10 More Ways to Challenge Your Church to Give More

A few years ago, I wrote a post on “10 Ideas to Improve Giving in Your Church.” Here are a few more ideas to add to that list: 

1. Show how giving can meet needs. Help your church to see that their giving can touch the nations through the work of missionaries. Refugees might get shelter. The poor might get food. The sick might get medical care. Young people in your church will particularly be more willing to give if they believe social ministry will happen.
2. Provide online means for giving. Church members younger than I have grown up living life online. They often pay most of their bills online. Giving them a means to give regularly and simply through the same methodology can increase their giving consistency.
3. Do a churchwide study on giving. Consider using a small group resource like Randy Alcorn’s Treasure Principle, and include all your groups in the study. And, by the way, make sure the group leaders who facilitate the discussions are themselves happy givers!
4. Challenge your church members to reduce debt for the sake of mission. Some church families struggle with giving more because they already owe so much. Intentionally show them ways to retire debt, and they might give more to God’s work.
5. Record and show giving testimonies. Use technology to record stories you can use in multiple settings to teach giving. Here’s my challenge to you, though: pick testimonies that speak of God’s faithfulness more than a church member’s blessings. You might hear from rich members who give out of her abundance, but also listen to impoverished people who give sacrificially even when they have nothing. 
6. Send handwritten thank you notes. Computer-generated giving reports with a simple “thank you” are good, but personal notes are better. Trust me – the church member who receives an unexpected thank you note from a church leader will be more willing to give.
7. Increase your own giving. This idea is just a matter of math. If one person gives more while others maintain their giving level, the church giving still increases. You be that one person. 
8. Intentionally include the topic of giving in your church membership class. Some people might suggest otherwise (“you’ll drive away people if you talk about money too early”), but you’ll miss a prime opportunity when folks are most interested in your church if you wait.
9. Deal with church conflict. When a church is in turmoil, some members will stop inviting others, and some will withhold their giving until things settle down. Fix the problems, though, and you’ll increase the number of givers and the number of dollars given.  
10. Spend for God’s glory, and pray for Him to provide more funding. Keep the focus on Him, and don’t be afraid to pray for more dollars to spread His name around the globe. 

What other ideas would you add?