Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

I can’t believe it!

Apart from my colleague Tracy Nordyke (I had no idea she was reading it!), I just finished reading The Spirituality of Fund-Raising by Henri Nouwen. 

For my blog post this week I was planning to share some amazingly striking thoughts and quotes from this booklet – I’m not making this up! – but Tracy beat me to it.  (Feel free to read Tracy’s post and buy the booklet Right Here!)

Or did she?

It seems that this booklet has plenty of inspiration and challenge to go around.  The passages I starred and was planning to share are unique to Tracy’s!  So consider these…

• “From the perspective of the gospel, fund-raising is not a response to a crisis.  Fund-raising is, first and foremost, a form of ministry.  It is a way of announcing our vision and inviting other people into our mission.” (page 3)

• “Fund-raising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission.” (page 3)

• “We also will be cut off from our donors, because we will find ourselves begging for money and they will find themselves merely handing us a check.  No real connection has been created because we have not asked them to come and be with us.  We have not given them an opportunity to participate in the spirit of what we are about.  We may have completed a successful transaction, but we have not entered into a successful relationship.” (page 6)

• “Asking people for money is giving them the opportunity to put their resources at the disposal of the Kingdom.  Whether they have much or little is not as important as the possibility of making their money available to God.” (page 25)

• “When we approach fund-raising in a spirit of gratitude, we do so knowing that God has already given us what we most need for life in abundance.  Therefore our confidence in our mission and vision, and our freedom to love the person to whom we are talking about donating money, do not depend on how that person responds.” (page 35)

See what I'm talking about?  Wonderful!

Perhaps Tracy and I didn’t happen onto this booklet at the same time by chance.  Perhaps God put on both our hearts that now is the time to read it and share it with others.

Even more, perhaps this is God’s way of encouraging you to read this booklet before you read anything else, and to spend time this week meditating on Biblical truth related to giving.

After you read it, come post your thoughts.  Inspire us even more!