People don’t like to talk money and the church. It makes people instantly think of TV evangelists.

And while those TV evangelists swindled millions out of well-meaning, hard-working Americans, the truth is that 99% of churches are great places and not full of crooks.

I have an encouragement for my friends just entering their 30s, you’re finally hitting the earning power to make a difference in your church.

Here’s something that may be news to you: It only takes about 10 solid givers for a small-to-medium-sized church to stay solvent.

Working for a small church this was clear. 6-7 core “giving units” provided a solid foundation of giving on which our monthly budget was built. We didn’t really know who they were but we were thankful for their faithfulness. But the $200-$500 a week they each gave weekly was the difference between the staff having a heart attack about the budget and knowing we’d at least make payroll! And, of course, people beyond that core group gave substantially too which made all the difference in the world for doing more than making payroll. Yet the fact remained that without those 6-7 anonymous folks we would have been in deep trouble.

Now, I’m sure $200-$500 per week seems unattainable. You’re saying that’s a lot of money! In some parts of the country $800/month is more than the mortgage. So you’ll have to do the math to figure out what that translates to in your local economy.

But here’s the point: These weren’t a special breed of super-givers. These were regular Joe’s and Mary’s. The median family income in that part of Michigan was about $60,000. That meant the median family brought home about $800/week after taxes. ($80/week if they tithed) Yet most of the folks in our church had professional jobs which paid much, more than that. All of a sudden you realize… the 6-7 families funding a big chunk of the church are really just average professionals tithing about 10% of what they brought home.

That’s where you come in. If just 5% of the church actually tithed, your church could stay solvent. I don’t mean they’d be in great shape. I just mean that 5-10 solid givers per hundred forms the foundation of giving for your church.

And if you are wise with your money you can be one of them soon.

Again, that may seem impossible. But if you got serious for the next 6-12 months on reducing your debt load you will be able to give a lot more. And while most people in their early-mid thirties are just starting to dig their way out of mountains of credit card debt, college loans, car loans, and the fat part of a mortgage… as they do that they are discovering they can have a lot more giving power.

It only takes 10 givers to fund a church. The question is simply– Do you want to be one of them?

#1 Goodbye Creepy Guy

#2 My Olympic Rant

#3 Where are all the Christian Single Men?

#4 President Bush is the Man

#5 Vision, Goal, and Mission Statements

It always amazes me to see some of these top posts be old posts. But that’s the power of Google. Those who are just learning about blogging would be wise to take some time to figure out how Google indexes things and build their blog/site based on that. 

Every organization can measure success.

It doesn’t matter if you’re running a non-profit, a government agency, a corporation, small business, or an educational institution… you need to have some ways to set the course and measure your progress. That is, if you would like to succeed.

If you are willing to fail (must be a government agency or educational institution where money comes “magically” from the tax gods) goals, mission, and vision are pointless as your default measurement of success is merely “Did I keep my job another year?” While those in businesses without defined goals have default, meaningless measurement tools like “Did we make more money than last year?” From a business perspective, that’s a stupid measurement tool as you can kill next year by maximizing profits this year to reach the “make more money than last year” measurement tool. Just ask Enron. Organization driven by meaningless measurements like profits will always fail!

So, let’s define some terms. Maybe this will help your organization.

Mission Statement: This is the big, grandiose “nebula” statement. For a school district a mission statement would be something like “Every student will receive an excellent education.” The funny thing about mission statements is that they often seem so general that they would fit for any business or school or church or non-profit. And that’s OK. Too many organizations get caught up on this… the mission of an organization is a dream… dream a little when writing yours.

Vision statement: This is how your organization is going to move towards the mission. At my church, our mission statement is “to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.” Pretty generic, eh? That could be the mission statement for 90% of churches in the world. But our vision statement defines the “how to” of the mission. To accomplish our church mission we create foyer, living room, and kitchen environments for our age-based ministries. For a school district a vision statement would be like “By implementing a cohesive educational model we will succeed at all grade levels.” See, the mission everyone can agree on… its the vision for “how to” that people argue about.

Goals: Goals are the stepping stones for putting the vision to work towards the mission. So, for our pretend school district a goal would be “Each building will train staff to use a common educational strategy by 1/1/2009.” That is measurable. That is saying that 100% of classrooms in the district will start using the new model by the deadline. On 1/2/2009 a report is generated and they will know if they reached their goal or not. Only 90% did it? Heads roll. 100% did it, we all celebrate together.

Where measurable goal setting really helps is three places… first it sets an agenda for leaders. Maybe they need to schedule a training session? Maybe they need to determine some sub-goals to that? Second, it creates a deadline. Let’s face the fact that without clear deadlines things don’t get done in an organization. We learned this in college didn’t we? A solid deadline makes us get it done. Everyone has an all-nighter story, and what is behind that story? A deadline! Third, a good goal is an evaluation tool. The best part is that since it is measurable it is plain to see who is succeeding and who is failing.

Why is this important? It helps your workgroups focus. Having clearly defined goals, vision, and a mission statement changes the discussion. Instead of every idea being equal… when an idea is presented that is good but doesn’t directly help you accomplish a goal within the vision (even if it is complimentary to your mission) you can boldly say no. Likewise, when the mission, vision, and goals are clearly understood by everyone in an organization… it creates two of the most powerful things in any organization. (Two future posts) Both are more valuable than money!

• Synergy
• Soft-innovation