How We Invite Generosity
Why some of your most faithful members may be waiting to be asked
Every stewardship committee knows a certain kind of member. They’re in the building before the doors are unlocked. They’ve taught the same Sunday school class for a decade. They know where the extra folding chairs are stored and who needs a ride to the hospital this week. Ask them, and they’ll tell you without hesitation that they love this church.
In most churches, these are also your most generous people. That’s one of the most consistent patterns in congregational life: involvement and generosity tend to grow together, because people give to what they belong to.
That pattern usually holds, but not always, and the exceptions deserve a stewardship committee’s attention.
Sometimes the gap is about circumstance. A retired couple on a fixed income gives faithfully from what they have, and there’s nothing to fix. Jesus noticed the widow’s two coins for a reason. But sometimes the gap has a different cause, one that sits on our side of the table. Some people were simply never invited.
The Asks We Default To
Most churches ask passively, and usually with good intentions. We put pledge cards in the pew racks. We print an insert in the bulletin. We announce the campaign from the pulpit and encourage everyone to prayerfully consider. We share the online giving link. Each of these has its place, but none of them is truly an invitation.
A passive ask is addressed to everyone, which means it is addressed to no one in particular. It asks the member to do all the work: notice it, decide it applies to them, and act on it. The people most likely to respond are the ones already in the habit of responding. Others quietly assume their gift isn’t needed, or that someone else has it covered.
I worked on a capital campaign for a wonderful church in Wisconsin many winters ago. We visited a woman who had joined the church 10 years prior. We talked about how she chose that church and why she has stayed. When it came to the conversation about her giving, she expressed warm surprise. She said she would love to support the campaign, but figured that the people who had been there longer than her already fulfilled the need. She didn’t think her gift would matter. A few days later, she made a truly transformational gift to the church!
What Scripture Models
When Moses gathered materials for the tabernacle in Exodus 35, he didn’t post a notice. He gathered the whole community, named what was needed and why, and invited everyone whose heart was stirred. The people kept bringing gifts until Moses had to tell them to stop.
When David prepared to build the temple in 1 Chronicles 29, he gave first, told the people what he had given, and then asked plainly who would join him. The people rejoiced, because they had given freely and wholeheartedly.
Notice the pattern: leaders who give first, an invitation that is clear and personal, and joy on the other side. Neither story describes pressure. Both describe invitation.
What Active Invitation Looks Like
An active invitation is personal, specific, and relational. In practice, that means:
Someone the member knows and trusts asks them face to face, ideally around a kitchen table rather than across a fellowship hall.
The person asking has already made their own commitment and is willing to say so.
The conversation begins with listening. What does this church mean to you? Where have you seen God at work here?
The invitation is specific. Instead of “Will you help?” the question is “Would you prayerfully consider a gift at this level over the next three years?”
The decision belongs to the member and to God. The visitor is there to invite, not to persuade.
This is slower than putting a card in a pew rack. It’s also how most of the deep generosity in a church actually begins.
Questions for Your Stewardship Committee
Which of our members have we never asked personally?
When did we last sit with someone to hear their story before we talked about giving?
Are our leaders giving first, and are they willing to share that?
Are we treating the pulpit announcement as the invitation, or as the preparation for one?
A Closing Word
None of this is about suspecting anyone’s heart. Most of your faithful members are already generous, and many give far more than anyone knows. The point is to examine our own habits of asking. When a member’s love for their church seems to run ahead of their giving, the first question for a stewardship committee isn’t “Why aren’t they giving more?” It’s “Have we truly invited them?”
If you would like to explore this topic further, please let us know and we would be happy to partner with you on the journey.
