Articles for tag: Online Giving

April 14, 2018

Kent E. Fillinger

Kent E. Fillinger

Special Church Report Part 1: Megachurches and Emerging Megachurches

By Kent E. Fillinger This marks my 14th consecutive year of staying up late for weeks on end crunching numbers, looking for trends, and jotting down insights about our Restoration Movement churches to share with you. This year is special because it’s the first time Christian Standard opened up the annual survey to churches of every size. More than 400 churches from 39 states ranging in size from 12 to 28,216 responded to the survey, and I’m grateful for each one! I’m going to share in-depth results from the survey and analyze the data in my next few monthly articles.

December 27, 2017

Christian Standard

The Future of Finances in the Restoration Movement

By Doug Crozier It was late August 1972 when I walked into one of my first college classes at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Accounting 101 was in a lecture hall large enough to hold more than 700 students. I learned a lot from Accounting 101 during that first semester, even though the large lecture hall was intimidating to this small-town kid. One of the key fundamentals of financial accounting I learned is a simple rule: Total Assets minus Total Liabilities equals New Worth (or New Assets in the not-for-profit world). In the mid-1990s, when I went work in

September 13, 2017

Christian Standard

Florida Churches Respond to Hurricane Irma

By Jim Nieman In the end, no one in Florida””and virtually no property””was safe when Hurricane Irma tore through the Sunshine State on Sunday and into Monday, September 10 and 11. Many churches started warning people about the potential dangers of the storm on Tuesday, September 5. Crosspoint Christian Church in Cape Coral, for example, sent out this message via Facebook at 12:32 p.m. that day: “We need help getting Crosspoint ready to ride out the storm ““ moving furniture, playground equipment, securing the campus. . . .” By early the next morning, Crosspoint lead pastor Jeff Swearingen and leaders

December 8, 2014

Christian Standard

Your Privacy Policy

By Chris Jefferson Almost every church and parachurch ministry has a website, and many collect data from those who visit their site.  To manage this information well, the first step””too often overlooked””is a privacy policy. At no time since the Pax Romana have ministries been better equipped to share the gospel and fulfill their mission than in this digital age. Back in the first and second centuries, the intricate road systems of the Romans allowed missionaries””gifted with common Greek and ease of worldwide travel””to connect with cultures far and wide to spread the gospel. Today, digital connectivity provides a new

May 26, 2013

Christian Standard

The Envelopes, Please

By Daniel Schantz   I have enjoyed a lifelong romance with envelopes. When I was just a boy, my preacher-father supplied me with several boxes of leftover offering envelopes to play with. I have been in love with envelopes ever since. About the size of an index card, these little envelopes gave me much pleasure. We lived in Springfield, Ohio, at the time, the city where I was born. My cousins lived there, too, and on Saturdays we held a secret club meeting in a dusty corncrib, organized by my oldest cousin, Carol. She appointed herself president of the club, but the purpose of the

September 10, 2012

Christian Standard

Generous Churches

By Kent E. Fillinger “Generosity needs to be a thread woven through the fabric of the entire congregation,” said Leadership Network development director Chris Willard, “because generosity is a cultural issue.” Here”s how four churches are creating a culture of generosity among their members.  In their new book, Contagious Generosity: Creating a Culture of Giving in Your Church, Chris Willard and Jim Sheppard define generosity as “a lifestyle in which we share all that we have, are and ever will become as a demonstration of God”s love and a response to God”s grace.” Willard is the director of generosity initiatives

May 26, 2012

Christian Standard

Money Matters

By Kent E. Fillinger Total giving to U.S. nonprofits rose 7.5 percent in 2011, an increase of $24.2 billion over the 2010 total. Although religious institutions represent the largest sector of this giving, those gifts decreased from 37 percent of the total in 2010 to 36 percent in 2011.1 Therefore, while charitable giving increased overall, religious nonprofits, including churches, received a smaller piece of the pie. A Barna Group and Omni Poll from April 2011 found that “69 percent of American adults said they had reduced their giving to churches/religious centers and other nonprofits within the preceding three months and

November 13, 2011

Christian Standard

WJU Makes Connections in One-Day Fund-raiser

By Jennifer Taylor  This fall, William Jessup University (Rocklin, CA) tried a new approach to fund-raising””and set a record in the process. Vice President for Advancement Eric Hogue had three goals: to recruit new donors, help WJU students, and to raise the money without taking the staff away from work. “Give:24″ accomplished all three. Every member of the staff, faculty, and administration was encouraged to participate by asking 24 friends and family members to give $24 each. They made the requests and promoted the effort via social media and e-mail during the month of August; donors could give online during

September 13, 2009

Christian Standard

MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: The Elephant in the Room

by Kent E. Fillinger Describing the 66 medium-sized churches analyzed in this issue reminds me of the old fable of the blind men who each touched a different part of an elephant and then tried to describe what the animal looked like. The men disagree based on the part of the elephant they touched and their personal perspective.  For the last four years, 3:STRANDS Consulting has partnered with Christian Standard to conduct in-depth research of Christian church/church of Christ megachurches and emerging megachurches. For the first time, the same research survey was completed by churches with average worship attendances of

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