Churches generally stink at teaching how to be generous. Most excel at explaining why to give, but whiff completely on how to go about it. Granted, some churches have begun to host classes and workshops teaching budgeting from a biblical perspective.

But few address the trade-offs everyday Jesus followers face when deciding where and how to give: churches vs. non-profits, schools vs. social ministries, international vs. domestic, disaster relief vs. development, explicitly faith based vs. high impact secular groups, etc.

Sadly, some pastors even imply that you should only give to the local church. Let the professionals handle distributing money to specific missionaries, social causes, and partner organizations. A charitable mutual fund of sorts.

That doesn’t work for you. You care about and are connected to people and causes beyond your local congregation. You receive more requests than you can accommodate. How do you organize your giving? This edition gives you a starting point. It’s the tippy top of the iceberg, but you have to start somewhere.

The same is true for spending faithfully. It’s a bold pastor who preaches on how to spend your money. They just don’t go there. In this edition, I want to start going there by sharing how my wife challenged me to spend our money in a more loving way.

Journey On,
~Mark

Mark King
​Mark@BruisedCamels.com | LinkedIn​

Money | Giving

Move Beyond Why. Think About How to Give.

Why should you donate money to the Church and how much? When you read articles or hear sermons on giving, these are the questions you most often hear answered. Great questions. A sound theology of giving is foundational. Good theology prevents problems like the prosperity gospel and guilt mongering manipulation from the pulpit.

But inspiration is the beginning of generosity not the end. It’s like healthy eating. You need to know why you should eat healthy and how many calories are best for you. But…you have to execute, not just be inspired. The weight loss industry is over $70 billion annually because they provide not just inspiration, but also systems and tools for action. The same holds true for stewardship. Inspiration and planning are great, but you need the equivalent of recipes, calorie counting apps, and meal delivery.

What would a generosity operating system look like? Of course, you start with the why and the to whom questions. I’m going to defer those questions for this edition and return to them in the future. But let’s jump into how and when will you give?

I approach these questions like a CFO might approach expense planning for a business. First, you must meet on-going commitments such as cost of goods sold, marketing, and overhead. Second, you need to invest in discrete projects such as capital expenditures and R&D. And finally, a wise CFO budgets some cushion for unforeseen, but inevitable, problems and opportunities.

Our family approaches giving with similar buckets. Tithing is our core budget. When we’re asked to participate in special projects, we don’t reduce our tithe. We look to see if we can stretch for a period. Lastly, we know we’ll receive ad hoc requests. We plan on a certain amount of opportunistic giving each year. But we treat it more like a living expense than philanthropy.

Some illustrations may help:

Tithe – Our local church, missionaries, and organizations we’ve committed to.

Special Projects – Building campaigns, major gifts for natural disasters, a multi-year scholarship commitment for a specific student.

Opportunistic – Summer mission trips, marathons and walk-a-thons, silent auctions, golf outings, Girl Scout cookies, etc.

Tithing has a high bar. A cause must align with our values and involve at least one of our passions. We commit to the long-haul.

Special projects have a limited life span but are too large to absorb in our daily expenses. We’ll stretch, but not at the expense of our core commitments. We often look for these if we have a windfall.

We screen random opportunities through our values and priorities. But emotions and especially relationships also come into play.

These buckets help us in several ways:

• They force us to be in sync as a couple but give us room for individuality. Changing our tithe requires consensus and multiple conversations. Individually, however, we might spontaneously do something small and opportunistic without even remembering to tell the other.
• They provide a great way to say “no” when you need to. I’ve frequently told fundraisers that our family has charitable commitments, and we can’t decrease them to give to their cause no matter how worthwhile it is.
• They balance commitment with spontaneity. We know the causes we support take time and need dependable donors. But let’s be honest, it’s also rewarding, informative, and fun to try new things. I’ve been enriched by attending one-time charitable events or sponsoring a friend raising funds for a cause I don’t know much about.

In future editions, I’ll dive deeper into other components of a generosity operating system including due diligence, gift sizing, tax efficiency, and those pesky tradeoffs. Stay tuned.

Money | Spending

Cash Can Change the World

You’ve seen the little handwritten sign at your favorite local business. “Cash Preferred. Thank You!” But who carries cash these days?

You should think about it. My wife challenged me about this last weekend. County Farm Bagels, our favorite bagel place and Saturday ritual, prefers cash. My wife commented that she needed to swing by the ATM so she could pay them cash like usual. What?! I don’t do that. I’d seen the sign a million Saturday mornings while talking to the owner’s daughter at the register. (You know, the one who always asks about our boys. The one who let me take the bagels home when I forgot my wallet and came back later to pay.) But I’d never thought to get cash and be helpful.

Of course, I had to run the numbers and see if it really mattered. Shocker! It does. I did not rudely ask for their financial statements, but here’s the back of the envelope for a typical small business. Assume $1.5 million in sales, $25 average sale, 2%+$0.12 credit card processing fee. That’s $37,200/year to the bottom line. Assume a fully loaded labor cost is $25/hour and you could hire someone for about 30hrs/week for a year. The little things add up.

Grab some cash at the ATM and show a small business some love!

Kitchen Drawer | Giving Resources

Drowning in Giving Books

Do not search Amazon for books on Christian stewardship or philanthropy. I made that mistake. I drowned in a tidal wave of books. Help me out. Click reply and let me know if you’ve read a particularly useful book on Christian giving. I’ll start sharing recommendations in future editions.