Customer Reviews

Not Your Parents' Offering Plate: A New Vision for Financial Stewardship

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Every coin has two sides, but the church seems stuck on one side.

This book is not about the traditional biblical stewardship message of tithing (i.e., one side of the Stewardship coin). Of course, all church folks should be responding to the grace of God by returning a tenth (In case you need a reminder, go read the OT prophet book of Malachi, Chapter 3).

This book focuses on the other side of the Stewardship coin, HOW DO WE PROMOTE GIVING in the church when we COMPETE against all the thousands of other non-profit organizations asking for that same dollar traditionally given to the church.

What I like about this book is the new perspective on how to challenge people to give to the church using the good marketing techniques used by the competition. Yes, we (the leadership of the church) need to tell our people of the good things we do with the gifts (tithes and offerings) the church receives. We need to give the poeple of our congregations a reason to give their charity dollars to the church.

The book provides excellent examples of good and bad from the author's real life experiences. It also highlites what the pastor and Stewardship Committee (or Trustees) should be doing to accomplish this new marketing perspective.

I thought so highly of this book that I personally bought five additional copies for our church's Stewardship Committee and Pastor. After reading the book, you might want to consider doing the same for your leaders...

This was an awesome read. Very practical solutions to understanding the dynamics of church giving and to rethink the ways of fund raising. A must read for church leaders because it makes us take a good look at ourselves regarding our ministerial responsibilities. The book was a very easy read. I flew from Michigan to Atlanta, GA. I was done with the book before the plane landed and I retained almost 90% of what I read.

I am the pastor of a small ELCA congregation in central Texas. This congregation is in a chronic state of financial distress. The title caught my eye while I was at a pastor's conference. I purchased a copy, read it and decided to share a copy with each member of our Leadership Team (aka Church Council). I will be making some changes in my everyday ministry due to what I've read. I have already met with resistance from a couple of the members of the Leadership Team
and I suspect their discomfort is due to the truth of what the text says about money management within a congregation. I am convinced that old ways of doing money in congregations are not working. NYPOP strongly suggests that we in congregational leadership open our eyes to the new realities we face, change our behaviors along with our attitudes and bring about the changes needed to take congregations, like the one I serve, from chronic financial anemia to financial health and vitality. I highly recommend this easily read volumn for pastors. Expect push-back upon implementation.

Excellent book about why people give and how churches have not changed with the times. The book discusses how different generations look at giving and how the churches messages are being received. You will not learn how to squeeze out the last dime out of people but you will gain an understanding of what motivates them to give. I was struck by declining percentage given to churches and how little is given through estates. I was also impressed with many of the ideas being very simple to do. We will be incorporating many of these ideas in our church, particularly telling our parishoners how we are changing/impacting lives (and showing them why they would want to give to us).

I belong to a lay lead Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Despite the fact that this book is written from a Christian perspective and assumes that your religious organization has a minister, the ideas in the book are just as valid for a congregation like ours. So long as you are a religious community with a vision, your fund raising must focus on the vision and your techniques will be more successful if you modernize and learn from how other non-profits raise money. Like another reviewer, I am buying copies of this book for each member of our Board of Trustees and Finance Committee, and I am very excited to try to implement the concepts in the book, along with some spiritual small group work on generosity and giving. I highly recommend this book [which I bought at the annual UU General Assembly that concluded yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina]!

This book, using research--quantitative and qualitative--provides the main reasons that people choose to give to an "cause" or an organization. Read this book to understand all the things that churches, especially, get wrong when working to engage and teach people to give.

then this is the book that you should read. I've been working at stewardship for over 20 years w/in my church. This book fired me up to look at our efforts compared to non profits, something I have been unwilling to do, and has energized our leadership with new ideas and approaches. At the very least, the following quote should make you think- ". . .you are not in the business to balance budgets or manage money. You are in the business to change lives for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ--that is it. You have no other reason to exist. If you are not doing that, then get out of the way and let someone else have your spot." P17

Cliff with this book has taught Hastings United Methodist to look at stewardship with the light of the 21st century. This has stable our cash flow and increase our giving to help us inpact our community in a powerful way that honors Jesus

This is one of the best books ever written about raising money in the church. What an eye opener. This should be required reading for all clergy, lay leaders, church leaders, or anyone interested in promoting God's Kingdom.

This book is a must read for pastors in the 21st century. It has given me a new perspective on the issue of stewardship in the local church. The writing was practical. I had many "a-ha" moments during the read. I highly recommend and endorse this book.