Giving Up!

By Alan Ahlgrim

Picture this: Your church launches a new campus with a state-of-the-art, 70,000-square-foot building on 30 acres””just before the economy implodes in the greatest recession most of us have experienced. Meanwhile you are fighting for the church”s life in a lawsuit that costs you $2 million to win. This creates a loss of momentum that results in staff reductions and the departure of many members to another congregation nearby.

What do you do in such a situation?

Alan Ahlgrim, pastor of Rocky Mountain Christian Church in Colorado, faced all those challenges and more. As he shares in this candid testimony, his experience has made him reflect as never before about how God provides.

“The kingdom of God is not in recession!” I really resonated with that comment from my buddy Cam Huxford. I agree with Cam that God”s good work on earth is always advancing by God”s Spirit. Unfortunately, God”s work is not always so well resourced by God”s people! The average giving of the typical Christian is anemic. It”s somewhere around 2.5 percent!

The church I serve has made no apology that “money matters” to God. Every year we share clear, biblical teaching on this theme. That”s one reason our giving has often been 20 percent greater than most would expect to see, even from a mature congregation.

However, since 2008 we”ve discovered that strong giving alone does not guarantee the financial stability of a ministry. That is our painful reality! Here”s some of what we”ve experienced and some of what we have learned.

 

Our “Perfect Storm”

We were hammered by the downturn. Just when the economy went south in September 2008, Rocky Mountain Christian Church opened the doors to a state-of-the-art, 70,000-square-foot building on an additional 30-acre campus. We had decided to launch that campus in an under-resourced community in an adjacent county. We were boldly building for the growth everyone expected.

Unfortunately, the economy brought virtually all of the new housing construction to a sudden halt. Many lost their jobs, homes were foreclosed, dreams were crushed, and families imploded. While the immediate attendance growth on our new campus exceeded our expectation, the giving was far beneath our expectation””and still is.

We were financially drained by expensive litigation. A five-year legal battle with Boulder County resulted in a precedent-setting victory for land use rights across the country. That invaluable victory in U.S. District Court was later upheld by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; the decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.

We were vindicated and deeply gratified. However, we discovered that every victory couldn”t be measured financially. Our legal bills had to be paid in real money. Our net legal costs exceeded $2 million, and all of that was paid from our general fund.

We were struggling with the loss of momentum. The reduction of our staff by 25 percent, and then the loss of our campus pastor for the new facility, rocked us. Internal frustrations over the departure of so many staff members, the legal controversy, and changes in music style, weighed us down. All of that came at the same time a nearby ministry was enjoying explosive growth. These factors combined to lead to a discouraging and unprecedented number of departures. Special note: momentum is wonderful when it”s working for you, but not when it”s against you!

 

What We”re Learning

In our new economy, “flat” is up! We”ve had no budget increases for the last five years. Virtually all staff salaries have been capped and many have been cut. We”re learning to live lean as we pay for the decisions of the past and the expenses of the present. While we don”t regret investing in a new campus, we”re definitely strained due to how much we spent on it!

We now have a demanding debt load. Just as many families have discovered, our church family can testify that debt is not our friend. While the strategic decisions were made in a different economy, the bills must be paid in this economy. As a ministry, we enjoyed more than “seven years of plenty,” and now we”re enduring at least “five years of difficulty”!

By God”s grace we have been living on manna! That means all of our bills have been paid on time, none of our missionaries have been cut back, and we still have 10 percent of our budget in emergency savings. Furthermore, all of this has taken place despite a massive number of people “moving on” and moving away this year. Given that, it”s actually some small comfort that our year-to-date giving is down only 1 percent! God continues to provide!

 

Daunting, Not Impossible

This isn”t the first time our ministry has faced a huge financial challenge. After we occupied our first facility, one Sunday morning our treasurer said, “This church is just two bad sermons away from disaster!” After our second expansion, I told many we weren”t merely out on a limb, we were out on a twig! Time and again we have recalled the words of one elder who said, “Once again, God has us right where he wants us, totally dependent upon him!” And God has brought us through every time.

The call of God is not just to go through a challenge, but also to grow through it. Linden Kirby, our pastor of operations, also leads Excel Ministries. He talks about seven steps in giving. It”s a great summary of how we need to challenge others to “grow in the grace of giving.”

Occasional Giving””Virtually everyone gives something. That might be through the donation of used clothing or a few canned goods. No country in the world practices philanthropy quite like ours. Most people claim to give about 2 percent of their income to some sort of worthy cause whether they are Christ followers or not.

Regular Giving””This might happen through a monthly pledge to National Public Radio or by sponsoring a child in a foreign land. Regular giving may not be large, but it is predictable. Those who give regularly to a cause they believe in obviously are the ones most likely to give more later on.

Percentage Giving””This requires the use of a calculator. Those who determine to give at a percentage level are the most consistent and methodical. They set their budget with a predetermined amount allocated to charitable causes, and once that is met, they may politely ignore most any other opportunity presented.

Ten Percent Giving””While tithing is clearly taught in the Bible and assumed to be the standard in most churches, it is seldom practiced. Tim Avery with Kardia Consultants told us recently that nationwide, no more than 5 percent of typical church members actually tithe.

Beyond-the-Tithe Giving””If 95 percent of the members in the typical church don”t even tithe, it”s probably safe to say 99 percent never go beyond that. Yet, giving beyond the tithe is when we move beyond legalism to true generosity and joy. It may begin by at least “rounding up” whenever we write a tithe check, but eventually lead to consistently giving far more. For example, it only takes 10 years for anyone to grow from tithing to double tithing if he or she simply increases giving 1 percent each year!

Sacrificial Giving””I know of many families that have delayed the purchase of a new car or even a new home in order to make an extra gift to a church expansion project. I even know of a ministry couple who once gave everything away, and after that, determined to live on only 50 percent of their income. These people have sacrificed something they could have done or enjoyed for that which meant more. Anyone can live on less when they have something more to give for and live for!

Planned Giving””This may be giving through a special asset or estate. One of the ways God has blessed us with manna of late is through the unexpected estate gift of a longtime member. When a retired teacher recently passed away we learned her little house and all of her savings had been given to the church. The grand total is nearly $140,000 . . . and that”s beyond her faithful and sacrificial giving while she was alive!

 

Giving Is Catalytic!

Just yesterday a former member of our church, who is now active in one of our partner churches, thanked me for the teaching she and her husband received in one of our capital campaigns. At the time they had four small children and were launching a new business. When challenged to give beyond the tithe, they had to admit to themselves that they weren”t really giving at all. That led to a sacrificial pledge based on more than a tithe from what they would give once they again had income.

She said that while 98 percent of small businesses failed, theirs flourished. The couple”s business now has 40 employees, and the pair continues to be generous in giving and active in serving with their congregation. She thanked me for the teaching on generosity that changed their lives for the better!

When we give, it glorifies God; and it”s good for us! It”s been said we”re never more like God than when we give! In our church we consistently teach “tithing and more” as an illustration of both our trust in God and our worship of him. We typically receive our tithes and offerings as we joyfully sing praises to God. In a recent service, our worship pastor spontaneously suggested that some might even want to put smiley faces on their checks, and many did!

God loves it when we trust him. Most of us are living in that reality every day. We don”t know what”s going to happen next in our economy. What we do know is that God”s ability to bless us is not related to what”s happening on Wall Street or on the main street of our community. Giving is a choice we make based on our confidence in God. This I believe: when our giving increases, we make God smile!

 

Alan Ahlgrim is lead pastor of Rocky Mountain Christian Church, Niwot, Colorado, and serves on Standard Publishing”s Publishing Committee.