A few weeks ago, I attended a new church. For years, I’d been told it was a much more progressive Mass than I was used to, so I arrived that Sunday with a great deal of curiosity.

Instead of walking in to find all the seats full, turning around and high-tailing it home, people stood at the back of the sanctuary. Instead of pews, worshippers sat on stackable chairs. Instead of leather-bound missals, ushers handed out photocopies at the door.

The seats extended all the way back into the café/dining area adjacent to the main sanctuary, and large television monitors kept everyone connected. There, when it was time to kneel, everyone did so on a parquet floor. I was impressed.

But the biggest difference was the sermon. Since this church is in the middle of a capital campaign, the subject of money inevitably came up. Though the sermon itself didn’t focus on fund raising, the priest did manage to work it in with an enviable, funny style.

“I’d like to welcome any newcomers here today,” he said in his lilting Scottish accent.

“And if you like what you heard, you should know there’s a $20 fee.”

It got me thinking about how afraid most pastors are of broaching the topic of fund raising. One wonderful source of inspiration and information is Generous Giving ( www.generousgiving.org), a privately funded online ministry that seeks to encourage ministry leaders, pastors and others to experience the joy of giving and embrace a lifestyle of generosity.

Among many other helpful features, the site lists the most common excuses for not preaching on giving. Here they are, along with the group’s rebuttals, in a nutshell:

Excuse #1: Fear of Offending Others

Generous Giving’s Take: It’s precisely because money is such a sensitive subject that it must not be ignored. In spite of the American attachment to personal independence, the Church shares a mutual responsibility for the spiritual growth of its members, and it’s a church leader’s job to proclaim whatever God says in His word.

A pastor should expect sensitivity and division. The object is not to stir up discord, but rather to preach God’s word with power and boldness, even if it rattles the hearers and makes them angry. Encouragement can be found in the end result: a biblical view of money that creates community vs. dissension.

Excuse #2: Fear of Exposing Oneself

Generous Giving’s Take: A pastor certainly shouldn’t preach obedience while harboring disobedience in his own life — i.e., preaching about giving though not practicing it.

If, on the other hand, a pastor is concerned that preaching about giving will result in less of it actually happening, or that it makes the church seem greedy, both are reasonable concerns.

But if a congregation lacks generosity, their most pressing problem is not budgetary, but spiritual (Matthew 6:21). As such, congregants need a spiritual solution whereas many pastors remain silent on giving because they think to do so is better for their churches. Inadvertently, however, they might be withholding from their people the very thing they need most: the word of God, applied to their hearts at their point of difficulty.

Excuse #3: Fear of Detracting from Ministry

Generous Giving’s Take: Money is sometimes responsible for shipwrecking people’s faith. And the apostle John argues that failure to give one’s money is a sign that a person’s salvation might be in question (1 John 3:17). So, while money isn’t the center of the Christian religion, it’s very much connected to sin and salvation, which are the centers.

You’ll surely need as much inspiration and advice as you can find to get the giving conversation going, so it’s good to know the site offers plenty of scriptural examples to support how each principle applies to your ministry as well. Additionally, it provides reflections, prayers, statistics, study guides, books and even conferences to further inspire you.

We hope this month’s Money-Management Manual will fuel the fire as well. You’ll find an insightful interview with a church fund-raising veteran, take a closer look at the unfamiliar territory of cash-management tools as they apply to church leaders (pg. 18), and go in-depth on the fine points of construction financing.

Wishes for prosperity of all kinds in your good work,