Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

I think one of the most challenging ideas for ministry leaders to wrap their mind around is that the job of fundraising can be (and should be!) an enjoyable part of our ministry work. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it! Fundraising enjoyable?? 

Instead most people think of it as tedious and that it feels much too self-serving to be enjoyable. What do you think?

There is no quick fix for changing your mindset if you’re in the camp that would rather distance yourself from the task of fundraising, but let me suggest a place to start…

Remind yourself daily: IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!

I like how Jack Welch, CEO of GE, talks about leadership in his book Winning. He says leadership is not about you; it’s about the people who work for you. 

He goes on to say, “The day you become a leader, it becomes about them…Your job is to walk around with a can of water in one hand and a can of fertilizer in the other hand. Think of your team as seeds and try to build a garden. It’s about building these people.”

This is great advice for how leaders ought to relate to their staff, but consider how this applies to our relations with believers who come alongside us giving to and serving in the cause.

Might the work of fundraising be one additional way we can pour into people, helping them grow to full maturity in Christ?  Practitioners of Transformational Giving would say so.

Consider Paul and his devotion to those he was in fellowship with. He poured into believers so that they would grow in their faith and be presented “fully mature in Christ.” Maturity sounds good, but what does that entail and does giving fit anywhere in here?

Take a look at Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He tells them, “But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” We can gather from this that things such as faith, teaching, witnessing, studying the Bible, and concern for others are all crucial in the life of a mature Christian, but NONE are a substitute for the grace of giving.

Does Paul encourage giving because he has a goal to meet for his Jerusalem fund? Is it because he is short on funds? No. In his letter to the Philippians, we get a glimpse of why Paul sees such value in encouraging people to give. He says, “Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.”

Giving is a good and important discipline for the believer, and is reflective of Christian maturity. Asking people to give is a good and important discipleship activity. When you fail to recognize either of these things, you will always look at asking as a selfish activity – a task to help you and your ministry and never the giver, and you’ll continue to hate it. 

And so I say, remind yourself daily: IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU! 

Don’t you feel good when people are attracted to your cause?

From the world’s perspective, when people have an attraction to your cause then you are said to be doing good!

Doesn’t it feel good to be good? But is feeling good (measuring success the way the world views it) the measure we should live by? Good equals success?

Jim Collins writes in his book “Good to Great,” that we shouldn’t settle for good, but that we should strive to be great.

My pastor put it this way last Sunday, “We should always choose BEST over GOOD.” He stated that, “good is the real enemy of best.”

In sports being good is nice, but only those who are great make it to the highest level their sport might provide. I’d like to remind you today that reaching greanesst is nothing you really can do on your own anyway. You simply don’t have the ability within yourself to do it.

Striving for man’s applause, and interest in your cause, is setting the measurement of success far too low. This measuring tool only reaches to the level for that which is good.

However, when we look to please God himself then we can achieve greatness. It isn’t that our organization does everything perfect, but that our attempt to please God in all areas does.

Wayne Cordeiro in his newest book, The Irresistible Church, states, “An irresistible church is not a perfect church. Rather it is one that is constantly aligning itself to pleasing God. It is a people who position their hearts carefully and deliberately with the tenets of the kingdom so that God is pleased to work in unrestricted ways. God is irresistibly drawn to a church where every activity, every plan, and every leadership decision clearly displays His heart.”

So my challenge today is to ask you, “Where is your focus and who are seeking to please?”

When you can answer this correctly, and walk out its path, then God the Father will be pleased and you will become great!