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As a churchgoer, a recreational observer of Evangelical trends, and – most significantly – a redeemed (albeit imperfect) follower of Jesus, one of the most encouraging recent shifts I’ve seen in American Christendom is the emphasis more and more pastors are placing on kicking people OUT the doors of their church.

Certainly there will always be a place for evangelism and invitation campaigns, but – with the rise of The Missional Church Movement and others like it – churches are behaving less like social clubs and more like military outfits. Instead of collecting members, the focus is shifting toward training, equipping, and sending Christians out into the world to make a difference (a real difference!) in their respective neighborhoods, towns, cities, and states.

As Pastor Choco de Jesus of New Life Covenant Church said at a conference I attended recently, “Churches need to do more for their cities than occupy a street corner.” Indeed! It seems more and more churches are rising to answer this call, and – as they do – they are discovering that impact-driven ministries cannot be sustained without a generous congregation behind it.

And that’s what I want to talk about today. Generosity is my “beat,” and – as I talk and listen and learn – I am becoming ever more convinced that Outreach Campaigns must play a central role in every church’s stewardship ministry. (Yes, even the ones struggling to make ends meet each month.)

How can I say that with such confidence? Because here are just a few of the things outreach ministries, service projects, and the like can do for generosity at your church… (more…)

(NOTE: This article was originally published on SermonCentral.com as part of a four part series on giving to the church. Once you’ve finished reading this one, head over to Sermon Central for other great articles on church generosity!)

Working in business development for a church giving platform, I am often asked if there is a Biblical precedent for churches using digital technology to accept tithes and offerings; any scriptural evidence that “text-2-give is acceptable to the Lord? I’ll save you a concordance search: there isn’t.

In many ways, the Bible remains frustratingly vague when it comes to our most pressing questions about stewardship and generosity. This may explain why so much of our preaching about finances remains frustrating and vague.

How should we teach our people to give? How often? And how much? Do we teach that believers have to give to their home church? Or is it okay for our congregants to send money elsewhere? And what about tithing? Is that the minimum requirement for Christians or the maximum? Is it even relevant to New Covenant believers?

Over the years, many good-faith efforts have been made to answer these questions. More than a few pastors and theologians have attempted to codify the ABC’s (and $1.23s) of giving to the church. And yet, for pastors and parishioners alike, these efforts have provided little assurance. (more…)

One of the most frequently cited and widely used reasons for the rapid growth of digital giving over the past decade is the proportionate decline in checks during that time.

And the trend continues! In fact, according to one report, we are on pace to write our final check sometime in the year 2021. A mere six years away!

Nowhere is this “check-less” trend more prevalent than with Millennials, 20% of whom have never written a check in their life. There are piles and piles of statistics to back this up (like these), but – for today – I thought we’d forego stats and focus on some good, old-fashioned anecdotal evidence. (It is election season after all.) (more…)

Ring the bells! Bang the tambourines! The blessed day has finally arrived!

That’s right, after months of talking, tweaking, and testing, Mogiv‘s new and improved administrative dashboards have finally been released into polite society.

Why all the excitement? Because we love churches! And we know that bookkeepers, treasurers, finance secretaries, and business managers are some of the hardest working people on any church’s staff. So anything we can do to make these warriors’ lives easier, is a BIG WIN in our book!

Our new dashboards do just that! Here’s how… (more…)

Through my work at Mogiv, I’ve had a front row seat to the rise of mobile giving in recent years. But even I was surprised to discover just how much mobile giving increased in 2015.

A recent study released by npENGAGE revealed that mobile donations were up a whopping 45% during the last few months of 2015.

And that’s not all they discovered. Here are a few other key takeaways from the article… (more…)