“Vision casting has replaced doctrinal teaching.
Instead of teaching Christians to give to please God, they’re being taught to give to meet a need – build buildings, feed orphans, dig wells, etc. Part of this trend is due to competition with non-profits. As the number of non-profit (para-church) ministries grows, so do the choices people have to give.
To compete with non-profits, churches have applied best fund-raising practices to raise money. This means videos, brochures, projections, targets, and of course…celebration Sunday! And after the campaign comes ribbon cutting ceremonies, ROI reports, metric discussions. Meanwhile the doctrine of giving takes a back seat…or for some churches, fades away entirely.”
Jeff Anderson in Acceptable Gift email on September 3. To hear other trends, visit his website or sign up for his free webinar on Sept 10, click here.
God forgive us for focusing on raising up gifts rather than raising up givers. Consequently, we’ve made it all about the spiel and not about the Scriptures, all about offering help and we have forgotten about the heart. God, help us get back to the heart of the matter, because that’s all that matters.