J. Clif Christopher, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship. Abingdon Press, 2008.
Referenced in: Giving and Financial Stewardship
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This book’s unique contribution is in helping congregations increase their giving in the 21st century context with its proliferation of other worthy non-profit enterprises. Christopher begins with a statistic that in the decade preceding publication date (2008), the number of non-profits in the U.S. grew from 600,000 to 1.8 million. Giving to religious organizations has also steadily declined over the past twenty years. This represents the impact of the considerable competition for the charitable dollar. What follows is a look at how churches can execute many of the same donor-building and marketing techniques used by these non-profits. The last chapter is one of the most helpful, “The Top Ten Things I Would Do Now,” where he suggests inviting your top ten donors over to your house for dinner, writing ten thank you notes a week, etc. This book will stretch ministers and stewardship committees beyond their comfort zones. It is a bold and highly pragmatic look at increasing the financial base of one’s church. Read it through your own lens of conviction, but avoid letting scruples keep you from giving the suggestions prayerful consideration. This book is in the same genre as Charles Lane’s Ask, Thank, and Tell. Those who prefer a milder approach to fund-raising strategies may want to start with Lane and move to Christopher, but both are worth reading.
From the Publisher
Hearing a young attorney speak of the faith-based reasons for which he had just made a substantial monetary gift to a community youth center, Clif Christopher asked the speaker if he would consider making a similar contribution to the congregation of which he was an active member. “Lord no, they wouldn’t know what to do with it” was the answer.
That, in a nutshell, describes the problem churches are facing in their stewardship efforts, says Christopher. Unlike leading nonprofit agencies and institutions, we too often fail to convince potential givers that their gifts will have impact and significance. In this book, Christopher lays out the main reasons for this failure to capture the imagination of potential givers, including our frequent failure simply to ask.
Written with the needs of pastors and stewardship teams in mind, Not Your Parents’ Offering Plate provides immediate, practical guidance to all who seek to help God’s people be better stewards of their resources.
About the Author
J. Clif Christopher founded the Horizons Stewardship Company in 1992 following a challenging career in pastoral ministry and stewardship consulting. As a pastor, he led six major building and eight capital campaigns in churches ranging in size from 350 to 2,000 members. As a consultant, he has led consultations in over 150 churches in all phases of building, finance, and church growth.
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