Increasing the Generosity Culture at Your Church with Phil Ling

Thanks for joining us for this episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Phil Ling, a renowned expert on generosity in the church and founder of The Giving Church.

Did you know that in the average church in North America, 45% of the people that give a church money give less than $200 in a year? Listen in as Phil offers help on how to do an analysis of your giving, and coaches churches on how to cast vision to increase generosity.

* Take a deeper look. // In addition to a significant portion of churchgoers contributing very little financially, churches typically experience an 18% turnover in giving units each year. That means they constantly need to attract new givers. A lot of churches think they did well during COVID, but Phil suggests that you take a look at where your money came from, rather than how much money came in, to see if those givers are still around.

* Do an analysis. // Do an analysis of your giving to see what percentage of your money comes from what group of givers. Break giving down into categories by looking at givers of $0-$200, $200-$1000, $1000-$5000, $5000-$10,000, and $10,000 and up. Take a look at where you’re strong, where the challenges are, and where the churn rate is.

* Cast vision in three rooms. // When casting vision, Phil advises that pastors need to communicate in three different rooms: the large room (Sunday services), medium-sized rooms (like-minded groups within the church), and small rooms (leaders and influencers). The large room is best for communicating the idea of participation. But Phil warns against relying solely on the large room to solve financial challenges. Instead, engage with your key stakeholders to fuel generosity and support the church’s vision. Celebrate when people become part of your vision.

* Take the time. // Remember that the bigger your project, the more time you’ll need. This includes taking time for analysis, determining if your giving is below capacity, and where you’re trending. Before you build, count the cost. Do research and take time to lay the foundation. Talk to banks about financing before bringing in architects. Make sure you take time to vision cast to the three rooms.

* Lead the leaders. // There are certain roles that will always belong to the senior church leader and that is casting vision and leading leaders. Small room conversations are particularly critical because a church’s leaders and influencers want to be treated as partners in ministry rather than just donors. Give them the opportunity to ask questions and learn about initiatives before they happen.

Download the free resource 5 Ways to Grow Your Church Giving and learn more about how The Giving Church can help you by clicking here.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/unseminary-podcast/id686033943?