Henri Nouwen: The opposite of begging

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I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Philippians 1:3-5

“Fundraising 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. Fundraising is precisely the opposite of begging. When we seek to raise funds we are not saying, “Please, could you help us out because lately it’s been hard.” Rather, we are declaring, “We have a vision that is amazing and exciting. We are inviting you to invest yourself through the resources that God has given you—your energy, your prayers, and your money—in this work to which God has called us.”

Henri Nouwen in The Spirituality of Fundraising (New York: Henri Nouwen Society, 2004) 3-4. If you want a PDF copy of this amazing little ebook, reply to this email. I will share it with you freely.

Many times people think of fundraising as begging. I love that Nouwen emphasizes that it’s the opposite of that. It’s inviting people to invest their energy, prayers, and money in God’s amazing and exciting work.

But, let’s take a minute to deconstruct why fundraising is not begging. If we said, “Can you please give me some of your money.” That’s begging. And the thinking is off base in two ways.

Firstly, the gift goes to God and not to me. When we invite people to give, we are like Levites facilitating their act of worship which is giving to God. And secondly, it’s not their money; they are only stewards.

So, since all we possess belongs to God, it’s actually the role of God’s workers to encourage each other to deploy God’s resources to the things God cares about. Again, let me know if you want this ebook by Nouwen.

It’s a great tool for ministry worker’s whose boards or fellow staff members say that “fundraising is begging” because it helps them see a higher and deeply biblical perspective in a short time. It’s a quick read.

And, please, to help GTP empower national workers to build trust and grow local giving in some of the hardest places on earth, click here to make a gift today. We are praying for 10 more new givers by Thursday to meet a foundation challenge.