Giving and Stewardship in an Effective Church: A Guide for Every Member - Hardcover

by Kennon L. Callahan (Author)

This complete guide to giving and stewardship sheds new light on solid financial resources, one of the 12 keys to building an effective church. Here is a practical plan for the growth and development of giving and stewardship in your congregation, complete with action worksheets that advance the progress of the plan over four years.

Front Jacket

Two things are true of congregations, writes Kennon Callahan. "Congregations never have enough money. Congregations have all the money they really need for God's mission." With these paradoxical statements, Callahan launches his exploration of Giving and Stewardship in an Effective Church. Drawing on four decades of consulting experience with churches of all denominations, the author of Twelve Keys to an Effective Church provides readers with a motivational and informational account of his twelfth key--how to put a church on solid financial footing. Callahan stresses that money is not the first issue of stewardship. Before a church can be successful in fund-raising, it needs a clear sense of mission in the local community. "Money follows mission, not the reverse," he writes. "This is a shorthand way of saying that the stronger the congregation's relational [person-centered] characteristics, the easier it is to raise money. The stronger the congregation's mission, visitation [in the community], worship, [significant relational] groupings, leadership, and [participatory] decision making, the stronger the giving." Giving, he says, increases in direct proportion to the strength of the mission. "When you grow the mission, the money will come--and it will be sufficient for the mission." This comprehensive and pragmatic guide to giving and stewardship examines the six sources of giving available to a congregation:

• spontaneous giving
• major community worship giving
• special planned giving
• short-term giving
• annual giving
• Anduring giving

• compassion
• community
• challenge
• reasonability
• commitment

Back Jacket

Two things are true of congregations, writes Kennon Callahan. "Congregations never have enough money. Congregations have all the money they really need for God's mission."

With these paradoxical statements, Callahan launches his exploration of Giving and Stewardship in an Effective Church. Drawing on four decades of consulting experience with churches of all denominations, the author of Twelve Keys to an Effective Church provides readers with a motivational and informational account of his twelfth key--how to put a church on solid financial footing.
Callahan stresses that money is not the first issue of stewardship. Before a church can be successful in fund-raising, it needs a clear sense of mission in the local community. "Money follows mission, not the reverse," he writes. "This is a shorthand way of saying that the stronger the congregation's relational [person-centered] characteristics, the easier it is to raise money. The stronger the congregation's mission, visitation [in the community], worship, [significant relational] groupings, leadership, and [participatory] decision making, the stronger the giving." Giving, he says, increases in direct proportion to the strength of the mission. "When you grow the mission, the money will come--and it will be sufficient for the mission."

This comprehensive and pragmatic guide to giving and stewardship examines the six sources of giving available to a congregation:

• spontaneous giving
  
• major community worship giving
  
• special planned giving
  
• short-term giving
  
• annual giving
  
• enduring giving
  

• compassion
  
• community
  
• challenge
  
• reasonability
  
• commitment

Callahan also shares practical suggestions and wisdom for applying the four steps of giving, and he shows how these steps are really also the steps for mission.

Giving and Stewardship is ideal for congregational study, small groups, or retreats. It will help church members in their mission, their life, their family, and their church. "Living is giving," Callahan writes. "We live life best as we give our strengths, gifts, and competencies in the service of God's mission. We are called to serve, not survive. Our giving makes a difference in our families, our work, our community, our world, and our church."

Author Biography

KENNON L. CALLAHAN, PH.D. ?researcher, professor, and pastor?is one of today's most sought-after church consultants. He has worked with thousands of congregations around the world and has helped tens of thousands of church leaders and pastors through his dynamic workshops and seminars. Author of many books, he is best known for his groundbreaking study Twelve Keys to an Effective Church, which has formed the basis for the Mission Growth Movement, a widely acclaimed program for church renewal. Callahan has earned the B.A., M.Div., S.T.M., and Ph.D. degrees. His doctorate is in Systematic Theology. He has served both rural and urban congregations in Ohio, Texas, and Georgia and taught for many years at Emory University. Ken and his wife of over forty years, Julie, have two children, Ken and Mike, and three grandchildren, Blake, Mason, and Brice. They enjoy the outdoors, hiking, horseback riding, and camping.