How can Christian nonprofits improve their support relationships with churches? What is the key to unleashing biblical stewardship in churches? How do you approach church leaders about stewardship? In an interview with Stewardship Connections Editor Mike Buwalda, Dick Towner answers these questions and more.How would you advise a Christian nonprofit that wants to improve its support relationships with churches?
The para-church organization should first determine the church's vision, and then how the organization can help the church reach its vision. A church in Cincinnati had a vision to raise up the next generation of godly leadership, and so they were very involved with youth. Young life grew alongside that church and has had a great working relationship, in particular with a teen "breakfast club" program. Find out where a church's heart and vision are, and then partner with them. Don't compete. It's not a competition for dollars. In the final analysis, as with any giving, it's about personal relationships and trust. Make personal contacts and build relationships.
What is the key to unleashing biblical stewardship in churches?
The church must be doing three things. First is biblically based anointed teaching. What does scripture say about our money and stuff? But we can't stop there with what you "ought" to do. If we stop with teaching, we'll heap tons of guilt on those who may agree that they should be more generous, or get out of consumer debt, or save on a regular basis. Second, we need to train people and show them the biblical principle and how you to follow it day to day in practical ways. Third is that people—though not everyone—need ongoing support and encouragement. We need trained lay counselors who will walk beside a person trying to change a lifestyle of habits. Getting people to give more is not what this is all about. But when good teaching and training is happening, the giving will also increase.
What is a common pitfall that ministries should avoid in their relationships with churches?
The fallacy is "scarcity thinking"—that there's a fixed amount of money. If I get my share, I may be taking away from the other guy's piece. There is no scarcity. We're not competing; we're cooperating. And together we can accomplish wonderful things.
How did you get started in church stewardship ministry?
It was a result of my upbringing. I was raised by very frugal grandparents with limited education and income. Because of my background, as I grew up, I would have a lot of money left at the end of the month, and that was an anomaly among my friends. They asked me how I did it, and so I began with an interest in helping my friends. As I grew in my faith journey, I began to see the connection between relating to God and relating to money. As a lay person I developed courses and classes. Later I joined a church staff team and stewardship became a part of my official responsibilities. In 1992, I joined the team at Willow Creek and stewardship became a part of my full-time responsibility. In 2000, I moved over to the Willow Creek Association, which had conducted a survey among their member churches asking what would be most helpful. The number one response was resources to teach biblical stewardship.
What's the most satisfying aspect of church stewardship ministry for you?
It is when church leaders realize that stewardship is a discipleship issue—not just helping a person get out of debt or giving more money to church. Ben Patterson said there's no such thing as being right with God and being wrong with your money. That's very powerful and very true. It's well and good to help people get out of crushing consumer debt or to give generously, but it's so much deeper. Stewardship gets to the very core of helping a person become more Christ-like.
How do you approach church leaders about stewardship?
I challenge them to look at four scriptures, “There are over 2,300 scriptures about money and our stuff, but let's just look at four of the well-known verses":
Mattew 6:21—Where your treasure is, there your heart is.
Matthew 6:24—You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 13:22—The deceitfulness of wealth chokes [the Word] making it unfruitful.
1 Timothy 6:10—The love of money leads to all kinds of evil.
In these verses we see that an improper relationship with money steals your heart from God, keeps you from serving God, chokes out God's word and makes you unfruitful, and leads to all kinds of evil. If that's what an improper relationship with our money can do, don't you think we ought to be pretty serious and help people get a proper relationship with money?
What have you learned about stewardship in local churches over the past 12 months?
I've learned that we have a long way to go. We don't preach about it, program for it, or want to talk about it. I've also learned that in nearly every congregation there is a person with a passion and the gifts to become involved in stewardship ministry. When we start to talk about it, some will say "You know, I've really felt that way for a long time."
Can you point to an example of a local church giving generously to another ministry?
Good Sense doesn't claim credit for this, but The Vineyard in Cincinnati was preparing to move to a new site and build a bigger church. They owed a fair amount on their existing facility. The leadership felt moved to give the existing church to a struggling, but on-fire African-American church. So the first part of the capital campaign was to pay off the mortgage and give the church away. With that spirit, the rest of the campaign was also quite successful. The lesson here is that you reap what you sow. The Vineyard reaped a financially successfully campaign because they sowed a spirit of generosity.
What are some church stewardship resources you'd recommend?
Christian Stewardship Association "Church Stewardship"
Good Sense
Generous Giving page for church leaders
Dick, you'll be speaking this year at the annual CSA convention in Denver in the Church Stewardship track. Who should come, and what will they go home with?
Anyone involved in stewardship at the church level, staff or volunteer, or someone who's not involved yet but wants to become more involved and become more knowledgeable should attend. They'll go home with some good "how-to’s", some good fellowship, and networking. CSA is the premier provider of biblical stewardship-based training opportunities to equip Christian leaders.
Dick Towner is the executive director of Willow Creek Association Good Sense Stewardship Movement (www.goodsenseministry.org). He can be reached at dtowner@willowcreek.org.