined by your giving.

B. 10 SECRETS OF GIVING CHURCHES Exo. 36:5-7; Acts 4:34-37

You don’t just wake up and have a giving church. There are reasons why people will give generously or sparsely to a church or leader. If you cannot raise much money in your church and you always depend on guest ministers to do it, then you don’t know the secrets. Allow me to pinpoint them out to you.

1. Leadership:

People give to leaders they believe in and trust, not to institutions. The leader that will receive the money of people in a significant way most display vision, divine connection, integrity, competence, generosity and courage. You must be a giving leader too, generous in giving to God and the work Lack of giving in a church might be a subtle protest against your leadership.

2. Stewardship

You can raise a giving church by teaching and training the people to be good stewards of their time, talent and treasures. Stewardship lifestyle is crucial to a giving church. Properly taught people doesn’t need to be cajoled again and again. If you have to preach 10 minutes sermon before every offering time, it is a sign that your people are not taught

3. Vision

People tend to give to what captures their imagination. A clear, compelling vision will elicit the financial support of the people. People always give to the vision they embrace or own. Clear communication of vision is vital to substantial giving by the people.

4. Integrity

People are continually searching for signs of integrity in the leaders of the church are being shrouded in secrecy misappropriated and mismanaged and rumors are rife here and there, and nothing is being done to rectify the situation, genuine people that wants to give will be scared away Without integrity and transparency, giving will not increase significantly in the church.

5. Impact

People will give to churches that are making tremendous impact in the lives of people. People keep on looking for evidences that their monies has made a huge difference in the lives of others People want their giving to count.

6. Fertile Ground

Your church must be a fertile ground to sow, if you must continue to receive the money of people. Everyone that gives secretly desire the blessings that follow. If they don’t see returned blessings, they will think twice before giving again,

7. Care and Concern

in churches where the welfare of the people is not top-priority, their giving will not significantly increase in churches where the people are constantly asked to give without corresponding care about how they can increase their personal finance, the people will withdraw from giving. If we practice use them and dump-them syndrome in the church, it is signal to giving withdrawal

8. Communication

Raising a giving church calls for church leaders that are not afraid to talk about money Churches that neglect to communicate the vision, needs, financial projections and projects of the church to the people periodically will have a hard time raising money.

9. Modula Pockets

A giving church will be a reality when opportunities are giving to people to give to different areas of the church. Different pockets must be created for giving. People seems to give to areas of their missions, children greatest interest ministry, building, welfare, maintenance, departments and growth programmes.

10. Holy Spirit At Work

People give to a winning cause, not to a sinking ship. People will readily give to a church in which the Holy Spirit is working mightily in revival and renewal. Powerful testimonies of miracles of salvation. healings, preservation and open doors will elicit the giving of people.

Ministers that know these secrets and work on them inevitably raises more money and raise it more easily than leaders who either did not reckon with them or have failed to build upon them in their congregation.

C. PRINCIPLES OF FINANCIAL GROWTH IN MINISTRY

You must experience all round growth in ministry Numerical, spiritual, material, social and mental growth must be balanced with financial growth

What are the principles you can follow?

Acknowledge God as the owner of all wealth, money and resources and that you are just a caretaker of them
Renounce all negative mindset and confession about money
Pray against demonic stronghold on your finances
Reject, pray out and pay out poverty spirit in your church
Tithes outside Pay your personal, ministry and church
Display integrity, contentment and maturity in handling money
Have abundance mentality by giving and being generous
Use church money for what people will readily see.
Spend, sacrifice and invest in the work regularly
Don’t run ministry in debt and pay your workers well

Make sure your church is a fruitful ground to sow. And you can only do that by wisely, judiciously and honestly using the money for kingdom purposes If you siphon, embezzle and misappropriate them, God will withdraw His blessings upon the giving of the people. And once the people are not seeing returned blessing upon their giving, they will start holding back.