Lead with language. Incorporate consistent and repetitive communication that shows an emphasis on giving vs. getting. It’s helpful to speak in present tense rather than future tense: instead of “We’re going to be a church that invests in people outside these walls,” it becomes “We are a church that invests in people outside these walls.”
Model generosity, both personally and as a church. About seven years ago at LifeChurch.tv, we realized we were not modeling generosity as leaders. We valued it, but we didn’t show it. Though our church was growing, our lack of leading people toward generosity was furthering a consumer mentality. One of the steps we considered taking was to start sharing the resources we created for our church (curriculum, sermons, videos, etc.). This wasn’t out of a sense of abundance—we were actually pretty strapped. But we clearly felt it was something God wanted us to do, so we launched OPEN.LifeChurch.tv. We thought we’d be helping other churches, but we had no idea that the biggest influence would be on our church. It’s changed our entire church’s concept of what it means to give, and now generosity is a value woven deep into our church culture.
Help people connect the concept of giving to being a follower of Christ. Money is what we use to acquire the things we want. Our culture has been trained to expect something in return when we part with cash (or credit). So it can be particularly difficult to help our church see giving as part of our discipleship, moving from a consumer perspective to a biblical perspective. Even some of the most big-hearted givers can be giving to get something they want, such as a new ministry or facility that benefits them or someone they love. When we help people have an outward focus toward giving, it displaces them from the receiving end.
We are the church and we’re here to serve the world. With a global population of 7 billion people, that’s a lot of people for whom to be responsible. Even if we limit our scope to our city, that community may be hundreds of thousands strong. So when we discuss the tension between pastoring our community or our church, it’s tempting to feel that responsibility as a heavy burden. But when we pastor our community with our church, it is a truly great commission.
Bobby Gruenewald is pastor, innovation leader at Life.Church. Connect with him on Twitter: @BobbyGwald