Simplicity in Generosity

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” – Mark 12:41-44

In light of it being tax season, throughout the month of April our blog will focus on resourcing the local church with the tolls they need to succeed in generosity. But it isn’t just our story you’ll be hearing. We’re bringing in generosity experts from MoGiv, Generis, Church Planting Tactics, and Elvanto. This will be a lively conversation. It will challenge you and encourage you. It will assess your current baseline and give you the critical next right steps you can take.

Today we want to tackle the first key to generosity: Simplicity. 

Everybody wants to contribute, but churches can make it difficult for them to do so. With this idea in place, we want you to start thinking about how your church is making it easy for people to give to your mission (Notice we didn’t say church? People don’t give to things, they give to causes.).

Consider your worship services. When and how are you collecting the offering? Is it a basket that sits at the front of the stage or a box in the back? Do you collect offering with a bag that gets passed away or are you strictly an online giving church? What is the means and method you are using as a church to facilitate a response to generosity?

Whatever the method is, it needs to be easy, or rather, simple. You need to simply call out what you are doing as a church (offering) and why you are encouraging people to give (tithe, funding the mission, discipleship). Churches that explain the reasonings behind generosity usually have more generous people. After all, if you know what you;re giving to, you’re more likely to give.

Taking this simplicity approach online, we want to encourage you to make your giving process as streamline as possible. Make giving a tab on your menu and something people can see right away without it being intrusive to their online experience. Create a giving page that shows your church’s giving story, so your contributors know why they are giving. Make sure your giving process is done right there on your site within that page, so you don’t lose that 70% of givers who drop off if they have to click to go off site to give. If you can initiate all of these pieces, you can win your giving story online.

When you combine this with a known method in person, you can win week over week. Why? When you invite people into your story, it’s not just your story, it’s their story, and it most definitely is God’s story.