Answers to Church Finances Quiz
- False. In the study of over 1,157 congregations, we found
that the majority of people would like to be giving more to Christ's service
through the church than they currently are. The ways that they handle
their finances and the ways that churches approach stewardship need to
change for them to increase their giving.
- True. Young adults are more likely to give in response to
particular needs or the opportunity to make a difference than they are to
support the unified budget of the church. It takes time (years) and
education for most people to begin seeing a clear connection between the
spiritual life and their giving.
- False. While more churches are experimenting with automatic
checking account draws, there is no substantial evidence yet that this
approach actually increases giving. The people most likely to give in
this way are persons who are already contributing on a regular basis.
The service, however, may be a convenience to your members and may be
appreciated by them.
- False. In fact, in the study of congregations around the
country, we found that virtually all churches which began letting people
make pledges or intentions of giving to more than one fund experienced an
overall increase in giving. The extra fund(s) may be for capital
improvements, for the addition of a staff member, for mission outreach, or
for another purpose. People will stretch more to help something new
happen.
- True. In fact, the study showed that young adults who started
tithing as children were seven times more likely to tithe as adults.
- False. Very few of the church members surveyed in the
congregations which were part of the stewardship study felt badly about
their actual experiences talking about money in the church. Many expressed
two seemingly contradictory feelings: (1) The idea of talking about money in
the church was unsettling but (2) They recognized that they needed to do so.
Once they actually shared in conversations, they felt very good about them
and felt that their spiritual lives were enhanced.
- False. The churches in the survey which had endowment funds
in fact had higher than the average giving from members to the current or
general fund of the church. Churches which have endowment funds
generally encourage planned giving (giving from wills and living trusts, for
example), and that educational process tends to increase the financial
commitment of people to the church. Most endowment funds are
established with reasonable restrictions on how those funds are used, so the
church does not develop the habit of turning to those funds for routine
expenses.
- True. Some churches have moved their financial campaigns to
the spring to take advantage of the optimism that often accompanies that
time of the year. While income taxes are certainly high and no one is
excited about April 15, changes in withholding rates mean that many people
now receive refunds instead of having to pay additional taxes at that time.
If the fall is currently working well for you, however, we don't recommend
making a change.
- True. Fewer congregations are conducting every member
visitations than in the past. A majority of the congregations in the
study which were conducting an every member visitation were doing so because
of a major capital funds drive or because of a need for major expansion of
the church's program. Churches cited problems of finding enough
volunteers and of arranging appointments as major reasons for not so
frequently doing an every member visitation. While no single strategy
generally raises the level of giving as much as a well organized every
member visitation, there are many approaches to the annual campaign which
can be effective.
- True. Unfortunately, many congregations which are receiving
the majority of their income from persons sixty years of age and older face
a coming crisis as more and more of those persons die or move to retirement
locations. Churches need to take seriously the importance of planned
giving and also need to take seriously the need to do good stewardship
education for people of all ages.
You are free to reproduce this questionnaire for use in your own
congregation. Thank you for giving credit to New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org
Your church could benefit from The Desires of
Your Heart Complete Financial Commitment Program.
See other
self-assessment tools.
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