Stay in Love with God

Thirdly:  By attending upon all the ordinances of God:  OR Stay in love with God. 

·         Remembering the priority is ministry – This is not a game of getting as much money as we can, and distributing the least amount we can.  The goal is not money.  The goal is ministry.  The goal is answering the call of God.  (To be very Wesleyan about it – to earn all we can and to save all we can so that we can give all we can).

·         Praying – lifting the work up to God.

·         Working in community – with each other – so that our gifts and strengths, gifts from God, are used synergistically, to God’s glory.

·         Gratitude – in all ways, for all things (letters, conversation, worship, etc)

·         Generosity – being generous with my time, my talents, my love for others and for God.

·         In fact, it means practicing all of the spiritual gifts in the work we do – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – even when it is a challenge.

·         Work from an attitude of God’s grace and abundance, and allowing it to root out fear.

Do Good

Secondly:  By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all men[and women]… OR Do good.

·         Seeing each person, each church, each agency, as an opportunity for ministry – a chance to do God’s work.  That means when I speak to them, I try to show them God.

·         Working with people to help them to achieve their giving goals for ministry.  Being an enabler for them.  Using what I know and what I have learned to help them to do what they are being called to do.

·         Seeing development in the larger sense – not as fundraising as the “industry” sees it, but as the development of disciples.  That might be done through stewardship training, educational opportunities in churches, estate planning events, marketing, etc.  It is also done as people learn and are enabled to be generous.

·         Teaching churches and individuals how to raise, manage and distribute money in a holy and sacred way (with social responsibility, grace and generosity)

·         Sharing faith, not just money – through the preambles and the letters.

·         Showing people the good their money and other people’s money is doing in ministry

·         Finding ways to distribute money with integrity – the “do we have” file.

Do No Harm

As part of our recent Staff Retreat, Jeff asked us to consider how the work we do fits into Wesley's General Rules, modernized by Bishop Reuben Job into Three Simple Rules.  Over the next three days, I'll share some of my thoughts regarding this question.

First:  By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced…..  OR  Do no harm.

·         Never placing the fundraising above the donor.  The goal cannot be to get the money at all costs leaving the needs of the donor ignored or leaving the donor harmed by the fundraising.

·         Working with integrity so that the management of the money and the administration of the ministry are done well.  Doing these things poorly will damage the work we are doing.

·         Helping churches to develop policies and plans for healthy, not harmful, endowments.

·         Sharpening the tool – continuing education