Getting Ready for 2021 with The Evergreen Project
Getting Ready for 2021
End the Year Strong is a new resource from the Evergreen Project! You can download it for free on The Evergreen Project website. Getting ready for 2021 is vital for wrapping up 2020. Start looking ahead now. Spend some time praying and dreaming! In May of 2020, Tim Keller did a webinar with Francis Collins through […]
End the Year Strong from the Evergreen Project
Take Stock of 2020
The Evergreen Project began precisely to help churches grow for the kind of difficult days we have faced together in 2020. It is the hope of Archbishop Foley Beach and founders of this movement to help churches become “evergreen,” that is, green at all times. You have probably learned a lot about your congregation […]
Churches, Make Sure You Get Generosity & Stewardship Right!
Do you know about The Evergreen Project?
The Evergreen Project is an initiative of the Anglican Church in North America to help pastors and congregations grow in generosity and stewardship ministry. The main work of the Evergreen Project is collecting, creating, and curating the best resources for a thriving church.
Stewardship in an Age of Coronavirus
My role as curator and guide for The Evergreen Project compels me to write a few thoughts and ideas for the benefit of all of our leaders in the Anglican Church in North America. Whether or not these ideas and suggestions, and the thinking behind them, make their way beyond our newly formed denomination, I cannot tell. But my […]
When Giving Keeps on Giving! Generosity Can Make a Difference for Decades
I met Herb at breakfast in 1992.
He and I were newly elected members of a national board and met for the first time the day before. At breakfast the next morning, I walked right by Herb carrying my plate filled with bacon, eggs, and my morning coffee.
“David, join me!” Herb called out to me as I walked by him.
“Okay…” I […]
Paying the Pastor: How to Figure Out Compensation for Clergy
As the Evergreen Project continues to create, collect, and curate the best resources for a thriving church, the issue of clergy compensation is unavoidable.
About a year ago, I wrote an article about this topic as part of a series on Awkward Church Questions.
Pledge Cards, pt. 2: Additional Factors to Consider
As the Evergreen Project continues to create, collect, and curate the best resources for a thriving church, the issue of pledge cards comes quickly to the front of the line.
Recently, we addressed the base level question of whether congregations should use an annual pledge card system as a best practice for regular giving. We looked at some of […]
Pledge Cards: To Have or To Hold
This post is part of an ongoing conversation about generosity and stewardship in conjunction with The Evergreen Project’s fall campaign, “The Joy of Giving Up.”
As the Evergreen Project continues to create, collect, and curate the best resources for a thriving church, the issue of pledge cards comes quickly to the front of the line.
Should a congregation of faithful […]
Don’t Ignore These Important Trends in Church Giving and Attendance
Recently, I presented a webinar on general trends in attendance and generosity across the United States and Canada for clergy and vestry / lay leadership. The webinar was part of the ongoing training related to the The Evergreen Project and our Fall Program – The Joy of Giving Up.
Rooted in […]
How to Become a Generous Church
“Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you” (Deuteronomy 16:17).
The Joy of Giving Up will introduce one single idea to the people of your church. It is not my original idea. I have not heard it from anyone that I have ever met in my lifetime. But I […]
Money Well Spent: Why Your Church Should Consider the Joy of Giving Up
The first sermon I ever heard on stewardship was called “The Sermon on the Amount”. It was classic. And bad!
It was spoken by a young layperson who had been commissioned by the Sr. Warden to “say a few words.” It was mercifully short. It was truly apologetic, in the bad sense of the word.
The preacher stood up near the front […]
All Should, Some Must, Few Do: A Letter to ACNA Rectors
The Evergreen Project is a fresh approach to addressing one of the most difficult questions in ministry: How can pastors talk about stewardship, generosity, and money with the people they are trying to serve and lead?
The subject fills pastors with dread and congregations with skepticism. Isn’t the priest supposed to feed the sheep, not fleece the sheep?! No matter how […]
Want to Help Your Church Grow in Generosity? Check Out The Evergreen Project
The Evergreen Project site is live! Go there now to see what awaits you and your congregation.
We are just getting started, but there are plenty of things to help you grow your congregation’s understanding of the vision and values of generosity and stewardship.
What is The Evergreen Project?
The Evergreen Project is going to be great for every congregation that will […]
Webinar: Building a Generous Church through the Slow Summer Months (March 13, 11AM CST)
Springing Forward?
The pastor began the service with an appeal to some of the people in the back of the church to voluntarily “re-seat” themselves. The opening line was pleasant enough: “Would the people in the back of the room please move up into the seats up front…”
Dutifully, a few people complied. The picked up their belongings and begrudgingly moved forward.
A […]
How Much Should We Pay the Pastor? (Awkward Church Questions, pt. 2)
These are the awkward questions during any board or Vestry meeting. You can feel a quiet come over the room. Everyone is hoping the subject will pass.
But there are five awkward questions that your church needs to be able to discuss.
Previously, we tackled the question of access to giving records. Hopefully, I’ve given you enough to open a dialogue. […]
Who Should Have Access to the Giving Records? The Senior Pastor (Awkward Church Questions, pt. 1)
They are not easy at first. They are ‘off-putting’, to use a colloquium. Or tacky. When the subjects come up, you can see everyone squirm in their seats. We wish we could just avoid them. But there are five of them that need to happen pretty routinely.
What I am talking about? Awkward questions like the following:
- Who should have access to […]
4 Ways to Help 4 Different Generations Give Generously
Talking about generosity in the church is always a balancing act between faithful theological and pastoral instruction on the one hand and practical, applied communication on the other. You’ve got to look at the subject from 40,000 feet while keeping your boots firmly planted on the ground.
In Giving Up, I’ve tried to walk this line, outlining generosity as the heart […]
10 Ways to End the Year on a Generous Note at Your Church
On this blog, I try to provide tactical advice on growing generosity in the church.
Every church leader knows that giving is especially vital as the year winds to a close.
(To learn 3 things from your yearly church budget shortfall, click here.)
The end may be nigh upon us, but there is no need to feel like you are scrambling to […]
Three Thoughts About That Church Budget Shortfall
I regularly visit churches around the country and about this time of year, a new, semi-liturgical ceremony begins around the church budget. (I participated in it myself during my three decades in ministry. It became something totally normal for me; it’s only now that I’m in the pews most Sundays that I’ve realized how odd this little ritual is.)
It usually begins […]
The Zagginess of Holiness
When I was writing Giving Up, I discovered an unlikely source of insight in Zag: The Number One Strategy of High Performance Brands by Marty Neumeier.
The foundational principle is that successful brands don’t follow the crowd—they don’t look at the leaders in the marketplace and try to latch on and say “Me too!” Instead, when everyone else zigs, […]
Build Your Generosity and Stewardship Emphasis This Fall
Pastors, it’s not too late to plan an emphasis on stewardship and generosity this fall. But it is almost too late.
Leading a church in this area takes intentionality and courage. Some pastors have such an allergy to the topic of giving that they don’t bring it up until it’s too late. Waiting until the end-of-the-year […]
LeaderWorks Update with Pictures!!!
It has been about two years since I left my position at Christ Church to begin this new ministry to help other leaders do their work. Many people have asked me why I would do such a thing. My first answer is simple: A Call. I believe that I heard from God. I sensed that it was time […]
Scared to Talk about Stewardship? Read this Series
Pastors and church leaders, if you’re scared or anxious about bringing up the topic of stewardship and giving with your churches, I’d like to draw your attention to the following series by David Roseberry of LeaderWorks.
Stewardship, Giving, and the Third Rail
Stewardship is extremely important, yet often extremely uncomfortable to talk about in the church! David addresses some […]