Basic Concepts

Planned Giving

Revised August 2002
THE WAY OF TAKING!

Money raising is a part of life, but it is a nondescript term for the various ways and means of getting money for a ‘cause’. How this is done can involve a multitude of ways – many have been or are being used by the Army all over the world. The success or failure of money raising depends a variety of factors. Success brings its contribution into corps/centre funds and so aids programs that the Salvation Army support.

Some money raising events serve a useful purpose for the corps quite apart from the money they do or do not raise. However much effort there is given to money raising, it does not replace or limit the responsibility and privilege for Salvationists to give voluntarily, gladly and generously for their own spiritual enrichment. For example, proceeds from an annual fete, however useful or otherwise they may prove to be in their own right, it is not a substitute for the free-will offerings of the Salvationists.

It is wrong for a congregation to be cajoled by strategies and stratagems to ‘give’ money to the corps. Some could over-emphasise money-raising so much that members of the congregation are diverting money to support the special effort to the detriment of their Sunday giving. This deprives the spiritual benefits of giving simply, directly and sacrificially to God week by week.

Fundraising for some would mean little more than money raising with seriousness! The professional fundraiser would see it as the systematic raising of money, involving philanthropy through effective education, organisation, relationship, target groups etc. to promote generous giving to worthy causes.

Fundraising is a wide and general term used by many causes and appeals. For the Christian community it is a right term to use when directing an appeal to the general public. However, it is not a term that sits comfortably when applied to the Christian’s giving to the Church. Giving to the Church involves a unique motivation.

Historically, the Salvation Army has asked its soldiers to fire a cartridge to provide ‘ammunition for the fight’. This term has in essence validity still but we promote our program as ‘planned giving’.

Planned Giving is a very specific term as concerned to our corps/church life. The program is equally concerned with educating the giver about spiritual needs and responsibility as with the need to finance the mission and responsibilities of the corps.

Each component of planned giving with its program period (a three-year cycle with annual renewals) starts with an intensive program where folk in the corps have defined roles that cover:

Preparation:of a detailed plan

Organisation:of selected lay people trained for specific tasks

Education:Bible based teaching on tithes and giving

Decision making:for families (giving units) to respond

The Objectives of a planned giving program are:

To meet the need of a Christian to give meaningfully for his own sake spiritually.
To meet the need for a Christian to give generously for the sake of the task God has entrusted to the Church.
To establish a higher standard of giving by the study of God’s word and prayer within the corps manifested in meaningful giving by every soldier.

In short:

ALL Salvationists giving

REGULARLY and

SACRIFICIALLY with full and proper

UNDERSTANDING.

Having read the above you will realise that a planned giving program is not …

… a offering envelope system – though offering envelopes are used.

… a convenient and simple system without challenge to givers.

… a fashionable short-term ‘gimmick’, it has been around too long for that, experience shows some folk take several programs to fully understand planned giving.

… a single system of giving to the corps. In the total plan of the corps there will be other times and types of giving.

…concerned with other corps income, fees or payments.

Planned giving may or may not mean the continuance of other money raising activities. These are corps considerations and depend on the situation at hand.

PLANNED GIVING AND STEWARDSHIP

A definition of stewardship states:

‘Christian stewardship is the practice of systematic and proportionate giving of time, abilities and material possessions based on the conviction that these are a trust from God to be used in His service for the benefit of all mankind in grateful acknowledgment of Christ’s redeeming love’.

It is not putting stewardship into words that is difficult, it is putting stewardship into everyday life. Here is a reminder of the four basic truths of stewardship:

God is creator, preserver, governor and giver of all things.
All that I am and all that I have is only held in trust with the responsibility to care by my proper guardianship.
Giving a worthy portion of the three areas of stewardship – time, talents and treasure – to God is an acknowledgement of acceptance of our responsibility.
The privilege of being a steward brings the responsibility of accountability on earth as well as in heaven.

It is quite natural for a child or a very elderly person to delight in their selfishness and want everything as theirs. Maturity (or is it experience) helps us swerve away from this type of thinking; some people barely accept this change. So the change in mindset for a Christian to recognise that nothing is ‘mine’ but that all the family, the possessions, the talents, even their very existence is only entrusted by God. Recognition and acceptance of this fact, and, delighting in the trust given by God is a sign of Christian maturity – for some, maturing takes some time!

Responsibility increases with realisation, and realisation comes by the knowledge of Scriptural teaching of the place of the trustee (steward). With all the responsibility of an owner a trustee (steward) acts on behalf of the owner and when that is God the implications are awesome.

Occasionally confusion arises about where planned giving fits into stewardship. Some would say they are one and the same, others claim no relationship. There is a need to understand the relationship.

Stewardship is the whole of which planned giving is a part. As a part of the whole it does not have absolute importance. It is wrong to equate stewardship with planned giving.

To think of stewardship as concerning what we have rather than what we are is also wrong. In fact it is more concerned about what we are. In its broadest view stewardship covers the whole of Christian living. Some would say, correctly, that ‘stewardship is what a man does after he says, “I believe”’.

The teaching of the meaning and practice of stewardship should be part of a well-balanced preaching program. Stewardship does not exist to serve the corps but rather how it affects an individual Christian. That may be hard if a corps has pressing needs. Stewardship is an all-embracing life-style not a fundraiser.

The planned giving of money is part of stewardship. It is best preached as part of a whole teaching series on stewardship. This would control any feeling of overemphasis on money.

Planned giving can result in diverse thinking and outcomes. Sometimes the person will be led to a greater commitment and their planned giving shows this. Some will seek out their giving before God and will sense a new level of giving and a new sense of stewardship of self and service. A program can stimulate an increased interest in spiritual things.

Stewardship is concerned with self, service and substance. God wants a response to him in all three areas. There is no Scriptural basis in suggesting God wants either/or substance or self or service. The relationship between the three is that we are only giving God back his own. People get the balance out of kilter by having their own scale of values.

There are some people who are more ready to give money than time, others are generous with time and talents but not their money. Christians have three areas of responsibility, not three alternatives for a ‘trade agreement’ with God as to how much of each area they wish to involve in their life.

Each of the three areas are vitally important in its own right. None take priority nor does one area deserve to be played down. Our responsibility does not change even if we neglect one area and over-compensate in another.

Some, perhaps because their own fears/feelings, seem to shy away from the significance of teaching on money as it is ‘unspiritual’ or ‘too hard’ for their people to understand, preferring to focus on time and talent. It cannot be wrong to include money and all need to hear how it is to be handled in the life of a Christian.

Bible students tell us that at least one third of Christ’s teaching relates to property and related matters. The parables of the rich young ruler and the widow’s mite have hard implications. In his public ministry, Jesus used 38 parables and 16 of these have to do with money. The stories of the talents, the lost coin, the unjust steward, the treasure in the field, and of the ‘ten pounds – ten servants’ come easily to our thinking. To point out, as some theologians have done, that Jesus talked more about money than heaven does not set out his priorities, rather, he knew that those who listened had their priorities mixed up.

In itself money is neither bad nor good – and it has no value belonging to itself in itself. A $50 dollar note will cost the Treasury a few cents to print – that is its worth. The value is found in its symbolism, it represents an amount of effort, mental or physical, by the person who gains it and if given to God by natural process he gives part of himself.

Our responsibility as stewards is to give systematically and proportionately of our time, talents and possessions. In a very real way money represents personality, time and talents – the basic parts of our life. By offering money we consecrate every part of our being.

Money is a real responsibility. The more we have the greater our responsibility, whether it comes to us by wages, by benefits, by budgets or even by congregational giving – it is our stewardship that is under the microscope. The place we give it in our lives, how we handle (or mishandle) it have relevance to our Christian lives. Stewardship of possessions must be looked at from the same viewpoint – we should be conservationists, we should get value for money, we could be more circumspect in our purchases.

It may be thar a person can be reluctant to talk about money in relation to our faith, our church and our lives when it is so important, yet freely talk of other areas in life. We cannot hide from the fact that how we handle our money and possessions gives a practical indication of our love for God and for others. Perhaps we could see it as a yardstick for our belief values.

In our personal stewardship, we each have a different ‘mix’ of each of the three areas entrusted to us and we shall have to account for the portions that are ours and what we did with them.

How leaders seek commitments from Christians regarding self, service and substance is an ongoing quest. Inherent in this quest is the danger to over-simplify by seeking an overall approach. Planned giving provides an excellent ‘package’ to one area of stewardship.

As far as the other two areas (self and service) are concerned, teaching either side of or leading up to a planned giving program is the best possible way of setting each aspect in perspective and yet dealing with the whole.

CORPS FINANCE IS NOT BASICALLY A PROBLEM OF MONEY

Planned giving programs do not create money, it is already there. The vicar declared in his sermon, “The good news is that we have all the money we need to support the church and run every conceivable program. The bad news is the money is still in your pockets”. The problem for corps is not the lack of money but getting Salvationists deciding on proper priorities for their finances. The answer to the problem lies in teaching Scriptural truth with an openness regarding corps finances and mission. Correct teaching on tithing and sacrificial giving will challenge the minds and hearts of the people.

Giving habits are caught and taught, remember the child mentioned earlier always on the ‘take’, this little one has to be taught to give and share. Quite often teaching stops when the child learns how to give – but not led on to generosity, perhaps because the parent/s have little understanding of a generous spirit.

The fact that spiritual values are eternal and of supreme importance in life are accepted by Christians. This understanding does not necessarily get reflected in attitudes to giving. The Church has been impacted by secular and material values rather than spiritual values. Like the world, the Church and its people direct most of their possession to material ends. Comfortable pews and homes are regarded over the ‘lost’.

A planned giving program asks people to review their sense of values, to think about their giving amounts, their giving habits, to make decisions about their giving and to rearrange their priorities in using money to enable them to carry out any decision made.

THE NEED OF A CHRISTIAN TO GIVE MEANINGFULLY FOR THEIR OWN SAKE SPIRITUALLY

A Christian will feel a need to give to meet his own spiritual understanding and that need goes further than giving money. Our material possessions are part of ourselves and the real giving is of our self.

Part of all we need to give is a generous gift of money, not simply because the corps needs it (which it does) but to meet a spiritual desire. This is the first and hardest lesson to understand, and if we cannot comprehend this first truth (for my sake) – how will we cope with the second -for the sake of the corps?

There are some relevant considerations for a Christian to give for their own spiritual development:

Love expresses itself through giving. How can we love God without giving? A Christ-centred life gives out of love for others; a self-centred life keeps out of love for itself.
Meaningful giving is a practical response for a steward or trustee who is accountable to God for all his provision, practical and spiritual.
Jesus spoke of “serving God and money” – it is a spiritual priority to seek after the Kingdom first.
The wise know “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. This knowledge often only comes by experience.
Most consider money as an important component of life and “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. If this is true then giving is a heart-directing action.

Any Christian who complains about too much giving in any or all of the three areas of stewardship should reflect if he has a balance in stewardship and review their understanding. You might as well complain that travelling involves too much moving around. Christianity is inextricably connected to giving … God gave himself for the salvation of the world and when we respond to him, we give ourselves back to God and give our lives for others.

Salvation is not gained by the work that we do, the time we spend, nor by our generosity but by God’s grace. When we encounter a ‘Christian’ who has not learned to give, we might well wonder to what extent he has received the Spirit of Grace.

Giving is an individual response. That one may meaningfully give much and another a meaningful little does not affect attitudes to either for they both give. That one can give much does not affect the need to give by others. Each potential giver needs the spiritual enrichment of generous giving. No corps leader need ever apologise for leading people into a meaningful giving experience unless that leader is not a good giver.

THE NEED FOR A CHRISTIAN TO GIVE GENEROUSLY FOR THE SAKE OF THE TASK GOD HAS ENTRUSTED TO THE CHURCH

The second part of the need to give is for the sake of the church, this comes as the next part of a Christian’s understanding of his priorities. The giving to the corps is to help it (through the people) to do the work for which it exists.

Giving to the corps will be limited by the understanding of the nature, purpose and total mission of the Army at all levels of its life and work and in all areas of obligation and opportunity.

Some corps appear to have communication problems so soldiers, adherents and friends do not have an all-round vision of the mission of the corps. Many will view the corps just from where they (literally) sit. So they cannot give with understanding. This has a spiral effect on the corps for a limited vision only allows for a limited program. Many corps would love to offer an unlimited vision! What a corps can do for saving souls, growing saints and serving the community can only be determined by its income; the more that is given the more developed a program.

“The Salvation Army is a permanent mission for the unconverted” claimed one of our Generals and so we do exist for those who are not in our ranks and congregations. If we ever forget that fact we then exist and support the Army only for our own sake and comfort. Unfortunately, we lose out on linking corps folk with the total view of the corps and fail to link up with the larger Army in the territory and internationally. We rarely sing, ‘For the world’ yet we exist for them and not just ‘us’, we forget it at our peril.