Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

I used to run track in high school with the hurdles being my best event.  It was a grueling race though, no doubt about it - it takes everything out of you to sprint for 100m, or worse yet 400m, while intermittently leaping over precarious wooden frames that are blocking your lane!

Now imagine this...my coach coming up to me after one such race and saying, "Thank you for running the 400m hurdle race!  It's students like you who help our school have a well-rounded team.  Thanks again!"

Say what??  That would be absurd for a coach to say anything like this!

Yet...

That's what most nonprofits say to their donors after they've given a well thought-out gift, or just spent several hours volunteering their time.  "Thank you for giving!  It's people like you who help our organization continue doing all that we're doing.  Thanks again!"

Why don't we think this is just as absurd?

Maybe it's because of how we view our role toward those who give?  More bluntly, that we view their purpose as solely funding OUR work.  In which case, we don't think of ourselves as one who can or should be instructing or training them, instead we just thank and go on our merry way.

Yet how does one grow deeper in their understanding of a cause?  How does one gain experience to have greater impact in a cause?  How does one learn through the cause what it means to serve others, have mercy, pray for the afflicted-all things that will mature them in their faith?  We, of course, know the answer -- it is through training and instruction.  And where might they get this?  From someone who has knowledge and experience in the cause - someone just like YOU (in fact, YOU)!

So, what am I suggesting here?  I'm suggesting that our first move when someone gives is not to shower them with thanks for something they did for the CAUSE (notice I didn't say for YOU!) that they could only do by the grace of God.  Scripture is clear that God uses all things, people included, according to His purposes, and all that comes from them are really gifts from HIM.  With a Transformational Giving (TG) mindset, then, our first response should be thanks to the one who prompted the gift (God) and then something entirely different for the person. 

Let's recall the 5th TG principle that says "the relationship between champions and organizations are primarily peer-level accountability relationships, not friendships or organizational support relationships."  If we believe this, then our response should be one of commendation - one that acknowledges, that encourages, and that spurs on toward continued good work.

Mission Increase will be exploring this topic in depth throughout May in "Thanking and Receipting" workshops.  Let me encourage you to register for one and learn what it means to commend AND coach through your "thank you's."  And, keep in mind, this isn't about changing the way we do "thank you's" just to be different or innovative; it's about learning how to align ourselves with how scripture calls us to relate with others and help one another to mature and grow in the likeness of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

A friend recently forwarded this article to me, which raises a question that rarely gets asked: what causes ought we to support? 

The answer in the article, based on a book called “The Art of Giving”, is inward focused: “You need to ‘dive into your soul’ to find the topic or topics that are nearest and dearest to your heart”.

I very much like the idea of strategic, intentional giving, and placing the individual’s desire at the heart (or soul) of the strategy seems like a reasonable place to start. 

But is it?

This approach may work just fine for children’s charities and animal rights groups protecting baby seals, but it’s hard to imagine many people soul diving to find a deep and abiding passion to advocate for, say, kidney disease research, or any number of other important causes that don’t ring our emotional bells.

And what are we to say to someone who looks into their soul and finds their passion is to replace cracked leather seats on private airplanes, or prevent cat juggling?

Christians have even bigger problems, as most will read this article and conclude that soul-diving in a Christian context involves praying about which causes God would lead us to support, or conversely, to conclude that “I’m a Christian, and I really feel passionate about this cause, therefore God must have put this cause on my heart”. 

This approach is Christian-ish, but not Christian.  Why?  Because it is fundamentally self-centered and not self-less.  There are no examples in Scripture where God’s people are encouraged to look to their emotions as a driver of their commitments and behaviors.  On the contrary, time and again, God’s people are commanded to raise their sights above and beyond themselves, to meet God’s standards regardless of how they may feel about it, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”.

Therefore, the Christian ought to be committed to causes that were established—in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ-- outside their own personal set of passions. 

So what are these causes?  How might we determine what they are and how we are to commit ourselves to them? 

These are critical questions that we will explore over time.  And remember, “When the pupil is ready, many teachers will appear.”

"What's the greatest barrier(s) you face in comprehensively coaching champions in your cause?"

Well, that was the question I posed to an executive director and his board during a recent one-on-one consultation. The question came up as we were discussing the Transformational Giving Principles, in particular #8 and #10, with reference to the idea of comprehensively coaching champions. Just so those two principles are top of mind, here's what they say.

Principle 8: Giving is not the process but rather the result of the process of a champion being comprehensively coached to share the cause effectively within his or her sphere of influence.

Principle 10: Champions connect with each other and with organizations not according to the amount of their giving but by the degree of comprehensive personal ownership they are exhibiting in the cause.

The question seemed straight forward enough to me, and I certainly didn't have any subtle agenda in asking it, but boy was I surprised by the conversational flury that ensued. Here's a synopsis of what was discussed. (Note: The "they" in the responses below refer to the ministry's current donors.)

• They believe it requires a certain calling and unique gifting to do what we do and appear almost scared!
• They don't really understand the Bible's clear teaching about the cause.
• They don't have a sense of urgency, but seem more sentimental about the cause.      
• They've given-up on the cause, and seem almost overwhelmed by the immesity of the need.
  
• They believe that getting too close to the cause may give them "cause coodies."

So I responded, after observing that the subject of the reasons given was the donor and not a single one was with reference to the ministry, why do you think that is? And at the risk of offending them, which was not my intention, I officially ended our brainstorming session by proposing, in the form of a question, one final barrier that may stand in the way of people being comprehensively coached in the cause.

Is it possible that you are one of the greatest barriers to people being comprehensively coached in the cause? In otherwords...

• Is it possible that you've given the impression that the work you do is "for professionals only"?
• Is it possible that you've neglected to build a Biblical apologetic for your cause and then to share that with them?
• Is it possible that you've encouraged them to feel sentimental about the cause versus feeling a true Biblical compassion (i.e. a genuine emotive response that compels one to loving action)
• Is it possible that discussions of "the need" have simply overwhelmed them and they have very little understanding of the ways that the cause can be impacted?
• Is it possible that you've intentionally kept them at arms link, perhaps for fear of complicating things by their involvement or in an attempt to control things?

The silence was broken by a simple but insightful response. "I guess we have some work to do to coach our champions huh."

The balance of the conversation was amazing. We spent time discussing each of the above items and came up with some very produtive ways to recognize internally (i.e. reshaping the questions to serve as a guide), as well as intentionally address these barriers that stand in the way of real champion maturity. Though not exhaustive, each of the above questions has stimulated a few "coaching points" for them to develop in the context of their PEO chart, communications (including their thanking & receipting which is our upcoming workshop topic in May), events, and other ministry related activities.

So I ask you, what's the greatest barrier(s) you face in comprehensively coaching champions in your cause?