The first myth has to do with expectations of our members and adherents. There are three important questions you need to ask yourself as a church leader:

1. What does membership in your church mean?
2. What do you expect from your members?
3. Do your members know what those expectations are?

How you answer these questions will be in direct relation to the overall success of your stewardship program. If we were to put expectations on a linear model grid to illustrate this point, on one end you would have high-demand and high-expectation congregations, and on the other, low expectation and voluntary association.

High-Demand Churches

and Organizations

Churches and organizations that fall into the high demand category generally have some expectations on one or more of four levels: signing a doctrinal creed or statement (membership), attendance, involvement, and financial support.

Regular attendance and involvement

It is hard to engage your members on a meaningful level if they are not in church on a regular basis. Attendance cannot be required of course, but it should certainly be encouraged as the crux of what drives involvement, and involvement is what drives community. Attendance drives involvement. It is difficult for even the most stoic of individuals not to be moved to engagement in a vibrant, high-demand church. There are other factors that affect volunteerism in the church, but involvement and attendance are essential ingredients to spiritual growth.  

But what do we want as a society? Are these community hubs (our churches) no longer relevant in modern society? I think the opposite is true, and that today we need church more than ever before. In a world moving toward isolation in our workplaces and our relationships, we need community more than ever, and churches have a very natural opportunity to provide the much-needed community that people in our community so desperately need.  

Churches provide community

There are various reasons why people go to church, but community and a sense of belonging are two of the most valuable assets a church has to offer its members. Nouwen states that fundraising in the church is really about asking people to come into community with us and share our vision. Then he adds that this must offer the real possibility of friendship and community, meaning that we cannot just ask for a gift and be on our merry way. We must provide opportunities for engagement in community and friendship.

Financial support

Many high demand churches and organizations still teach tithing, and encourage overall giving with some level of expectation. Teaching the principles of giving as a concept of discipleship is the central theme of my upcoming book. Another reason high demand churches encourage attendance and involvement is because of the impact they have on giving. If people don’t attend, and are not involved, they probably are not giving either.

Demographic shifts in society, however, are affecting the church’s ability to succeed in this process. Membership is increasingly seen as an institutional thing, and younger generations are not into the idea of joining as much as they are attracted to belonging in a more informal way. Finally, a general mistrust of institutions is also affecting the church’s ability to attract people on the level of signing on the dotted line as a member. It is just not that cool anymore.

Voluntary Association churches, on the other end of the continuum, carry a significant soft membership that can be as high as half of the congregation. These members, attend sporadically, give very little, and are not engaged or involved in the life and community of the church. Sometimes this approach is tied to an ecclesiological model, but most often is a management issue. These churches simply just have very few expectations of their members, and it shows through the level of involvement from the greater congregation.

This soft side would be referred to as lapsed donors in the fundraising sector, and many nonprofit organizations do the same and keep them on their donor lists and databases hoping to — eventually — re-engage them. And these hopes are not entirely unfounded. Lapsed donors are in fact much easier to re-engage as donors than new donors. They are already familiar with your mission, vision, and organization. In theory, you should be able to reach out and just invite them back with open arms and they will return. However, it’s not quite that simple or easy.

But who are the soft side in the church?

Most often they are members who have inadvertently drifted to the fringe, quite likely because they were not challenged, inspired, or motivated to do more. Perhaps they are struggling with commitment and are simply looking for a comfortable space to feel good.

On a more positive note, that lapsed member or donor might just be an elderly person who has mobility issues and trouble physically getting to the church on Sundays. These folks can still engage with churches that have a vibrant online ministry where they can continue to connect with their church ministry.

So what does this mean?

The most common ingredient that separates “Voluntary Association and High Demand churches is a clear sense of purpose, regardless of theological orientation. A clear sense of purpose usually raises expectations. When churches go through the process of clarifying their purpose, the result is usually the development or re-development of a clear philosophy of ministry and long-range planning — the main ingredients behind successful church ministry.

Sliding from high to low

Without a proactive effort to move the church management process to the high demand side, the natural slide is to the left on the low demand side. The settling back to the left is unplanned, unnoticeable, and imperceptible — except in retrospect, when it becomes glaringly obvious. No effort is required.

Expectations attract

A big part of this myth is the belief that expectations will scare people off, when in fact the opposite is true. Expectations attract; they do not repel. Certainly, expectations that are too high or too in-your-face might in fact repel, but this is not true simply by the fact that expectations exist.

One of the most often asked questions in stewardship programs is, “What do you want me to do?” or “What do you expect me to give?” If we don’t answer this question, then what we are really saying is, “Anything is fine.” Giving at the level of “anything is fine” is never going to grow churches or make them financially healthy.  

What we seed is what we get. So … be careful what you ask for … you just might get it … and you will rarely get more than you ask for.

The Seven Myths of Church Fundraising

This is a series of seven articles based on the book originally written by my father, Ben Harder, and recently re-written by myself. We came up with what we referred to as the Seven Myths of Church Fundraising. I suppose they could just as easily have been called pitfalls, or misguided beliefs, but the point is, these myths are widely-held assumptions people in the church had and still have surrounding church finances and fundraising. For many churches, these assumptions became part of the church operations and more importantly, an informal narrative of things the church should not do. 

It will be helpful to learn how to recognize and identify these pitfalls and why it’s important to move past them, because if anything is holding you back from financial success, it is one of these myths. 

If you would like to watch my video on The Seven Myths of Church Fundraising, you can do so on my youtube channel or on my website.