Your mission and ministry objectives this summer are about meeting people's needs. Without financial support, those initiatives might not happen. How can you ensure that those summer initiatives are fully funded? One positive way is to use your weekly offering time. In sixty seconds or less, you can help members and attendees see how their gift will make a difference in the Kingdom of God. I call that connecting the dots. Here is how you can use your offering time to connect the dots for your members.
Before I begin, let me reiterate the concept of the offering being worship. We must recognize that giving is a sacred part of our worship. We invest hours in prayer and planning for every detail of the worship service, yet we often overlook offering planning. If we truly want to increase giving, we must change this. I strongly advocate utilizing the offering time to make the offering worshipful and impactful. Start by dedicating time, thought, planning, and prayer to each offering time.
To make your offerings an act of worship, you must think through what I call the Anatomy of the Offering. The following is how I illustrate the basics of the offering and how to use your offering to connect the dots. It starts with what I call the Heart of the Offering.
The heart of the offering is the story it carries. Infuse your offerings with heart by sharing stories of how generosity has made a significant difference. A worshipful, well-planned offering with a compelling story will resonate with the attendees, inspiring them to give and support your church's work.
At OnlineGiving.org, our platform is tailored to help you share the heart of your offering. With our tools, you can tell the story of your summer missions and ministry impact. From our mobile app to custom forms to text marketing, our platform allows you to communicate instantly with your members no matter where they are, telling them how their gift will make a difference. Contact us today at (615) 206-4000 or support@onlinegiving.org, and we will set up a free demonstration.
When you ask with heart, people will give! Yet, just like your human heart, the heart of the offering won’t survive alone. So, I teach that we must also understand The Head of the Offering.
While the heart of the offering touches the attendees' emotions, the head of the offering connects to their intellect. They need to know that giving is something God commands us to do and with that command comes a blessing. I recommend that you use Scripture to teach the importance of the offering for the church and the individual believer.
Every offering appeal must be positive! Using Scripture doesn’t mean bashing people over the head with the pulpit Bible. Guilt never moves the heart toward generosity. Our ultimate goal is to educate people about the importance of generosity for the church and their personal lives. Scripture teaches us that God commands us to give, but those commands also carry a promise of His blessing. That is the head of the offering.
The anatomy of a great offering starts with the heart, continues to the head, and then must move to what I call the Hand of the Offering. When I talk about the hand of the offering, I am talking about making “the ask.” Let’s talk about properly using your hands, your “ask,” in the offering.
First, never apologize for taking up the offering or asking people to give to it! By apologize, I mean don’t ever say, “As we take up our offering, if you are a guest, please don’t feel like you have to give. This time is for our members.” People will figure out they don’t have to give. My goal is to make them want to give.
You have been telling a story that touches the heart, but now you are at the end of the story. What now? I want to extend an invitation to give generously. I do that in two sentences like this,
“Every time you give here, you help support stories and lives (just like what you shared). This morning, we encourage you to join us in worship as we give off our tithes and offerings.”
Extending the hand and making the “ask” is the key to gaining a response. Today, your members have multiple ways to give. So, the final part of the anatomy of a great offering involves what I call the Feet of the Offering.
The Feet of the Offering answers, “How can I give?” We must show them how easy it is to give at your church by mentioning the various ways to give. I say something like this, “Remember, we have multiple easy ways you can give here. The screen gives you that information. Let’s pray…”
That’s the anatomy of an offering talk or moment. You will see results if you follow those concepts every time you take up the offering. From this point forward, commit to never take the offering time for granted. By following the anatomy of a great offering, you will help people connect the dots of how a dollar given to your church impacts missions and ministry. Connecting those dots with a powerful and worshipful offering time is the easiest and most effective way to increase giving this summer.
We would love to share more about how our platform can easily help you connect the giving dots for your members. Contact us today for more information at (615) 206-4000 or at support@onlinegiving.org.
The Stewardship Coach
The weekly offering time can keep summer ministry initiatives fully funded. With this simple structure applied to the offering time, you can "connect the dots" for members to see how their gifts will make a difference in the Kingdom of God.https://t.co/9q55WQhMBB pic.twitter.com/43W4pArrSn
— Online Giving (@onlinegivingorg) June 13, 2024
