By Alan Ahlgrim
Every growing ministry needs money, whether it”s a new church struggling to purchase land or remodel a storefront, or an established church seeking to expand facilities or relocate. The challenge of raising resources never seems to end.
At least it hasn”t for me. After 33 years of church leadership, I”m beginning to recognize a pattern! I have had the opportunity of growing through (and “groaning through”) a variety of funding campaigns.
Some were miserable; most were mediocre. However, a few were stellar. Here”s some of what I”ve learned.
Communicate a clear and compelling vision. For 20-plus years our overriding and far more compelling vision has been to buy land, build a ministry facility, or to start another new church. Our people have been excited about big dreams and multifaceted programs. That”s what has most inspired the troops.
While the primary vision of our ministry has never been to be “debt-free,” we have often included that as one of our campaign goals. If your vision is to have a debt-free ministry, that”s great; but since most people are sitting on a 30-year mortgage and staring at a pile of consumer debt as well, being debt-free is only a distant possibility. That”s why the hardest money for a church to raise is to pay off debt. Debt is now a way of life for virtually everyone. While some in every congregation may resonate with a call for the ministry to be “debt-free,” most won”t be inspired if that”s the primary vision.
Be passionate about the program. If you”re the leader, or one who has been asked to motivate others, your conviction is essential.
Personally, I”m not an “all-purpose fund-raiser.” Don”t ask me to lead the charge for the United Way or a Boulder County prairie dog rescue project. I”ve got serious objection to the second and no great enthusiasm for the first. Rather, what makes my heart beat fast is anything that has to do with church planting, church growth, or children”s ministry whether in our community, country, or around the world. These are things that excite me, and I”m able to motivate others to join me in that excitement.
“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” That”s true for us all.
Involve a great number of people. The typical capital campaign is a call to make a three-year “over-and-above” giving commitment. While the dollar goals, often involving hundreds of thousands if not many millions of dollars, may seem daunting to some (they typically are to me!), the greater challenge is involvement.
The typical campaign usually results in less than half of the congregation actually making a financial commitment. By contrast, the most successful campaigns are the ones that inspire the majority of young and old, rich and poor to trust God to provide a sacrificial offering through them.
In order to achieve the best result, the campaign needs to involve the greatest number of people. In our current capital campaign, I”ve set a personal goal of involving at least 60 percent of the people in making a commitment. While I”d love to see the number much higher, past experience has taught me that half the people are either too tapped out or just not ready to make a sacrificial financial commitment.
Select a theme that rings. Over the years we”ve used various campaign themes with varying degrees of success. Themes such as: “Celebration”; “Together We Build”; “Make His Joy Complete”; “Bridge to the Future”; “A Place to Grow, A Place For You.” Our best-ever theme was “The Blessing (From God””Through Us””For Others).” The theme of our current campaign is simply “Imagine.”
While the theme won”t make (or break) the campaign, it can help capture attention and clarify the message. The theme will be used widely throughout the program and will be the springboard for both promotion and preaching.
Therefore, it really helps when the theme is obviously rooted in a text. Our theme text from Ephesians 3:20, 21, is a personal favorite: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Seek wise and experienced professional counsel. This is the hardest pill for many leaders to swallow. The very thought of paying (and paying a lot!) for outside counsel seems to some to be poor stewardship. I believe it”s just the opposite.
While I can”t defend what sometimes seem to be exorbitant consultant fees, having led several campaigns on my own without the guidance of a capital campaign firm, I would never want to take that route again. I”m convinced that it”s false economy. Not only do the stats prove churches that employ outside help raise much more money than those that don”t, but churches that employ an outside company usually involve far more of their own people. That is a key to success and to avoiding overstressing an already overburdened staff.
What has helped our leaders is to consider a part-time campaign consultant to be a temporary part-time (and highly paid) employee. This expertise has been an invaluable source of both creativity and accountability for me and our entire team.
Involve the children. One of the best ideas we used (and plan to use again) was to give each child a small sack containing four quarters. Their Sunday school teachers told them the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and challenged them to use the money entrusted to them to produce a greater result.
Some spent a dollar on farm fresh eggs or carnations and sold them for 10 times more! Others bought dog shampoo to groom the neighbor”s pet or ingredients to bake and sell homemade cookies. Our all-time favorite was the little boy (a visitor at the time) who bought a used “pooper scooper” at a garage sale. He got a job cleaning a neighbor”s yard and did such great work he was given a long-term contract.
When we learned of his commitment to give his earnings to the campaign, he became known as our “Super Dooper Pooper Scooper!”
That little guy inspired many of all ages to make creative contributions.
Build toward a big offering. Two weeks after our best-ever “commitment day” we had our “First Fruits Offering.” On that day our members were challenged to bring their largest gift ever and the first part of their three-year, over-and-above commitment.
What a day. When the time came to bring the gifts forward we began singing and waited while the children (from youngest to oldest) came forward with their banks and emptied them. It took a very long time, and it was worth every minute. By the time the children finished, everyone was deeply moved. Soon an old treasure chest was filled to overflowing with checks, cash, coins, and valuables. We had uniformed officers ready to immediately take charge of the money. Through a prearranged agreement with the bank, we made a Sunday deposit of more than $1 million!
Eight years ago that was one of largest church offerings ever received at one time, and the story made news throughout the country and even around the world.
Plan to do a full-court press! Leading a capital campaign is not for the faint of heart. Even though the leaders of growing ministries are accustomed to making ongoing and energetic investments, the challenge of a major financial campaign is a major stretch.
You will be required to write more, speak more, and meet more than ever. As the campaign builds toward the advance commitment dinners, and perhaps an all-church banquet, an avalanche of special issues and opportunities must be addressed.
Be sure to plan on the unexpected, because the enemy is planning to distract you. Satan isn”t happy when churches grow and expand into his territory. So don”t be surprised if a few solid members and key leaders get a little goofy. Keep focused on your purpose.
Remember that your congregation will be far healthier during and after the campaign than it ever was before. This could be your finest hour. In fact, one pastor friend (who has led back-to-back-to-back campaigns) told me he dreads the day when his congregation isn”t enjoying one of these spiritually stretching experiences.
Keep on keeping on. Once the commitments are in and the first cash offering is celebrated, there is an inevitable lull. It”s the post-adrenaline phase. Everyone begins to relax a bit and rightly so; however, this is a time of great vulnerability.
That”s why the follow-up and follow-through is so important. The program needs to receive periodic air time in the assembly and space in the church newsletter. Quarterly updates are ideal to continue motivating those who have made commitments and also to recruit new people to give.
A capital campaign is not just a sprint toward commitment day. It”s a sprint followed by a three-year long-distance race. This is why the baton must be passed to fresh runners who will enthusiastically carry the program to completion.
Think beyond your need. Every expansion program is scary. The need always seems bigger than the supply. Ironically, that”s why including a “giveaway” component is essential. While everything the church does is for the good of others, it”s very clarifying and inspiring when we are also giving beyond our local needs.
In our last capital campaign at RMCC, we needed many millions of dollars for our expansion; however, we also challenged the congregation to give generously so that we could invest $100,000 per year in church planting. That challenge made sense to many; and since then, our giving has grown to the point that we are also able to invest an additional $100,000 each year in starting new churches internationally.
Nothing has helped our people see the sincerity and legitimacy of our fundraising as much as giving a bunch of it to causes that in no way directly benefit us. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38).
Be confident that God is at work! When I asked my buddy Cam Huxford about lessons learned from his most recent campaign, he said, “I would have trusted God more.”
I know what he meant. After introducing a grand vision and announcing a mega financial goal, the tendency for a leader is soon to have a panic attack. In the dark of the night we wonder, What are we doing? What am I doing? What if this doesn”t fly? What if we fall far short of our need and the congregation becomes disheartened? What if I end up looking like a fool? Every leader struggles with those issues before and during every major challenge.
What I know is that somehow God always provides. Even in those campaigns when our top goals were not realized, we achieved far more than we would have if we had never challenged and stretched our people. In short, these campaigns have combined together to be great faith raisers for our members and ministry.
Time and again God has amazed us as we have sought “to excel in the grace of giving,” and he”s not done yet. Amazing grace is his specialty!
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Alan Ahlgrim, a member of Standard”s Publishing Committee, is senior minister with Rocky Mountain Christian Church, Niwot, Colorado.
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